May 2021

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.  May 23, 1832: The authorities executed Jamaican national hero […]

1300s-1500s Today in Labor History May 22, 1370: Mobs murdered hundreds of Jews during the Brussels Massacre for allegedly desecrating the Host. And they banished the survivors, virtually the entire Jewish community. May 22, 1520: The Alvarado Massacre, Tenochtitlan, Mexico. Spanish conquistadores, under the command of Pedro de Alvarado, slaughtered unarmed Aztec warriors and noblemen

1600s Today in Labor History May 21, 1660: the Iroquois Confederacy defeated the French colonial militia in the Battle of Long Sault. Today in Writing History May 21, 1688: Poet and satirist Alexander Pope was born. Some of his more well-known pieces include The Rape of the Lock, The Duncia, and An Essay on Criticism.

1600s-1700s Today in Labor History May 20, 1645: The Yangzhou Massacre began in Yanzhou, China. Over the course of ten days, Manchu soldiers, under the leadership of General Dodo, slaughtered 800,000 civilians. May 20, 1776: The Mohawks, under Joseph Brandt, defeated Americans at the Battle of the Cedars. 1800s Today in Labor History May 20,

1800s Today in Labor History May 19, 1850: Four thousand Mexican workers gathered in Sonora, California, to protest the “Foreign Miners’ Tax.” Legislators enacted the law to drive the Chinese from California. (For more on historical anti-immigrant legislation, read here). However, white Californians didn’t care much for anyone who didn’t look like them, including Mexicans. In