The Harsh Times Of The 1890 ' S

1972. Print. This book provides information leading up to the Haymarket Riot, and all the way to the aftermath of the trial. This source provides the key people that were involved in the pre-trial and the post-trial. This source will give clues to the flaws of the capital and labor, which ultimately lead to the changes to the businesses.

In the first half of the 19th Century the working class in the newly industrializing American society suffered many forms of exploitation. The working class of the mid-nineteenth century, with constant oppression by the capitalist and by the division between class, race, and ethnicity, made it difficult to form solidarity. After years of oppression and exploitation by the ruling class, the working class struck back and briefly paralyzed American commerce. The strike, which only lasted a few weeks, was the spark needed to ignite a national revolt by the working class with the most violent labor upheavals of the century.

Industrialization during the progressive era had rapidly grown and changed the country. Factories had widespread and created many jobs, but at the cost of bad working conditions, harsh hours and unfair pay, including little to no restrictions on child labor. Businesses were huge and greedy, monopolizing the nation and wiping out most small businesses. Muckrakers were artists such as journalists and photographers that tried to expose government corruption and draw attention to society's important issues. Ida M Tarbell was a writer of ´The History of the Standard Oil Company¨ was serialized in McCluresś Magazine. Her piece focused on the monopolization of the oil

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

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

In the 1800s and early 1900s working conditions were much harsher than now. Long hours and small wages made up a day in the life of someone living in the late 1800s to the early 1900s. The Haymarket Riot was the result of the bombing in Chicago. “In the summer 1886 the campaign for an eight-hour day, long a rallying cry that united American laborers, culminated in a national strike on May 1, 1886. Between 300,000 and 500,000 workers struck across the country. In Chicago, police forces killed several workers while breaking up protestors at the McCormick reaper works. Labor leaders and radicals called for a protest at Haymarket Square the following day, which police also proceeded to break up. But as they did, a bomb exploded and killed seven policemen. Police fired into the crowd, killing four. The deaths of the Chicago policemen sparked outrage across the nation and the sensationalization of the “Haymarket Riot” helped many Americans to associate unionism with radicalism” (Yawp). As a result of the Haymarket Riot was the loss of members of the Knight of Labor. “The national movement for an eight-hour day collapsed”(Yawp). The Haymarket Riot played an important role in illustrating how labor was in the late 1800s to the

After World War One, the United States went through a decade full of industrial, economical, and social growth. This decade is known as the Roaring 20s. The 1920s was a time of important historical events and technological advancement. The development of consumer goods, such as fridges, typewriters, radios, and cars, created jobs and helped the American economy grow. However, not everyone was able to enjoy the advancement that the boom had assured. Although there were many wealthy people, there were still many people who could not afford to live luxurious lives. Many immigrants were not welcome into to United Stats. Prejudice and racism were spread throughout the country. In spite of the prosperity of the 1920s, the

In a time when live media coverage of a situation such as these strikes was not easily done, the daily or weekly editorial was all the news a regular household across America received. They had to base the majority of their opinion off of these papers. A time period when the phrase yellow journalism was coined. Looking at our list of sources from this time period that mention the newspaper or pertain to the newspaper “Fair Wages” written by an anonymous striker starts off with this “The newspapers have fallen into line to defend the railway companies, who thus have brought all the great guns of public opinion to bear on one side of the fight, so the strikers have got the worst of it before the community” (North American Review) “Fair Wages”, September, 1877 reprinted in Gorn, Et al,

Kracha portrays the two distinct classes in America as “it’s run just like any other country. In Europe your emperors and grand dukes own everything and over here it’s your millionaires and your trust” (Bell 66). Specifically, the May Day Strike where the working class rose against the owners in order to receive eight hour work days on May 1, 1886, where numerous workers left business all over the nation. Unfortunately, on May 3. 1886 violence broke out against the strikers and the police resulting in two strikers killed and many wounded. Violence also occurred in the Homestead strike resulting in “ten men were dead, seven of them steelworkers, and sixty wounded” (Bell 42). These protests by working men for their rights ultimately always ended in violence were the government had to break up the

Eventually, the workers of American Coal, who were once the landowners of the very area they were mining, formed a labor union to fight for better working conditions. The union was met with great opposition by the company’s secret police. As time went on, the coal miners continued to fight for their rights, only to be put down violently by the coal company’s strikebreakers. Union leaders were also fired and blacklisted from the company as a means to put a stop to union activity.

Despite being able to cause a small improvement in workers’ pay and hours, labor unions ultimately died out by the 1900s due to their methods. Unable to truly focus on the plight of skilled workers, most labor unions instead focused on that of unskilled workers, pushing aside the skilled workers. (Doc D). The actions of labor unions ended up being counterproductive, forcing companies to wage war against the labor unions. These stricter contracts such as that of Western Union Telegraph Company, forced workers to affiliate themselves against labor unions. (Doc E) One important thing to note is that the workers’ rights advocates were never able to coincide on one factor. As evidenced in an illustration in 1887, labor unions had to compete with other movements such as socialism, anarchism, and other labor unions. (Doc F). Because of this, the media, although recognizing the labor union movement, began viewing the labor unions as dangerous entities. Although the initial strikes such as the Wabash strike were successful, the ones that followed proved detrimental to the movement, and caused the steady decline of the labor unions. Because some of the strikes were dangerous, many strikes resulted in the deaths of those involved, such as the Homestead Crisis, and Pinkerton (Doc G). Combined with events such as the Wildcat strike, Haymarket strike, the Pullman Strike, the public began to associate a negative

When Daniel Alejandrez was a young boy, he noticed his father bowing his head to a superior and thought to himself that he would never do that. The reason behind this was anger. Fast forward to around the age of seventeen, he and a few fellow coworkers had noticed that they were being paid four times less than his older coworkers who were using machines and not their bare hands. On the radio, a voice called “You must organize. You must seek justice. You must ask for better wages.” The voice was Cesar Chavez. With this quote in mind, he and his coworkers went on strike against the contractor and they raised the wages from $1.65 to $1.95. The point was not to raise wages, but to call attention to the unfair treatment that they were enduring.

|response to a rising tide of strikes and protests that were paralyzing the | |

But they were they poorest group in society, often were homeless and sleeping on the streets. The general public also didn’t like them. 1815 writer wrote that there are 10,000 children living on the streets. So it rends the air and deafen you with their shrill cries. When you were walking on the sidewalks they would surround you. They also would try to force you to buy their newspaper. They looked ragged and dirty all the time. Newsie were employees of the publisher and are not newspapers. They would buy paper from publisher and sell them, acting as independent agents. Typically earning was about thirty cents per day. In 1898 publish raised the cost of papers to newsboys from fifty to sixty cents per one hundred papers. Sense the Spanish-American was increased newspaper sold like crazy. Then strike began in July 1899 there was a large number of boys that refused to dispute the world. There was people who protested on the Brooklyn bridge and stopped traffic and news distributers. Demonstrated by cowling the paper cans and threatening the cart drivers. They threw rocks or beat up at those who didn’t honk. So they brought support to their cases. Then the strike ended after paper had lost a lot of money. Newsboy strike of 1899 proved a big step in child labor rights. It inspired strike such as the butte, Montana newsboys and the strike of 1914 and a 1920s strike in Kentucky. Strikes proved that children had power. They could organize and make things happen for themselves.

passed the Foreign Miners Tax. As a result of the population explosion after the Gold