Today in Labor History—April 26

Levellers Declaration (public domain)

April 26, 1649 – Robert Lockier was sentenced to be shot for leading a revolt by the New Model Army in England.  The first Digger's Manifesto, “The True Levellers' Standard Advanced,” was published:

"For by their labours, [the poor] have lifted up Tyrants & Tyranny; & by denying to labour for hire, they shall pull them down again. He that works for another, either for Wages, or to pay him Rent, works unrighteously, & still lifts up the Curse."  (From the Daily Bleed) 

Apr 26, 1862 – The Anti-Coolie Act of April 26th, 1862 was passed. It was titled "An Act to Protect Free White Labor.” The law was one of a series of xenophobic laws enacted specifically to block the immigration of Chinese to the U.S., particularly to California. (From San Francisco Chinatown.com)

April 26, 1873 – Captain Thomas Wright and Captain Evan Thomas were beaten by Captain Jacks' band of Modocs in the "Thomas-Wright Massacre." U.S. troops lost twenty men & and four officers. 16 were wounded, while one-third of their troops were lost to desertion. The Modocs suffered no deaths. (From the Daily Bleed)

Chinese Laborers Building Transcontinental Railroad in Snow

April 26, 1902 –The U.S. Congress continued its xenophobic and racist practices by passing the second Chinese Exclusion Act, barring Chinese laborers from entering the U.S. for the next 10 years and denying citizenship to the Chinese already here. In 1904 the act was extended indefinitely. (From the Daily Bleed)

April 26, 1942 – The deadliest mining disaster ever occurred in Benxi, China, when an explosion killed between 1,549 and 1,572 miners at the Honkeiko mine. (From the Daily Bleed)

April 26, 1966 – Rodolfo "Corky" Gonzales started the Chicano activist group Crusade for Justice in Denver, Colorado. (From the Daily Bleed)

April 26, 1968 – As many as one million high school and college students across U.S. protested the war in Viet Nam, with 2,000 boycotting classes at University of Washington. (From the Daily Bleed)

April 26, 1975 – 60,000 people marched on Washington, D.C., demanding jobs for all Americans. Angry people rushed the stage, which included mainstream politicians like Hubert Humphrey, causing the rally to be shut down prematurely. (From Workday Minnesota)

Mutation Attributed to Chernobyl (Image by Vincent de Groot, wikipedia)

April 26, 1986 – The Chernobyl nuclear disaster occurred in Ukraine, U.S.S.R. (From the Daily Bleed)