Today in labor history: 1871 Great Fire ravages Chicago
It burned for three days, killing 200-300 people, destroying 17,450 buildings, leaving 100,000 homeless and causing damages worth an estimated $200 million in 1871 dollars.
Today in labor history: President Truman busts oil workers strike
President Harry Truman ordered the U.S. Navy to seize oil refineries involved in a strike that stretched from coast to coast.
Today in labor history: Singer-songwriter Woody Guthrie dies at age 55
Guthrie traveled with workers and learned their traditional songs, earning himself the nickname "Dust Bowl Troubadour."
Today in history: Thurgood Marshall sworn into Supreme Court
Thurgood Marshall was sworn in as Supreme Court justice, making him the first African American in history to hold that position.
Today in labor history: George Washington bridge opened
The George Washington Bridge, a suspension bridge spanning the Hudson River and connecting Manhattan in New York City to Fort Lee in N.J., was officially inaugurated.
Today in labor history: Suffragette socialist Sylvia Pankhurst dies in 1960
Most people don't realize that a legendary suffragette, Sylvia Pankhurst, lived well into the mid-20th century.
Today in labor history: First Model T leaves the assembly line
The problems of speedup and other dangerous assembly line practices were skewered in Charlie Chaplin's classic film "Modern Times."
Today in labor history: Mother Jones leads march of miners’ children
Labor organizer Mother Jones led a march of miners' children through the streets of Charleston to illustrate the effects of poverty.
Today in Labor History: "The Jungle" published
Upton Sinclair, a poor young socialist determined to do his part to make a better world, wrote his incredible book in the tarpaper shack that was his home.
Today in labor history: Tuskegee Institute opened
The school focused at least officially on industrial and agricultural education in keeping with Washington's pedagogy and philosophy
