Tragedy hit the docks of Everett, Washington, Sunday November 5, 1916 which would be known as “Bloody Sunday.” On November 5, 1916 the Everett Massacre was the culmination of labor trouble which had been brewing for months. It was one of the bloodiest single episodes of labor-related violence in the Pacific Northwest.
In 1916, Everett, Washington was facing severe economic difficulty. There was ongoing confrontation between business and commercial interests and labor and labor organizers. The laborer had numbers of organized rallies and speeches on the street. These were opposed by local law enforcement, which was firmly on the side of the business. On May 1, 1916 the Everett Shingle Weavers Union went on strike. The strike was settled quickly in favor of the mills owner, but one. This is when the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) or “Wobbies” became involved and the trouble began. Many members of the IWW saw this to be an opportunity to organize and provide support for the strikers. When IWW organizer and speaker James Rowan arrived on Everett June 31, 1916, Everett became home to IWW newest “Free-Speech Fight”. Everett employers clashed with IWW stubbornness. On the corner of Hewitt and Wetmore, IWW’s speakers chose to speak. At first the speakers would get arrested and get released. Members were paid one dollar by the union for every day they were in jail. Everett jails were kept busy and Snohomish County Sheriff Donald McRae quickly became frustrated. McRae’s next solution was to arrest the speakers and send them to Seattle, instructing them not to return to Everett.
On August 19, 1916 the balance changed, after an episode of violence hit the Jamison Mill. On that day at the start of the shift, strike-b...
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...leased from jail, nearly the whole body of IWW men went to Mount Pleasant cemetery to visit the graves of their dead fellow workers.
Everett was “Wobbies” last free speech fight. The violence that took place on November 5, 1916 will never be forgotten and left its mark in the Pacific Northwest history. Workers of the Pacific Northwest actively shaped their lives both on and off work. But this wouldn’t be the last of many changes in the Pacific Northwest.
Works Cited
Schwantes, Carlos. “The Pacific Northwest: An Interpretive History.” University of Nebraska. 1996.
University of Washington “The 1916 Everett, Washington Massacre.” 2010. 15 March 2011. Essay on the Everett Massacre HistoryLink.org - The Online Encyclopedia of Washington State History, 12 March 2011.
This strike was a battle over several issues. One factor that escalated the strike intensity was the pensions battle. Billons of dollars in pensions were on the line. The Teamste...
Phelan, Mary Kay. The Story of the Boston Massacre. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell, 1976. Print.
During the Colorado Coal Strike from 1913 to 1914, one of the largest losses of life was the Ludlow Massacre, or sometimes referred to as the Battle of Ludlow, on April 20, 1914. Colorado was the epicenter for mine-related violence in the West. From 1913 to 1918, the United Mine Workers of America launched a full-scale unionization campaign by sending forty-two organizers to the Trinidad coal mine located in Ludlow, Colorado. Ludlow was the largest tent colony in Colorado and a major source of tension during the Colorado Coal Strike. Strikers were asking for better wages and pay for “dead work” (unpaid work necessary for maintaining workable conditions), an eight-hour workday, the right to elect their own checkweighmen, the right to choose what resources they buy and use, and the enforcement of the Colorado Mining Laws.
Life in the early 1900’s wasn’t easy. Competition for jobs was at an all time high, especially in New York City. Immigrants were flooding in and needed to find work fast, even if that meant in the hot, overcrowded conditions of garment factories. Conditions were horrid and disaster was inevitable, and disaster did strike in March, 1911. The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in New York set on fire, killing 146 workers. This is an important event in US history because it helped accomplish the tasks unions and strikes had tried to accomplish years earlier, It improved working conditions in factories nationwide and set new safety laws and regulations so that nothing as catastrophic would happen again. The workplace struggles became public after this fire, and the work industry would never remain the same again.
The Pullman Strike of 1894 was the first national strike in American history and it came about during a period of unrest with labor unions and controversy regarding the role of government in business.5 The strike officially started when employees organized and went to their supervisors to ask for a lowered rent and were refused.5 The strike had many different causes. For example, workers wanted higher wages and fewer working hours, but the companies would not give it to them; and the workers wanted better, more affordable living quarters, but the companies would not offer that to them either. These different causes created an interesting and controversial end to the Pullman strike. Because of this, questions were raised about the strike that are still important today. Was striking a proper means of getting what the workers wanted? Were there better means of petitioning their grievances? Was government intervention constitutional? All these questions were raised by the Pullman Strike.
In February 1998, Watertown, SD, was not bursting with riveting activity. Watertown had a population of 20,127 people in 1998, which is not much less than the 22,000 residents it has today. Brenda Barger was mayor of Watertown, SD, during the years of some of the worst flooding ever in Watertown. Although the little town of Watertown seems like the perfect rural town to raise a family, it’s not all butterflies and rainbows. On February 1, it was reported that two teenage girls were accused of beating a 47 year-old man to death in his home. David Paul Bauman died of a head injury caused by the girls. Bauman was currently unemployed and mildly disabled due to a car accident a number of years earlier (“2 Teen-agers Arrested in Watertown Killing”
The early 1900s was a time of many movements, from the cities to the rural farms; people were uniting for various causes. One of the most widespread was the labor movement, which affected people far and wide. Conditions in the nation’s workplaces were notoriously poor, but New York City fostered the worst. Factories had started out in the city’s tenements, which were extremely cramped, poorly ventilated, and thoroughly unsanitary. With the advent of skyscrapers, factories were moved out of the tenements and into slightly larger buildings, which still had terrible conditions. Workers were forced to work long hours (around 12 hours long) six hours a day, often for extremely low pay. The pay was also extremely lower for women, who made up a large portion of the shirtwaist industry. If a worker were to openly contest an employer’s rule, they would be promptly fired and replaced immediately. Also, strength in numbers did not always work. Managers often hired brutal strikebreakers to shut movements down. The local police and justice were often of no help to the workers, even when women were being beaten. At the time, the workers needs were not taken seriously and profit was placed ahead of human life. This was not just a struggle for workers’ rights; it was also a movement for the working class’ freedom.
On March 5, 1770 a fight broke out in the streets of Boston, Massachusetts between a patriot mob and British soldiers. Citizens attacked a squad of soldiers by throwing snowballs, stones and sticks. British Army soldiers in turn killed five civilians and injured six others. The presence of British troops had been stationed in Boston, the capital of Province of Massachusetts Bay since 17681. The British existence was increasingly unwelcome. The British troops were sent to Boston in order to protect and support the crown-appointed colonial officials attempting to enforce unpopular Parliamentary legislation.
Beginning in the late 1700’s and growing rapidly even today, labor unions form the backbone for the American workforce and continue to fight for the common interests of workers around the country. As we look at the history of these unions, we see powerful individuals such as Terrence Powderly, Samuel Gompers, and Eugene Debs rise up as leaders in a newfound movement that protected the rights of the common worker and ensured better wages, more reasonable hours, and safer working conditions for those people (History). The rise of these labor unions also warranted new legislation that would protect against child labor in factories and give health benefits to workers who were either retired or injured, but everyone was not on board with the idea of foundations working to protect the interests of the common worker. Conflict with their industries lead to many strikes across the country in the coal, steel, and railroad industries, and several of these would ultimately end up leading to bloodshed. However, the existence of labor unions in the United States and their influence on their respective industries still resonates today, and many of our modern ideals that we have today carry over from what these labor unions fought for during through the Industrial Revolution.
Anthony Marshall, discussed obstacles faced when attempting to teach students of the painful event in the city’s past, without use of textbooks as a reference. Dr. Marshall challenged the lack of curriculum and worked to change the curriculum to include discussing the horrific massacre.
Wright, Carroll D. "The Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steelworkers," Quarterly Journal of Economics, 7,
Throughout history, events are sparked by something, which causes emotions to rise and tensions to come to a breaking point. The Boston Massacre was no exception; America was feeling the pressure of the British and was ready to break away from the rule. However, this separation between these two parties would not come without bloodshed on both sides. The British did not feel the American had the right to separate them from under British rule, but the Americans were tired of their taxes and rules being placed upon them and wanted to succeed from their political tyrants. The Boston Massacre would be the vocal point in what would be recognized, as the Revolutionary War in American history and the first place lives would be lost for the cost of liberty. Even though the lives were lost that day, eight British soldiers were mendaciously accused of murder when it was clearly self-defense. People who are placed in a situation where their lives are threatened have the right to defend themselves. History does not have the right to accuse any one event those history may have considered the enemy guilty when they are fighting for their lives.
In the roaring twenties, the life of organized crimes was at its peak. What was the greatest mob hit ever pulled off in history? Well I'll tell you. It all happened on Valentines Day, the morning of February 14th, 1929. This incident was call, "The St. Valentines Day Massacre". The man behind this infamous crime was none other than, the infamous Al "Scarface" Capone. Al Capone was the all time greatest mobster of all time. The idea of organized crime fascinates me in so many ways. Capone was the only person to have pulled off such a crime. Al Capone was top gangster in Chicago and was one of the greatest members of the Italian Mafia and George "Bugs" Moran was the leader of the Irish/German mafia and he was the main target behind this hit. He targeted Capone because Al Capones had a bounty on his head, $60,000,000, and found George Moran as a threat. George was Capone's biggest threat of all. He needed to take him out quickly. (Al Capone, True Crime Story). Writing this paper will let me learn a lot more about this massacre. There is one question I would like answered, "Why hadn't Moran's crew made an attempt to fight back?" (Al Capone, True Crime Story). Moran's men had a long history of being violent with others. This is one question that we will never know. My most used source on this essay will be internet information and a book. I feel these sources will give me the most amount of information. Using a magazine will too but it was very hard to find a 20's magazine article.
Elizabeth Flynn, “The Industrial Workers of the World and the Free Speech Fights,” in Voices of Freedom. Ed. By Eric Foner
Ethics and the Unions - Part 1. Industrial Workers of the World. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.iww.org/en/history/library/Dolgoff/newbeginning/1