February 2022

Today in Labor History February 17, 1906: The authorities arrested “Big Bill” Haywood and two other union members on trumped up charges for the murder of former Idaho Governor Frank Stuenenberg. Clarence Darrow successfully defended them. He told jurors, “If at the behest of this mob you should kill Bill Haywood, he is mortal, he […]

Today in Labor History February 15, 1764: the city of St. Louis was established in Spanish Louisiana (now Missouri). In the 1800s, St. Louis would grow to become the second largest port in the U.S. and one of the major centers of labor organizing. In 1877, during the Great Train Strike, black and white workers

Today in Labor History February 14, 1349: Mobs burned hundred Jews to death in the Strasbourg Massacre. They forcibly deported the remaining Jews. 1500s-1600s Today in Labor History February 14, 1530: Spanish conquistadores, led by Nuño de Guzmán, overthrew and murdered Tangaxuan II, the last independent monarch of the Tarascan state in present-day central Mexico. Today in Labor History February 14, 1655:

1600s Today in Labor History February 13, 1633: Galileo Galilei arrived in Rome for his trial before the Inquisition. The Inquisition found him “vehemently suspect of heresy” and forced to recant. He spent the rest of his life under house arrest. Today in Labor History February 13, 1635: Boston Latin School was opened. It was the first public school in

Today in Labor History February 12, 1809: Charles Darwin (1809-1882) was born on this date in Shrewsbury, Shropshire. The Origin of Species, published November 24, 1859, sold out immediately. Today in Labor History February 12, 1825: The Creek gave up the last of their lands in Georgia to the United States government by the Treaty of Indian Springs, and