In many cities such as Louisville and Pittsburgh, striking railroad workers were joined by other workers from nearby foundries, mills, mines, and factories forming local general strikes. Strikes along the B&O line quickly spread north and westward through Albany, Buffalo, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Chicago, Louisville, and Cincinnati as socialist newspapers spread the news of the strike and ensuing confrontation. Mathews promptly deployed local militia and later the national guard when authorities could not break up the crowd that had gathered. The rail workers uncoupled the locomotives in the station and stored them in the roundhouse, refusing to open the railways until the cut was rescinded. On July 16, 1877, workers at the B&O station in Martinsburg, West Virginia, decided to occupy the train depot to protest a 10 percent wage cut. Already underpaid and overworked under dangerous working conditions, rail workers began organizing on a massive scale. By 1877, four years into the economic depression, railroad companies had taken full advantage of the economic crisis to cut wages and break newly establish trade unions that had just been formed by workers in the wake of the Civil War. Subsequently, European and American investors began rapidly selling off the investments they made in emerging American projects, namely, railroads. In the late 19th century, a major economic crisis known as the Panic of 1873, sparked a chain reaction of bank failures and the temporary closure of the New York Stock Exchange. So what lessons can we learn from a 145-year-old strike? Also, how can the information help us structure mass labor movements in the future? Also called “the Great Upheaval,” the general strike led to an explosion of trade unionism and leftist organizing. Those well-read in American labor history will know that this would not have been the first significant railroad strike in United States history in fact, it was a major railroad strike in 1877 that kicked off one of the first nationwide worker uprisings in this country. Includes a set of primary source documents, classroom exercises, and suggested reading and viewing.As we arrived on the precipice of a major railroad strike that could have seen as many as 100,000 workers walk out on strike, it is essential that we remember the long history of labor struggle that has led us to this moment. Papenfuse's The Baltimore Railroad Strike and Riot of 1877, hosted by the Maryland State Archives. Includes primary sources, a listing of relevant national history standards, and additional resources.Įdward C. Consists of a series of stereoview cards showing the aftermath of the strike in Pittsburgh. The Great Railroad Strike of 1877, hosted by the University of Pittsburgh Library's Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania Labor Legacy project. Brief, heavily illustrated account of the strike to accompany the video produced by CUNY's American Social History Project. Viewer's Guide for 1877: The Grand Army of Starvation. Stephen Brier, producer, 1877: The Grand Army of Starvation (Wycoff, N.J.: American Social History Project, 1987). Sweeping overview of American social history. 2 (San Diego: Harcourt Brace Javonovich, 1989). Stephan Thernstrom, A History of the American People, 2nd ed., vol. An accessible and concise history of industrialization in America. Walter Licht, Industrializing America: The Nineteenth Century (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1995). Useful lesson plan incorporating primary sources. Beware that many citations in the notes are inaccurate.īruce Lesh, "Using Primary Sources to Teach the Rail Strike of 1877." OAH Magazine of History 13(4): 38-47. The standard history of the Great Strike of 1877, written from a generally pro-labor position. Foner, The Great Labor Uprising of 1877 (New York: Monad Press, 1977). Bruce, 1877: Year of Violence (Chicago: Ivan Dee, 1959).Ī somewhat dated but quite well-written and well-documented account.
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