Today in Other: Boston Anti-War Parade (1917)
On this day in 1917, radicals organized a parade in Boston against the war, with banners:
IS THIS A POPULAR WAR, WHY CONSCRIPTION?
WHO STOLE PANAMA? WHO CRUSHED HAITI?
WE DEMAND PEACE.
The New York Call said eight thousand people marched, including "4000 members of the Central Labor Union, 2000 members of the Leftist Socialist Organizations, 1500 Lithuanians, Jewish members of cloak trades, and other branches of the party." The parade was attacked by soldiers and sailors, on orders from their officers.
Today in Other: St. Louis Race Massacre (1917)
The city of East St. Louis, Illinois was the scene of one of the bloodiest race riots in the 20th century. Racial tensions began to increase in February, 1917 when 470 African American workers were hired to replace white workers who had gone on strike against the Aluminum Ore Company. The use of non-white strikebreaking workers often fractured class solidarity along racial lines.
At a city council meeting, angry white workers lodged formal complaints against black migrations to the Mayor of East St. Louis. After the meeting had ended, news of an attempted robbery of a white man by an armed black man began to circulate through the city. As a result of this news, white mobs formed and rampaged through downtown, beating all African Americans who were found. The mobs also stopped trolleys and streetcars, pulling black passengers out and beating them on the streets and sidewalks.
In spite of this terrorization of the black community, no meaningful protection or reform was offered by the city government. On this day in 1917, the racial violence resumed at a fever pitch, with white mobs gunning down men, women, and children and burning down the homes of black families with them trapped inside. Over one hundred black people were killed.
Today in Labor: Homestead Strike Begins (1892)
The Homestead Strike was an
... keep reading on reddit ➡This is from his mini-series Behind the Police episode 2: How the 1st police went from Gangsters to an army for the rich.
At about min 71 they were talking about those Homestead Strike. He mentioned originally the local Sherif deputies where the ones going up against the workers, but they refused to continue fighting against the works because they lived among the workers. Basically they didn't want to shot their neighbor because it might make Sunday after church line awkward.
This has felt a bit like a punch in the stomach. There have been lots of complaints about my local police force not living in the city they protect. I went on a few dates with a cop last year and I asked him why he didn't live in the city he polices he told me it was recommended that he didn't. Part of me wonders if things like what happened in Homestead are why.
I've just finished reading The Anarchy by William Dalrymple, as well as Imperial Twilight by Stephen R. Platt, and was wondering if there was anything in a similar vein that discusses the mega corporations of the U.S. in the late nineteenth century that led to the Pinkertons, anti-trust laws, and all of the other chaos of the era. What I appreciated about those previously mentioned books was that they didn't portray all of the key players as geniuses or titans of the time, but as ordinary men who ended up making a lot of dumb decisions with reverberating consequences that are still felt today, and was hoping there was something similar that dissected our own corporate history here in the U.S.
I have a presentation on Monday geared around answer this question in the context of the Homestead Act: To what extent did labor contribute to economic and political progress in the United States during the Gilded Age?
So far, I had something like this: The Homestead Strike significantly contributes to political progress in the US because it demonstrates a strained relationship between workers and companies that requires more legislation and governmental intervention to regulate.
Is that ok, or should I tweak it a bit? I don't really have an answer for the economic side of it.
Did Carnegie know that Frick had hired Pinkerton detectives to crush the strike? I know that his stance was support but what did he really think?
So I was going through some old family records that my dad photocopied from my grandfather's files back in the 90's. Among them are two accounts of my great-great-grandfather, John Paige Kennedy, and one written just before he died. I've scanned the accounts & put them in this album
According to the second account:
>Military record of J.P.Kennedy. Enlisted in the National in Co. D. 13th regt. in aug. 1875. Was appointed Let. Seargt early in 1876. Camped in philadelphia for two weeks in aug 1876 at the centennial celebration.
>Served as 1st Seargt in the Railroad riots in pittsburgh in p 1877. for 35 days. This co. mustered out in 1882.
>Organized Co.D Fifth regt. N.G.P. in Blairsville in 1887. was elected Capt.. Had the Honor when the H.G was called to suppress the Mob in 1892 at homestead to command the advance on and disperse the rioters. This was the great Homestead strike.
>Was Promoted to Major of the Fifth regt. in 1893. Commanded the first Batt. of the Fifth regt. In the Punxuutawney coal strike of 1894
>Volunteered os Major of the Fifth Penna. Volunteers for the war with Spain. Sworn in april 27th 1898. Musteres out Nov. 11th, 1898.
>Commanded his Battalion in the Grand review in Philad. at close of the Spanish-American War.
>This ended my Military service to the State and Nation.
I'm kind of shocked that I would have an ancestor who was directly involved in some of the most notorious labour disputes in American history; it's like he had a front-row seat for the Gilded Age.
The other, longer account is what gets me: It's about 8 pages long and is much more prosaic. His military record is almost nonexistent:
>On the 19th of July the great r.r. strike occurred and there were great riots in several places but Pittsburgh was the worst anI with my brotherinlaw John.A.Mc.Kesson we went with the company almost a month.
>In 1892 we had the Homestead Riots when the writer served in the same for a period of 32 days.
>On the 15th of feb. 1898, the Battleship Maine was blown up in Havana harbor, resulting in a declaration of war with the Kingdom of Old Spain on the 27th. day of april. Yours truly spent the rest of that year as a volunteer soldier, being mustered out on the 11th day of november of 1898.
Though there is a ton of stuff about buildings he worked on (he was an architect/carpenter); most of them are pretty standard wooden buildings (churches, houses, businesses
... keep reading on reddit ➡I've heard conflicting information about Carnegie's role in the corporate decisions regarding the Homestead Strike, and his feelings about the violence that ensued.
Did he support the tactics Frick employed?
