As America was transformed through the Industrial Revolution, citizens started to band together to improve their lives. They fought for their basic right to vote, for fair working conditions, and for peace. Progressives throughout this period learned that by banding together in strikes, protests, and demonstrations, it was possible to gain attention, publicity, and ultimately, success.
Unionization and Workers' Rights
Soon after the American Civil War, industry boomed throughout the North. Buoyed by natural resources and plenty of capital, wealthy investors and business owners made billions (John Rockefeller alone made $30 billion). However, their wealth was built on the backs of millions of underpaid and mistreated immigrants. Following failed attempts at inspiring change through the government, thousands of industrial workers went on strike. Tailors went on strike in a shirtwaist factory and 200,000 railroad workers fought against unsafe conditions and unfair pay. Despite police violence, hired thugs, and frequent arrests, the strikers continued and proved a valid point: equality trumps legality. America is built on principles, not laws, and by constantly challenging the billionaires the unions successfully returned power to the people.
Women frequently stationed tailor factories during the Industrial Age. Faced with rapid electrical machines and few lights, women usually returned from their jobs covered in hand injuries and with less wages than their male counterparts.
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Members of the Service Employee International Union, which represents 1.9 million workers in health care and public services. With its massive number of contributors, this union can use its size to force labor change on both large and small scales.
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Workers march during the Industrial Age. Often fighting against long hours, unsafe conditions, and high casualty rates, union workers would attempt to have an industry-wide strike in order to prevent their jobs from being replaced.
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O'Donnell, Carl. "The Rockefellers: The Legacy Of History's Richest Man." Forbes. Accessed 11 july 2014.
Boehm, Angie. "Triangle Shirtwaist Factory women strike, win better wages and hours, New York, 1909." Global Nonviolence Action Database, Swarthmore College, 3 Sept. 2013.
"The 10 Biggest Strikes in American History." Fox Business, 9 Aug. 2011. Fox Business. Accessed 9 Nov. 2016.
Boehm, Angie. "Triangle Shirtwaist Factory women strike, win better wages and hours, New York, 1909." Global Nonviolence Action Database, Swarthmore College, 3 Sept. 2013.
"The 10 Biggest Strikes in American History." Fox Business, 9 Aug. 2011. Fox Business. Accessed 9 Nov. 2016.
Suffrage and women's rights
As the century turned, men weren't the only ones in America fighting for their rights. Women began to band together in stronger forces to win a right guaranteed to only white males at the time: the right to vote. Suffrage had began in earnest before the Civil War as women broke away from the looming influence of the cult of domesticity. Two main groups of suffragists opposed each other's methods: the National Woman Suffrage Movement disapproved of the 15th Amendment, and The American Woman Suffrage Association supported it. Eventually, both came to relax their positions and joined together under the name of the National American Woman Suffrage Association. However, the soft rhetoric and moderate methods of NAWSA gave no contribution to the history of civil disobedience. It was the work of the National Women's Party (NWP) that stirred controversy and created a new chapter in the history of American protest. NWP member's didn't accept the soft methods of NAWSA. Persuading the government to allow women to vote because it would promote a "peaceful, moral, [and a] maternal commonwealth" (History.com) didn't appeal to the type of protest the NWP wanted to wage. Instead, they chose civil disobedience as their preferred method of protest. Hunger strikes, parades, mass meetings, public demonstrations, and-most controversial of all-White House picketing were among their arsenal of strategies to win the vote for women. Despite their methods being non-violent, the NWP has commonly been referred to as radical, extreme, or forceful in their methods. Interestingly enough, these methods weren't only recycled and reused, but less extreme than previous protestors' methods. Clearly, the main reason this language is used to describe the suffragists must be linked to the fact that NWP members refused to be submissive and compliant.
The Arrest of White House Pickets Catherine Flanagan of Hartford, Connecticut (left), and Madeleine Watson of Chicago (right). Photo taken by Harris and Ewing in August 1917 from the National Woman's Party Collection.
On the left, a sailor heckles the women as they're arrested by two policemen outside the East Gate of the White House. The NWP was famous for committing civil disobedience to further their cause. The two women seen in the photograph were sentenced to a month's jail time in Occoquan Workhouse. Later, Madeleine Watson was sentenced to another 5 days in jail for participating in the Lafayette Square meeting.
On the left, a sailor heckles the women as they're arrested by two policemen outside the East Gate of the White House. The NWP was famous for committing civil disobedience to further their cause. The two women seen in the photograph were sentenced to a month's jail time in Occoquan Workhouse. Later, Madeleine Watson was sentenced to another 5 days in jail for participating in the Lafayette Square meeting.
Miss Kate Heffelfinger of Shamokin, PA, a picket who served time in prison during the campaign of the National Woman's Party. Photograph taken by Thomas in Shamokin, PA during December 1917. Recovered from the National Woman's Party collection.
Kate Heffelfinger was an art student and avid activist for the NWP. She was arrested for a total of 6 months for picketing earlier in October, and incarcerated two more times for participating in meetings and demonstrations.
Kate Heffelfinger was an art student and avid activist for the NWP. She was arrested for a total of 6 months for picketing earlier in October, and incarcerated two more times for participating in meetings and demonstrations.