Today in Labor History July 7, 1882: Striking longshoremen in New York City held a meeting to plan how to keep new immigrants from scabbing on them. They were successful, at least temporarily, as 500 newly arrived Jews marched straight from the ship to the union hall on July 14. The following day, 250 Italian immigrants stopped scabbing on the railroad and joined the union.
1900s
Today in Labor History July 7, 1903: The “March of the Mill Children” began, led by Mary Harris “Mother” Jones, from Philadelphia to Teddy Roosevelt’s summer home in Oyster Bay, Long Island. The goal of the march was to publicize the terrible conditions for child laborers and to demand a 55-hour work week.
Today in Writing History July 7, 1907: Robert Heinlein was born. Heinlein was a pioneer of “hard” science fiction, which emphasized scientific accuracy in science fiction stories. Many include him among the big 3, along with Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke. Some of his best-known works include “Starship Troopers,” “Stranger in a Strange Land,” and “The Moon is a Hard Mistress.”
1930s
Today in Labor History July 7, 1931: Construction began on the Hoover dam. 16 workers and camp residents died from heat exhaustion during a single month of construction. Temperatures routinely soared over 110 degrees Fahrenheit. Several strikes led to nominal improvements in working conditions. The six companies running the project hired thousands of men in the highly segregated project. They never permitted more than 30 African Americans to work at any given time and they officially excluded all Chinese workers. The Wobblies (IWW) tried to organize the men. They sent in 11 organizers who the authorities promptly arrested. Eugene Nelson, a Wobbly hobo, writes about it in his wonderful biographical novel, “Break Their Haughty Power.”