Labor History

Today in Labor History January 9, 1349: The residents of Basel, Switzerland rounded up and imprisoned all the Jewish residents of the city. Then they set fire to them, slaughtering as many as 100 people in the Basel Massacre. They thought the Jews had caused the Black Death by poisoning the wells. The victims of […]

1800s Today in Labor History January 5, 1869: Isaac Meyers and Frederick Douglass organized the First U.S. National Colored Convention. At the convention, they created the Colored National Labor Union. At the time, white unions routinely refused to accept African American members or to show solidarity with black workers. Additionally, employers often hired black scabs

1870s Today in Labor History January 3, 1870: Construction began on the Brooklyn Bridge by the corrupt Tammany Hall-controlled New York Bridge Company. According to sworn testimony, Boss Tweed facilitated up to $65,000 in bribes to city aldermen to get their backing for a $1.5 million bond. He then became the primary holder of bridge stock. He

Today in Labor History January 2, 1791: The Big Bottom massacre in the Ohio Country. After the American Revolutionary War, the U.S. government sold land in the Ohio Country, mostly to white-owned companies that promised to develop it. However, the land was already occupied by Lenape and Wyandot people, who attacked the interlopers, killing 14 settlers. This

Today in Labor History January 1, 404: Saint Telemachus tried to stop a gladiator fight in a Roman amphitheatre, and the crowd stoned him to death. The Christian Emperor Honorius was so impressed that he issued a ban on all gladiator fights. 1700s Today in Labor History January 1, 1781: One thousand five hundred soldiers of the 6th Pennsylvania Regiment rebelled against