Today in Labor History May 23

1820s-1830s

Today in Labor History May 23, 1827: The first American nursery school was established in New York City. It was created in order to “relieve parents of the laboring classes” and offer their children “protection from idleness” and other evils that typically infected the rabble.

Today in Labor History May 23 the authorities executed Jamaincan national hero Samuel Sharpe. — _{Destruction of the Roehampton Estate, January 1832, the the Christmas Rebellion, led by Samuel Sharpe. By Adolphe Duperly. Pub Dom}

May 23, 1832: The authorities executed Jamaican national hero Samuel Sharpe for his role in the 1831 Slave Rebellion that helped end slavery.

The second trail of tears march began today in Labor History May 23, 1838 — _{Cherokee Principal Chief John Ross. Public Domain}

Today in Labor History May 23, 1838: The second “Trail of Tears” march began from Georgia to Oklahoma. Soldiers rounded up Cherokee people at gunpoint and marched them over 2,000 miles through snowstorms and freezing temperatures. As a result, 4,000-6,000 Cherokee died.

1860s-1870s

May 23, 1863: Ferdinand Lassalle founded the General German Workers’ Association in Leipzig. The organization was a precursor of the Social Democratic Party of Germany. The Lassallians hoped to establish socialism by electoral means.

May 23, 1871 – The “Bloody Week” (Semaine Sanglante) entered its third day, as government troops slaughtered citizens of the Paris Commune.

RCMP — _{North-West Mounted Police trooper, c.1900. By Provincial Archives of Alberta. No restrictions}

May 23, 1873: Canada established the North-West Mounted Police, forerunner of the Royal Mounted Police. The authorities repeatedly used the organization to brutalize workers and suppress strikes.

Labor History May 23, 1900s-1920s

March of the mill children from Philadelphia to President Roosevelt's summer home in Long Island. — _{Mary Harris “Mother” Jones with children and adults beginning their “Children’s Crusade” to walk from Philadelphia to Oyster Bay, New York. ds 07713 //hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/ds.07713}

Today in Labor History May 23, 1903: Thousands of children went on strike in the textile mills of Philadelphia. The walkout was one of the largest strikes to date in the U.S. Over 90,000 workers struck, 25% of who were under 15. The bosses forced the children to work near dangerous machinery. As a result, many were maimed on the job. The union demanded that the work week be reduced from 60 to 55 hours. Furthermore, they asked that women and children be prohibited from working nights. On July 7, Mother Jones led hundreds of children on a march to President Roosevelt’s summer home in Oyster Bay, New York.

Today in Labor History May 23, 1928: Anarchist Severino Di Giovanni bombed the Italian consulate in Buenos Aires to protest against the Italian dictatorship. He did it because the fascists were assassinating Italian antifascists living in exile. The bomb killed nine and wounded thirty-four. Prior to that, he bombed the U.S. embassy in Buenos Aires in 1926. He did that because a U.S. court had sentenced Sacco and Vanzetti to death. He also blew up a statue of George Washington, Citibank and the Bank of Boston, among other targets. At one point, he planned to assassinate Herbert Hoover. Many of the leading anarchists of the day criticized his bombings because they thought it would facilitate a fascist coup in Argentina.

Labor History May 23, 1930s

May 23, 1933: The “Battle of Toledo” erupted when sheriffs’ arrested picket leaders at the Auto-Lite plant in Toledo, Ohio, and beat an old man. 10,000 strikers blockaded the plant for seven hours, preventing strikebreakers from leaving. Ultimately, the cops broke up the crowd with tear gas and water cannons. The National Guard was called in the following day. The strikers held their ground against the troops, who shot and killed two of their members and wounded 15 others. As a result, they won union recognition and a 5% raise. The strike lasted from April 12 to June 3. It is considered one of the most important strikes in U.S. history.

1960s

Bat Girl Goes on Strike for Equal Pay

Today in Labor History May 23, 1963: Congress passed the first law to ensure women equal pay for equal work. Kennedy signed the law in June, 1963. The legislation was originally submitted in 1947. Women’s pay has risen relative to men’s since the passing of the bill. However, as of 2018, women were still only making 81.1% of what men were earning.

Labor History May 23, 2000s

_{March 2006, Bangladeshi garment workers held a one-day strike to protest the deaths of over 100 of their comrades in the recent KTS factory fire. By Derek Blackadder – Flickr: Strike-NGWF-2, CC BY-SA 2.0,}

May 23, 2006: Angry garment workers in Bangladesh set fire to seven textile factories in and around the capital. They did it in response to the police killing of a worker during recent protests for better pay and working conditions.

Today in Labor History May 23, 2008: Labor folk singer and IWW member U. Utah Phillips (1935-2008) died.