Monday, February 20, 2012

Today in Labor History—February 20


February 20, 1895 – Frederick Douglass died on this date. In an 1857 address Douglass said, "If there is no struggle, there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom, and yet deprecate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground. They want rain without thunder and lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will." (From the Daily Bleed)

February 20, 1917 - Thousands of women marched to City Hall in New York to demand relief from high wartime food prices. Inflation had wiped out wage gains made by workers prior to the war, leading to a high level of working class protest . (From Workday Minnesota)

February 20, 1937 – The National Lawyers' Guild was founded on this date. (From the Daily Bleed)

February 20, 1947
– 15 people were killed and 100 were injured as an explosion leveled a Los Angeles, California, electroplating plant where a chemical mixing error occurred. (From the Daily Bleed)

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