Today in Labor History November 21, 1831: Silk workers went on strike in Lyon, France. However, when the National Guard killed several workers, the entire city soon rose up in an insurrection known as the First Canut Revolt. Workers captured the police barracks and stole the weapons. They set up barricades and hoisted the black […]

Today in Labor History November 20, 1695: Zumbí, leader of the Quilombo de Palmares, was assassinated on this date. Palmares was the largest and longest lasting Quilombo (independent community of freed slaves) in Brazil. Estimates range from 11,000 to more than 20,000 inhabitants lived in Palmares during its height. The community lasted for more than

Today in Labor History November 19, 1904: 6,000 members of the United Garment Workers of America struck at 27 wholesale houses in Chicago, which were then members of the National Wholesale Tailors’ Association.  November 19, 1915: Joe Hill, IWW organizer and song writer was executed by a Utah firing squad after being convicted of murder on trumped-up

Today in Labor History November 18, 1909: Two U.S. warships sailed to Nicaragua after its president, José Santos Zelaya, executed 500 rebels (including two Americans). 1910s Today in Labor History November 18, 1910: Black Friday: Hundreds of suffragettes marched to the British Parliament in London to demand voting rights for women. The police beat many of them. Today in Labor History November 18, 1918: An anarchist

Today in Labor History November 17, 1747: The Knowles Riot occurred in Boston, with hundreds of sailors, laborers and free blacks rising up against British Navy Press Gangs. Commodore Knowles routinely had Bostonians kidnapped and forced to work on his ships. Working class protestors rampaged through Boston. Ultimately, they kidnapped several of Knowles’ officers, holding