Today in Labor History Mar 9 "Slovak strike" begins on this date and continues for nearly 16 months

March 9


March 9, 1841 - The U.S. Supreme Court issued a ruling freeing the remaining 35 survivors of the Amistad mutiny. In 1839, Joseph Cinque led 52 fellow captive Africans in a revolt aboard the Spanish schooner Amistad. After the ship was stopped by the U.S. Navy, President Martin Van Buren wanted the prisoners returned to Spanish authorities in Cuba to stand trial for mutiny. But the U.S. courts recognized their rights as free citizens.

March 9, 1902 - Actor Will Geer was born. Best known for his role as Grandpa Walton in the TV series, “The Waltons,” Geer appeared in the groundbreaking film “Salt of the Earth” and was blacklisted for his activism on labor and political issues.

The Westmoreland County (Pa.) Coal Strike – known as the "Slovak strike" because some 70 percent of the 15,000 strikers were Slovakian immigrants – begins on this date and continues for nearly 16 months before ending in defeat. Sixteen miners and family members were killed during the strike - 1912

March 9, 1919 - Twin Cities residents crowd Commonwealth Hall in Minneapolis for a showing of “The Blacklist,” a realistic film depicting the massacre of miners and their families in Ludlow, Colorado, five years before.

Work begins on the $8 billion, 800-mile-long Alaska Oil pipeline connecting oil fields in northern Alaska to the sea port at Valdez. Tens of thousands of people worked on the pipeline, enduring long hours, cold temperatures, and brutal conditions. At least 32 died on the job - 1974

Labor history found here: http://www.unionist.com/today-in-labor-history & here: http://www.workdayminnesota.org/index.php?history_9_03_09_2010

God bless those who fought for a better life, so we could have one