1800s
Today in Labor History September 20, 1835: The decade-long Ragamuffin War started when rebels captured Porto Alegre in Brazil. The Republican uprising was led by generals Bento Gonçalves da Silva and Antônio de Sousa Neto, with the support from the Italian internationalist fighter Giuseppe Garibaldi. One of the demands of the rebels was the abolition of slavery and many slaves participated in the war.
Novelist Érico Verissimo portrayed the war in his Time and the Wind series.
Today in Labor History September 20, 1878: Upton Sinclair was born in Baltimore, MD. Sinclair wrote the 1906 novel, The Jungle, which became famous for its vivid portrayal of the unsanitary conditions in Chicago meat packing houses. However, it was also an indictment of the bosses’ exploitation of workers and immigrants and political and union corruption.
1940s
September 20, 1942: Over two days, the German Einsatzgruppe murdered at least 3,000 Jews in Letychiv, during the Holocaust in Ukraine.
1970s-1980s
Today in Labor History September 20, 1973: Billie Jean King beat Bobby Riggs in the Battle of the Sexes tennis match at the Houston Astrodome. King (29) beat Riggs (55) in three sets. Riggs had beat Margaret Court four months earlier. King helped along with nine other women formed the Virginia Slims Series to end the pay inequality between male and female tennis players. It evolved into the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA).
September 20, 1982: American football players in the National Football League begin a 57-day strike.
2000s
Today in Labor History September 20, 2019: 4 million people demonstrated across the world to address climate change. Sixteen-year-old Greta Thunberg from Sweden led the demonstration in New York City.