Louise Michel was born in Vroncourt, France on May 29, 1830. Michel was a leader of the 1871 Paris Commune and a founder of anarcha-feminism. As a child, she always empathized with the downtrodden and, particularly, with animals. Indeed, she attributed the origin of her revolt to her horror at seeing animals abused. “I used […]
On April 20, 1914 the Colorado National Guard and private security guards opened fire on a mining camp in the Ludlow Massacre, in Ludlow, Colorado, killing 21 people, including women, and at least twelve children. By the end of the strike, they had killed more than 75 people (over 200 from 1913-1914). Colorado Fuel and Iron Company (CF&I),
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The Battle of Blair Mountain (August 25-September 2, 1921) in Logan County, West Virginia, was the largest armed insurrection since the Civil War, and the largest labor uprising in U.S. history. 10,000-15,000 coal miners battled 3,000 cops, private cops and vigilantes, who were backed by the coal bosses. Up to 100 miners died in the
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The Day of the Rope The Myth of the Molly Maguires became international news on June 21, 1877, when the authorities hanged ten Irish miners in a single day in Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania. Known as Black Thursday, or Day of the Rope, it was the second largest mass execution in U.S. history. (The largest was
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Eddie Aikau is a legend in Hawaii, and to surfers around the world. From the mid-60s to the mid-70s he rode the biggest waves at the most dangerous breaks. However, he was also a working-class hero, saving over 500 lives as a lifeguard on Oahu’s north shore. And in 1978, he tragically sacrificed his own