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Declaration of Independence
On July 4, 1776, the Continental Congress approved the Declaration of Independence, which the 13 American colonies used to dissolve their political ties to Great Britain. The Declaration outlined the reasons why the colonies wanted independence. The Declaration of Independence states the principles on which our government, and our identity as Americans, are based. -
Atlanta's Washerwomen Strike
The Atlanta washerwomen strike of 1881 was a labor strike in Atlanta, Georgia involving mainly African American washerwomen, and more individuals. The strike not only raised wages, it more importantly established laundresses and all black women workers as instrumental to the New South's economy. The white establishment was forced to acknowledge that black women workers, who were former slaves, were not invisible. -
Samuel Gompers
Samuel Gompers (Samuel Gumpertz) was born in the Spitalfields area of London on January 27, 1850. Samuel Gompers (1850-1924) is the founder of the American Federation of Labor (AFL). Gifted at formatting and assembling strikes, Gompers used them as effective weapons to change the degrading conditions of the working men of America. -
Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire
The Triangle tragedy is often credited with the creation of the federal labor protections that many workers enjoy today. The right to organize, unemployment compensation, minimum wage, and overtime pay after a 40-hour workweek were all part of Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal Legislation. Overall, the Triangle fire inspired a great campaign of workplace reform. -
Eugene Victor Debs
Debs was born on November 5, 1855. Eugene Debs supported broad-based union tactics including boycotts and political alliances, and organizing all workers. Eugene was a founder of the Industrial Workers of the World which helped industrial workers. -
Frances Perkins
Having earned the co-operation and the respect of various political factions, Perkins helped put New York in the forefront of progressive reform. She expanded factory investigations, reduced the workweek for women to 48 hours, and championed minimum wage and unemployment insurance laws. -
I’ve Been to the Mountaintop Speech
On April 3, 1968, the day before he was killed, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke at Memphis, Tennessee's Mason Temple in support of the striking sanitation workers. King challenges the US to uphold its ideals and asks for cooperation, economic action, boycotts, and nonviolent protest. He talks about the prospect of passing away unexpectedly at the conclusion of his speech. -
Martin Luther King Jr.
Martin Luther King, Jr., twentieth-century America's most compelling and effective civil rights leader, was born on January 15, 1929, in Atlanta, Georgia. On April 3, 1968, Martin Luther King gave his last speech to support sanitation workers on strike for union recognition in Memphis. The next day King was assassinated. -
He Showed Us the Way Speech
Delivered in April of 1978. This was to honor the memory of Martin Luther King, Jr. In it, he outlined how King's thoughts on nonviolence had become a pattern for the struggles of the United Farm Workers union. This worked because he was asking for people to step forward and take action, using the best tool possible. The main theme of this is nonviolence over violence. -
Cesar Chavez
César Chávez was born on March 31, 1927 to a Mexican American family in Yuma, AZ. On April 10, 1966, a crowd of 10,000 farm workers and supporters gathered at the California state capitol to celebrate victory in one of the most significant strikes in American history, one that made Cesar Chavez famous as leader of the National Farm Workers Association, which later became the United Farm Workers. This was big for the labor rights movement.