In all of our country’s history, no single labor strike has engulfed more lives than the Battle of Blair Mountain: the largest labor skirmish ever in the US and one of the bloodiest battles fought on American soil since the Civil War. It began in 1921, as tensions...
Working hard to enjoy a better life is a quintessential American value, and it helps to explain why men and women have stood up throughout the nation’s history to demand better wages, safer working conditions, and fair treatment and respect from their employers....
The nascent labor unions of the 19th century sought to rally workers in order to secure favorable wages and working conditions, but two divergent strategies emerged over how to best organize them. Advocates of craft unionism supported the belief that unions should...
Crippling unemployment, low wages, and labor uncertainty characterized workers’ lives during the torturous years of the Great Depression. Although President Franklin. D Roosevelt’s New Deal created jobs and relief programs for millions of Americans, by 1940, the...
During World War II, the federal government kept labor unions on a tight leash for fear that their organizing might undermine industrial production for the war effort. However, with the end of the war, unions’ power and influence surged. By 1954—less than a decade...
