Today in Labor History July 30

Bacon’s Rebellion

Today in Labor History July 30, 1676: Nathaniel Bacon issued the “Declaration of the People of Virginia.” As a result, Bacon’s Rebellion began. This armed insurrection against the rule of Governor William Berkeley was the first insurrection and the first class uprising in North America. Thousands of indentured white Europeans united with free, indentured and enslaved blacks to demand rights and privileges they were being denied. They took up arms and drove Berkeley from Jamestown. They also burned the colonial capital to the ground. It took several years for the authorities to put down all the pockets of resistance. Bacon died of dysentery. However, Berkeley executed 23 of his followers. As a result of Berkeley’s incompetence, King Charles recalled him to England. The king said “That old fool has put to death more people in that naked country than I did here for the murder of my father.”

The unification of poor blacks and whites scared the hell out of the wealthy ruling class. Consequently, they realized they needed to sow divisions between the poor, so they would fight among each other rather than unify in another uprising against the rich. This led to a hardening of the color lines and the development of the ideas of race and racial superiority. The ruling elite also used the uprising to justify passage as the Virginia slave code of 1705. Further, they used the uprising, and Bacon’s own hatred of Native Americans, to unify all farmers, large and small, against the Indians.

1810s

Today in Labor History July 30, 1811: The authorities executed Father Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla because he was the leader of the Mexican War of Independence.

Today in Writing History July 30, 1818: Emily Brontë, English novelist and poet was born. She wrote “Wuthering Heights.” The book shocked Victorian England for its portrayals of barbaric cruelty and primal passion. However, it also quickly became a classic. Bronte died of tuberculosis in 1848, at the age of 30. Like many of today’s paranoid and hysterical covid deniers and anti-vaxxers, she rejected all medical advice and treatments. She vowed to have “no poisoning doctor” near her.

1860s

Today in Labor History July 30, 1863: Automobile tycoon Henry Ford was born on this date in Dearborn, Michigan. He introduced the assembly line and other mass production techniques that revolutionized profit-making. However, his techniques also weakened workers’ power by deskilling them and making them more replaceable. Employers around the world are using similar tactics of deskilling to destroy what’s left of the unions. One of the most glaring examples is education, with the increase in private, for-profit charter schools and online platforms. Ironically, while online teaching has saved millions of teachers lives from Covid19, it has also served as a proof of concept that many of the things teachers do can be replicated through automated online platforms.

Today in Labor History July 30, 1866: Police shot into a group of free black workers outside the Mechanics Institute in New Orleans. A crowd of whites then stormed the hall. By the time federal troops restored order, 38 were dead and 136 wounded. Nearly all victims were black. The mob was made up of recently defeated Confederate soldiers.

1900s

Today in Labor History July 30, 1912: A General Strike began in Belgium.

July 30, 1939: Eleanor Smeal was born. She was an American activist and founder of the Feminist Majority Foundation

Today in Labor History July 30, 1975: Former Teamsters President Jimmy Hoffa disappeared on this date.