Today in Labor History April 21

1500s

Memorial to the Jewish victims of the Lisbon Massacre, 1506. — _{“In memory of the thousands of Jews who were victimed by intolerance and religious fanaticism, killed on the massacre that started on 19 April 1506, on this square”. By SergioPT – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0}

Today in Labor History April 21, 1506: The Lisbon Massacre ended. During the three days of slaughter, Portuguese Catholics killed over 1,900 suspected Jews.

April 21, 1545: Juan de Villarroel filed the first mining claim at Potosí, in what is now Bolivia. The mine was on Cerro Rico mountain, which had one of the richest mineral deposits in the Americas. The Spanish used enslaved indigenous and African people to work the mines. They also hired low-paid “volunteers.” However, pay and conditions were so bad that most “volunteers” couldn’t afford to return home and were de facto indentured servants. Consequently, Potosi mushroomed into the largest city in the Americas, despite having almost no water or natural plant life. When Simón Bolívar freed Potosi, he climbed to the top of Cerro Rico to declare it abolished.

Friedrich Froebel Invents Kindergarten

Today in Labor History April 21, 1782: birth of Friedrich Froebel, father of kindergarten. — _{Friedrich Froebel, By C.W. Bardeen, publisher – Library of Congress, Public Domain}

Today in Labor History April 21, 1782: Friedrich Froebel was born. Froebel was a German educator who coined the term “kindergarten.” He also produced the first educational toys, known as Froebel Gifts. Froebel was one of the first to recognize the importance of activity and play in early childhood. He called it Freiarbeit, or free work. Thus, his kindergartens were literally gardens for children to observe and interact with the natural world. However, the Prussian government suppressed his kindergartens because of their supposed denigration of religion and politics. Froebel rejected the notion of original sin and promoted and practiced the coeducation of boys and girls. He also felt children should be able to grow and develop without the influence of arbitrary political and social priorities. These ideas endeared him to anarchist educators like Francisco Ferrer and others in the Modern School movement.

1800s

Today in Labor History April 21, 1816: Charlotte Brontë, English novelist and poet, was born on this day. Her most famous book, “Jane Eyre,” was published in 1847. However, she published a book of poetry in 1846, along with her sisters Anne and Emily. They used masculine pseudonyms to avoid prejudice. In 1836 she asked Poet Laureate Robert Southey for encouragement as a writer. He replied, “Literature cannot be the business of a woman’s life, and ought not to be.” She died in 1855, most likely due to complications from pregnancy.

Canadian memorial to the Tolpuddle Martyrs and the birth of the British Trade Union movement. — _{Tolpuddle Martyrs plaque, Siloam Cemetery, London, Ontario, Canada. By Adam Bishop – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0}

April 21, 1834: 30,000 workers marched for the freedom of six trade unionists who were deported to Australia from Tolpuddle, Britain. The Tolpuddle struggle, which began in 1832, marked the beginning of British trade unionism. The workers were fighting for an end to the “Combination Laws,” which outlawed the formation of unions. The Tolpuddle Martyrs were pardoned in 1836, thanks to the popular protests.

Death of Mark Twain

Today in Labor History April 21, 1910: Mark Twain died on this day. Twain was famous for his wit and brilliant writing. However, he also had extremely progressive politics for his era. He supported the Russian revolutionaries fighting against the Tsar. And he was vice-president of the American Anti-Imperialist League from 1901 until his death in 1910. “I have read carefully the treaty of Paris and I have seen that we do not intend to free, but to subjugate the people of the Philippines. We have gone there to conquer, not to redeem… And so I am an anti-imperialist. I am opposed to having the eagle put its talons on any other land.”

Twain was an adamant supporter of abolition. He said that the Emancipation Proclamation “not only set the black slaves free, but set the white man free also.” He also fought for the rights of immigrants, particularly the Chinese. “I have seen Chinamen abused and maltreated in all the mean, cowardly ways possible… but I never saw a Chinaman righted in a court of justice for wrongs thus done to him.”

Twain was also an early feminist who campaigned for women’s suffrage. And he wrote in support of unions and the labor movement, especially the Knights of Labor, one of the most important unions of the era. “Who are the oppressors? The few: the King, the capitalist, and a handful of other overseers and superintendents. Who are the oppressed? The many: the nations of the earth; the valuable personages; the workers; they that make the bread that the soft-handed and idle eat.”

Bonnot Executions

Andre Soudy of the anarchist Bonnot Gang. — _{Raymond Callemin, executed. By Alphonse Bertillon, Public Domain}

Today in Labor History April, 21, 1913: Andre Soudy and Raymond Callemin, members of the anarchist Bonnot Gang, were executed. Callemin had started the paper, “L’anarchie,” with Victor Serge. The Bonnot Gang was a band of French anarchists (plus Serge, who was Russian) who funded their movement through robberies in 1911-1912. The Bonnot Gang was unique, not only for their politics, but for their innovative use of technology, too. They were among the first to use cars and automatic rifles in their robberies. While many of the gang members were sentenced to death, Serge got five years and eventually went on to participate in (and survive) the Barcelona and Soviet uprisings. Later, while living in exile, Serge wrote The Birth of Our Power.

1910s

Anthony Quinn, as the father of Emiliano Zapata (played by Marlon Brando), in Viva Zapata! (1952). Screenplay by John Steinbeck. — _{Quinn, as As Eufemio Zapata (sitting), with Marlon Brando’s Emiliano Zapata in Viva Zapata! (1952). Pub. Dom.}

April 21, 1915: Anthony Quinn was born on this day. Quinn was a Mexican-American actor, painter, writer, and film director. He played the titular role in Zorba the Greek, and was nominated for the Academy Award for best actor. He won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor twice: for “Viva Zapata!” (1952) and “Lust for Life” (1956). As a child, Quinn experienced racism growing up in Los Angeles. He later participated in several civil rights and social causes, like supporting the Mexican American youth in the racially charged Sleepy Lagoon murder trial in 1942. He also supported the 1963 March on Washington and visited Native American activists occupying Alcatraz Island.

Today in Labor History April 21, 1917: IWW workers digging irrigation ditches in Exeter, California, went on strike. Several were arrested for assault and battery.

April 21, 1917: IWW sugar workers continued their strike in Philadelphia.

Today in Labor History April 21, 1917: 200 IWW men went on strike in Strathmore, CA, for increased wages and the eight-hour day. A police officer arrested two of them on charges of assault with a deadly weapon.

1920s-1930s

April 21, 1921: Police fired on striking miners in Butte, Montana.

Today in Labor History April 21, 1939: Sister Helen Prejean was born on this day. She was a nun and an anti-death penalty activist. She was portrayed by Susan Sarandon in the film, “Dead Man Walking.”

1940s-1960s

Iggy and The Stooges – I wanna be your dog (1969)

April 21, 1947: Iggy Pop was born on this day.

Today in Labor History April 21, 1967: New York Gov. Nelson Rockefeller signed the Taylor Law. This law permitted public employees to form unions, but outlawed their right to strike.

1990s

April 21, 1997: 12,500 Goodyear Tire workers struck nine plants over job security, wage and benefits. The strike lasted three weeks.

2000s

“Mississippi Goddam” by Nina Simone Recording session: Live in Antibes, July 24-25, 1965.

Today in Labor History April 21, 2003: Nina Simone died on this day. Simone was a brilliant pianist and vocalist, as well as a civil rights activist. She wrote her first, and most famous, protest song, “Mississippi Goddamn,” in response to the murder of Medger Evers (1963). However, the song likely hurt her career, leading to boycotts by the record industry. Politically, she supported Malcolm X and the use of revolutionary violence. She was also a war tax resister. In the 1970s, the U.S. government issued a warrant for her arrest for unpaid taxes. She had been living in Barbados and chose to return there to avoid arrest. Later, she relocated to Liberia. And after that, she moved to Paris.

2010s

Today in Labor History April 21, 2014: Flint, Michigan switched its water source to the Flint River. They failed to add corrosion inhibitors, which caused lead to leach from the pipes. The water crisis that began on this day caused lead poisoning in at least 12,000 people, so far, and 15 deaths from Legionnaire’s disease.

Today in Labor History April 21, 2015: Mary Doyle Keefe died at age 92. In 1943, she posed as “Rosie the Riveter” for famed painter Norman Rockwell. — _{Rockwell’s Saturday Evening Post 1943 cover featuring Rosie the Riveter. By Source, Fair use}

April 21, 2015: Mary Doyle Keefe died at age 92. In 1943, she posed as “Rosie the Riveter” for famed painter Norman Rockwell. Many consider her to be a symbol of feminism. Indeed, during World War II, thousands of women took jobs in industry and munitions. And many of these jobs paid much better than jobs previously available to women. During the war, the number of women workers nearly doubled. However, the goal of the image was to rally support for the war and U.S. imperialism. Many women took jobs out of patriotic duty. And after the war, many of the women were fired and locked out of the trades for decades.