September 30 --
A total of 29 strike leaders are charged
with treason—plotting "to incite insurrection, rebellion & war
against the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania"—for daring to strike the
Carnegie Steel Co. in Homestead, Pa. Jurors refuse to convict them -
1892
Seventy-year-old Mother Jones organizes
the wives of striking miners in Arnot, Pa., to descend on the mine with
brooms, mops and clanging pots and pans. They frighten away the mules
and their scab drivers. The miners eventually won their strike - 1899
(The Autobiography of Mother Jones: Mary Harris Jones—“Mother Jones”—was the most dynamic woman ever to grace the American labor movement. Employers and politicians around the turn of the century called her “the most dangerous woman in America” and rebellious working men and women loved her as they never loved anyone else.)
Railroad shopmen in 28 cities strike the
Illinois Central Railroad and the Harriman lines for an 8-hour day,
improved conditions and union recognition, but railroad officials obtain
sweeping injunctions against them and rely on police and armed guards
to protect strikebreakers - 1915
Black farmers meet in Elaine, Ark., to
establish the Progressive Farmers and Householders Union to fight for
better pay and higher cotton prices. They are shot at by a group of
whites, and return the fire. News of the confrontation spread and a riot
ensued, leaving at least 100, perhaps several hundred, blacks dead and
67 indicted for inciting violence - 1919
Cesar Chavez, with Delores Huerta,
co-founds the National Farm Workers Association, which later was to
become the United Farm Workers of America - 1962
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