Today in Labor History October 28th, 2023

 

The Gateway Arch

Union organizer and anarchist Luisa Capetillo was born in Ariecibo, Puerto Rico. She organized tobacco and other agricultural workers in Puerto Rico and later in New York and Florida. In 1916 she led a successful sugar cane strike of more than 40,000 workers on the island. She demanded that her union endorse voting rights for women. In 1919, three years before her death, she was arrested for wearing pants in public, the first woman in Puerto Rico to do so. The charges were dropped. – 1879

Two mine workers were killed in Virden, Illinois. – 1898

The Gateway Arch, a 630 ft high parabola of stainless steel marking the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial on the waterfront of St. Louis, Missouri was completed after two and a half years. Although it was predicted 13 lives would be lost in construction, not a single Ironworker died. – 1965