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The Mill Girls of Lowell
The Lowell mill women organized, went on strike and mobilized in politics when women did not have the right to vote and created the first union of working women in American history. The mills girls would work nearly 13 hours a day, their bosses decided to cut their wages, that is when the mill girls had enough. Although their first strike was unsuccessful there 2nd strike was better organized but unfortunately the end result was the same as the first. -
Atlanta's Washerwomen Strike
During the 19th century many African American women worked as washerwomen, they would wash the clothing of white people and household linen. They had asked many times for their wages to be increased but would be ignored. They went on the largest strike by African Americans walking off their job for weeks until their demands were met. -
Samuel Gompers
Born on January 20, 1850, Samuel Gompers was a British-American cigar maker from the age of 10. Gompers founded the American Federation of Labor (AFL) because he sought to build the labor movement into a force that would be powerful to transform the economic, social, and political status of American workers. He developed the principles of “voluntarism,” which called for unions to exert coercion by economic action that is, through strikes and boycotts -
Homestead Strike
The steelworkers in Homestead, Pennsylvania, were part of the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers, a union with strong wages and work rules. Owner Andrew Carnegie sought to break the union to cut costs, with chairman Henry Frick enforcing wage cuts for 325 workers. Expecting a strike, Frick hired 30 Pinkertons to secure the mill. As they arrived by barge, workers confronted them, leading to gunfire. After intense fighting, the Pinkertons surrendered, leaving a total of 10 dead. -
Eugene V. Debs
Born on November 5, 1855, Eugene V. Debs was the founder of the American Railway Union. The union was the largest Labor Union of its time and one of the first industrial unions in the United States. After workers at the Pullman Palace Car Company organized a wildcat strike over pay cuts in the summer of 1894, Debs signed many into the ARU. -
Triangle Shirtwaist Fire
A fire broke out on the top floors of the Triangle Shirtwaist factory, firefighters arrived to the building but their ladders were not tall enough to reach the upper floors of the building. Since the owners of the building was locked the doors, workers were trapped in the building. After the fire, their story inspired hundreds of activists across the state and the nation to push for fundamental reforms. -
Frances Perkins
Born on April 10, 1880, Frances Perkins was the first woman to ever serve the presidential cabinet. She expanded factory investigations, reduced the workweek for women to 48 hours and championed minimum wage and unemployment insurance laws. When Roosevelt tapped her as labor secretary in 1933, Perkins drew on the New York State experience as the model for new federal programs -
Nelson Cruikshank
Born on June 21, 1902, Nelson Cruikshank was the first director of the AFL-CIO Department of Social Security, founded in 1955. Cruikshank is a leading voice for Social Security and health insurance, particularly for the elderly and people with disabilities. Cruikshank also organized a special labor committee to press for medical assistance to the elderly. During the Johnson presidency, his efforts culminated in the passage of Medicare in 1965. -
Dolores Huerta
Born on April 10, 1930 Dolores Huerta was the co-founder of the National Farm Workers Association. She organized workers, negotiated contracts, advocated for safer working conditions to farm workers. She helped organized the Delano Grape Strike that lasted 5 years, she made 20 growers to agree to pay higher wages and improve working conditions. -
I've Been to the Mountaintop
Author: Martin Luther King Jr. -
the Great Postal Strike of 1970
After years of not being paid enough and hardly surviving due to the small amount of wages they had the Congress decided to help them, sort of, with only raising their paycheck by 5.4 percent. Postal workers in New York began to walk out, although what they were doing was illegal the Lloyd-La Follette Act forbidden for unions to cause a commotion. Ultimately 210,000 employees participated in the mass work strike. -
Puerto Rican Obituary
Author: Pedro Pietri -
Address to the Commonwealth Club of California
Author: Cesar Chavez -
He Showed Us the Way
Author: Cesar Chavez -
Who Burns for the Perfection of Paper
Author: Martin Espada