In the early evening of May 15, 1923, Upton Sinclair stood before a crowd on Liberty Hill in San Pedro. Known for years as a muckraker and radical author, Sinclair had a gift for using words to challenge social injustice. In 1906, he published The Jungle, a novel that told of the atrocious working conditions […]
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Not long ago, American workers spent the majority of their waking hours ar work. It was common for them to toil six 12-hour days a week in their jobs. In many cases, shifts often exceeded 13 to 14 hours of work in a day. As trade unions struggled to secure their rightful place in society, […]
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Among the gravesites in the old Union Miners Cemetery in Mount Olive, Illinois, there stands a monument dedicated to and elderly woman, Mary “Mother” Jones. Standing no more than five feet tall, clad in a black dress with just a touch of lace at her throat and wrists, Mother Jones was an iconic view of […]
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Above the bustling streets of New York City, just before closing time on March 11, 1911, a fire broke out on the top floors of the Asch Building of the Triangle Shirtwaist Company. Within minutes, the quiet spring afternoon erupted into chaos, destroying the lives of young workers. Within the thirty minutes it took to […]
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There are few living today who would associate the right to freedom of speech with the image of a scrappy hobo sitting in a jail cell. But in 1909, this very image defined what became known as the Spokane Free Speech fight. The conflict began with lumber and agricultural workers resisting a profit-making scheme hatched […]
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