Today in Labor History July 11, 1302: Flemish weavers beat the Flemish and French cavalries in the Battle of the Golden Spurs. The French were attempting to subdue the County of Flanders. They had kidnapped the Count of Flanders, angering members of the Flemish guilds. Because of this, the citizens of Bruges went on to […]

1800s Today in Labor and Writing History July 10, 1806: The Vellore Mutiny occurred, when Indian sepoys first mutinied  against the British East India Company. The mutineers seized the Vellore Fort, killing or wounding 200 British troops. The rebellion lasted for one day, and was ultimately subdued by cavalry and artillery. 350 mutineers died. The authorities summarily executed another 100. English

Denmark Vesey Today in Labor History July 2, 1822: The authorities hanged Denmark Vesey and 34 others for plotting a slave uprising. An estimated 9,000 were involved in the plot, but only 67 were convicted of any offense. Vesey was a free man living in Charleston, South Carolina, who still had enslaved family members. He

Today in Labor History July 1, 1766: French authorities tortured, beheaded and burnt François-Jean de la Barre on a pyre for reading Voltaire’s Dictionnaire philosophique and, more importantly, for not saluting a Roman Catholic religious procession in Abbeville, France. The articles in Voltaire’s work included critiques of the Catholic Church, as well as Judaism and Islam. The general public loved the book, which sold