The Rise of the Labor Movement & Employer Resistance in the Late 19th Century

After the Civil War, the simultaneous shift in the labor economy of the Southern United States and the second industrial revolution led to a growing interest in labor organizing. Newly formed labor organizations led a combined 23,000 strikes between 1881 and 1900. Employers noticed, and fought back, sometimes literally, employing Pinkerton agents to break strikes, rounding up and imprisoning or deporting union employees, and using various forms of intimidation against workers. Joining me to help us learn much more about the story of employers and elites resisting labor rights is Dr. Chad. Pearson , a lecturer at the University of North Texas and author of Capital’s Terrorists: Klansmen, Lawmen, and Employers in the Long Nineteenth Century . Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag , composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The mid-episode audio is “ Labor Day ” by Dick Wright & The Wright Trio, in the Public domain and available via the Internet Archive. The episode image is: “ The labor troubles at Homestead, Pa. - Attack of the strikers and their sympathizers on the surrendered Pinkerton men ,” drawn by Miss G.A. Davis, from a sketch by C.…