Today in Labor History—June 12

June 12, 1402 – The Duke of Burgundy massacred 3500 people in Paris. (From the Daily Bleed)

June 12, 1868 – U.S. troops invade Japan "to protect US interests" during their civil war. (From the Daily Bleed)

June 12, 1904 - 50,000 members of the Amalgamated Meat Cutters and Butcher Workmen walked off their jobs across the U.S. They were demanding an equalization of wages and conditions throughout U.S. plants. (From Workday Minnesota)

Francisco Ferrer

June 12, 1907 – Francisco Ferrer y Guàrdia, Spanish anarchist and creator of the original Modern School, was released from prison today for lack of evidence. He had been arrested on June 4, 1906, for complicity in an assassination attempt against King Alfonso, and held in the Carcelo Modelo in Madrid. The bombing had been committed by another young anarchist named Morral, who hid his bomb in a bunch of flowers and tossed it into the royal wedding party, killing 15 and wounding more than 70. (From the Daily Bleed)

June 12, 1910 – The Francisco Ferrer Association in the U.S. was founded, forming a colony in New Jersey and the first U.S. Modern School in New York. (From the Daily Bleed)

June 12, 1912— Massachusetts became the first state to adopt a minimum wage law. Other states passed similar laws later that year. (From Shmoop Labor History)

June 12, 1957 – Hundreds of students continued to fight cops and attack Communist Party headquarters in Hang Yang, China. (From the Daily Bleed)

June 12, 1963 – NAACP leader Medgar Evers fatally shot, Jackson, Mississippi. His murderer is not convicted until 1994. (From the Daily Bleed)

June 12, 1964 – Nelson Mandela was sentenced to life imprisonment for "sabotaging" the South African government. (From the Daily Bleed)

June 12, 1967 – The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously voted to end laws banning interracial marriages, which was still illegal in 16 states. (From the Daily Bleed)

June 12, 1967 – Riots occurred in African Americans communities in Tampa, Florida, with more following in Dayton and Cincinnati, Ohio two days later. (From the Daily Bleed)

  

June 12, 1985 – 1,756 people were arrested in 150 cities across the U.S. protesting against illegal American arming and financing of Nicaraguan Contras. (From the Daily Bleed)