Labor History

1800s Today in Labor History January 20, 1872: Filipino soldiers staged a bloody revolt against Spanish rule known as the Cavite Mutiny. Around 200 locally recruited colonial troops and laborers rose up hoping that it would escalate into a national uprising. However, government forces quickly put down the mutiny. They executed many of the participants and cracked […]

Today in Labor History January 19, 1764: The British House of Commons expelled John Wilkes for seditious libel. Wilkes was a radical journalist and politician who fought for the right of his voters, rather than the House of Commons, to determine their representatives. In 1768, the authorities arrested him. His supporters protested and soldiers shot them in the St George’s Fields Massacre.

Today in Labor History January 18, 1788: The First Fleet arrived in Botany Bay, Australia, with 736 convicts from Great Britain. It took over 250 days to reach its destination. The penal colony became the first European settlement in Australia. Mary Bryant, with her husband, children and 6 other convicts escaped the colony and eventually returned to England.

1500s Today in Labor History January 17, 1536: Francois Rabelais was absolved of apostasy by Pope Paul III and allowed to resume his medical practice. Rabelais was a physician, writer, Catholic monk and Greek scholar. He published “Pantagruel” in 1532. He later incorporated it into his larger work, “Gargantua and Pantagruel,” which satirized the nobility,

1300s-1600s Today in Labor History January 16, 1362: The Second Saint Marcellus’s Flood killed 25,000 people in the British Isles, Netherlands, Germany and Denmark. It was caused by an intense extratropical cyclone. The storm swept inland, creating islands on the mainland. Entire towns were swept away. Today in Labor History January 16, 1605: Miguel de