Black Steelworkers in Western Pennsylvania

Posted by on Nov 29, 2013 in | Comments Off on Black Steelworkers in Western Pennsylvania Blacks constituted a sizable core of workers in the iron and steel industry of western Penn­sylvania between 1900 and 1950. Most had migrated to the Pittsburgh vicinity from the agricultural South during the two World Wars in hopes of improving their economic plight by obtaining jobs in area mills and foundries. However, racial discrimination prevented the majority of them from advancing beyond...
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Blacks and the Labor Movement in Pennsylvania: The Beginnings

Posted by on Nov 29, 2013 in | Comments Off on Blacks and the Labor Movement in Pennsylvania: The Beginnings I It is important to understand the relationship be­ tween Black and white labor from the time of slavery to the Civil War in order to understand the position of Blacks in the early labor movement. Since the early trade unions were primarily for skilled workers, the elimination of Blacks from the skilled trades helps explain their absence from the unions. In addition, the conflict between white...
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That Magnificent Fight for Unionism: The Somerset County Strike of 1922

Posted by on Nov 26, 2013 in | Comments Off on That Magnificent Fight for Unionism: The Somerset County Strike of 1922 During 1920 and 1921, western Pennsylvania’s coal mine operators campaigned vigorously to slash wages of the miners they employed. Because demand for coal declined after World War One the operators were forced to reduce production, resulting in stack, or in some cases, the complete shutdown of operations. Many miners drifted to factory jobs in nearby cities, or simply clung to hope -and...
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Teetering on the Brink of Rebellion?

Posted by on Nov 26, 2013 in | Comments Off on Teetering on the Brink of Rebellion? Nineteenth century Harrisburg’s most rousing labor disorders erupted in July 1877 as part of the wave of spontaneous railway strikes sweeping the nation. The rioting that disrupted the quiet city overlooking the broad Susquehanna River was part of the country’s first wide­spread labor upheaval. The Great Railway Strikes, in turn, were a product of the Panic of 1873, then in its...
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Unity House, A Workers’ Shangri-La

Posted by on Nov 26, 2013 in | Comments Off on Unity House, A Workers’ Shangri-La I can imagine the hundreds of people who were here on any summer evening,” recalls Nelson Whittaker, veteran custodian of twenty-five years. “They’d be walking around, talking, going to a theater performance, dancing in the ballroom, listening to a lecture, enjoying a fantastic meal. Now, it’s all gone.” For most of the twentieth century, garment workers –...
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Born to Organize

Posted by on Nov 26, 2013 in | Comments Off on Born to Organize For nearly two decades, from 1944 to 1963, in northeastern Pennsylvania’s Wyoming Valley, a center of anthracite mining, Min L. Matheson (1909-1992) and the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union (ILGWU) were synonymous with notions of “community.” A charitable event? Count on the ILGWU to provide volunteers and raise money. Patients at an area veterans’...
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The UMWA Wins America’s Approval: John Mitchell and the Anthracite Strike of 1902

Posted by on Nov 25, 2013 in | Comments Off on The UMWA Wins America’s Approval: John Mitchell and the Anthracite Strike of 1902 Labor leader John Mitchell’s reputation seemed to precede him no matter where he traveled during the summer of 1902. Coal miners throughout northeastern Pennsylvania’s anthracite region referred to the boyish-looking thirty-two-year-old president of the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) as their beloved “Johnny d’Mitch.” His photograph hung in their homes beside...
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Living for Reform

Posted by on Nov 25, 2013 in | Comments Off on Living for Reform For too long, Joseph A. Yablonski (1910-1969) – known to most simply as Jock – had seen things go wrong in the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA), once a respected labor union. He had served in its hierarchy but with an increasingly troubled conscience. What mattered to him most was that things had to change and he had to lead the charge to change them. He ardently believed that...
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Answering the Call of Honor: The Origins of the Pennsylvania State Police

Posted by on Nov 25, 2013 in | Comments Off on Answering the Call of Honor: The Origins of the Pennsylvania State Police CALL OF HONOR I AM A PENNSYLVANIA STATE TROOPER, A SOLIDER OF THE LAW. TO ME IS ENTRUSTED THE HONOR OF THE FORCE. I MUST SERVE HONESTLY, FAITHFULLY, AND IF NEED BE, LAY DOWN MY LIFE AS OTHERS HAVE DONE BEFORE ME, RATHER THAN SWERVE FROM THE PATH OF DUTY. IT IS MY DUTY TO OBEY THE LAW AND TO ENFORCE IT WITHOUT ANY CONSIDERATION OF CLASS, COLOR, CREED OR CONDITION. IT IS ALSO MY DUTY TO BE OF...
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Martin Ritt Takes on The Molly Maguires

Posted by on Nov 25, 2013 in | Comments Off on Martin Ritt Takes on The Molly Maguires Far from the glitter and glamour of Hollywood, in a remote mountain range of Pennsylvania, the film industry’s best and brightest gathered in the late 1960s to make a film that has been described as a dismal financial failure and, ironically, an extraordinary critical suc­cess. Before cameras whirred in and around the communities of Hazleton, Luzerne County, Jim Thorpe, Carbon County,...
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