Today, for Black History Month, we remember Malcolm X, who was assassinated on this date, February 21, 1965: in the Audubon Ballroom, New York City.
#blackhistorymonth #workingclass #LaborHistory #malcolmx #assassination #BlackMastadon
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Today in Labor History March 16, 2003: Israeli Defense Forces murdered American activist Rachel Corrie in Rafah by running over her with a bulldozer. She had been defending a Palestinian home that the IDF was trying to demolish as part of their collective punishment of the Palestinian people.
#workingclass #LaborHistory #RachelCorie #idf #palestine #warcrimes #israel #collectivepunishment #rafah
Today In Labor History March 27, 1904: The authorities kicked Mother Jones out of Colorado for “stirring-up” striking coal miners. Earlier in March, the authorities deported 60 striking miners from Colorado. In June, they arrested 22 in Telluride. For nearly 2 years, strikers, led by the Western Federation of Miners, were violently attacked by Pinkerton and Baldwin-Felts detectives. 33 strikers were killed. At least two scholars have said “There is no episode in American labor history in which violence was as systematically used by employers as in the Colorado labor war of 1903 and 1904.”
#workingclass #LaborHistory #colorado #union #strike #mining #motherjones #WorkplaceViolence #scabs #coal #pinkertons #colorado #minewars #wfm #WesternFederationOfMiners #womenshistorymonth
Today in LGBTQ History, May 17 is International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia (IDAHOBIT). This date was chosen to commemorate the 1990 decision to remove homosexuality from the International Classification of Diseases of the World Health Organization (WHO). In 2009, the WHO added transphobia to the name of the campaign, and organized activities that year to highlight and end. The goal of the campaign is to raise awareness of violence, discrimination, and repression of LGBT communities throughout the world.
#workingclass #LaborHistory #lgbtq #transphobia #homophobia #biphobia #who
Today in Labor History June 2, 1863: Backed by three gunboats, Harriet Tubman and her force of 300 black soldiers, freed 800 slaves in the Combahee River Raid, South Carolina. Furthermore, they set fire to the plantations and destroyed millions of dollars-worth of stores, cotton and homes of the wealthy, without losing a single person. Additionally, it was the only military engagement in American history where a woman, black or white, “led the raid and under whose inspiration it was originated and conducted.” Tubman devised her war strategy after repeatedly penetrating across enemy lines and spying on Confederate troop movements. In the aftermath, Confederate Captain John F. Lay said, “The enemy seems to have been well posted as to the character and capacity of our troops and their small chance of encountering opposition, and to have been well guided by persons thoroughly acquainted with the river and country.” Most Americans know of Tubman’s role in the Underground Railroad. However, she was also a spy for the Union Army. And in the late 1850s, she helped John Brown plan his raid on Harper’s Ferry and recruit supporters for the raid.
#workingclass #LaborHistory #civilwar #harriettubman #slavery #Abolition #undergroundgailroad #johnbrown #liberation #espionage #strongwomen #BlackMastadon #blm
Today in Labor History September 12, 1977: South African anti-apartheid activist Steve Biko died after being beaten to death by police. Over 20,000 came to his funeral. His coffin was decorated with a clenched black fist. Biko was a socialist, anti-imperialist and pan-African nationalist, influenced by Frantz Fanon, Malcolm X and the U.S. Black Power Movement.
#workingclass #LaborHistory #southafrica #apartheid #racism #stevebiko #MalcolmX #police #policebrutality #policemurder
Today in Labor History March 9, 1841: The U.S. Supreme Court issued a ruling that freed the remaining 35 survivors of the Amistad mutiny. In 1839, Portuguese slave traders had illegally transported 52 Mende people from west Africa to Cuba, on the Amistad, in violation of European treaties against the slave trade. Joseph Cinque led his fellow captive Africans in a mutiny, killing the cook and captain, and forcing the remaining crew to return them to Africa. The crew tricked them and sailed up the Atlantic coast, presuming they would be intercepted by the U.S. Navy, which captured the ship near Montauk, Long Island. President Martin Van Buren wanted to send the prisoners back to Spanish authorities in Cuba to stand trial for mutiny. However, the Court recognized the mutineers’ rights as free citizens. Abolitionists raised funds for the mutineers’ defense. Former President John Quincy Adams, who opposed slavery, represented them in court.
#LaborHistory #workingclass #slavery #amistad #cinque #mutiny #SCOTUS #abolition #johnquincyadams #BlackMastodon
Edited 119d ago
Today In Labor History May 1, 1886: The first nationwide General Strike for the 8-hour day occurred in Milwaukee and other U.S. cities. In Chicago, police killed four demonstrators and wounded over 200. This led to the mass meeting a Haymarket Square, where an unknown assailant threw a bomb, killing several cops. The authorities responded by rounding up all the city’s leading anarchists, and a kangaroo court which wrongfully convicted 8 of them, including Albert Parsons, husband of Lucy Parsons, who would go on to cofound the IWW, along with Mother Jones, Big Bill Haywood, Eugene Debs, and others. Worldwide protests against the convictions and executions followed. To honor the wrongfully executed anarchists, and their struggle for the 8-hour day, May first has ever since been celebrated as International Workers Day in nearly every country in the world, except the U.S.
You can read my complete bio of Lucy Parsons here: https://michaeldunnauthor.com/2024/03/24/lucy-parsons/
#workingclass #LaborHistory #anarchism #haymarket #bombing #policebrutality #police #prison #execution #deathpenalty #GeneralStrike #IWW #lucyparsons #motherjones #EightHourDay #mayday
