ipl-logo

General Textile Strike Thesis

870 Words4 Pages

During the mid to late 1920s, North Carolina was ranked as the largest producer of textiles in the United States. They produced things such as yarn, woven fabric, and spun cotton. Many of the mills were located in the Piedmont region. To keep up with the high demand and the competitive market, owners would “stretch out” the workers. Workers in these textile mills were as young as five years old worked in the mills. Much tension was built up during this time, and surfaced when the US entered into WWI. Many workers lost their jobs and many were killed due to the poor conditions in the mills. Many smaller battles between owners and workers began in 1929, but weren’t successful. Even though the nationwide effort in the General Textile Strike overall was not a success, it did set a precedent for laws to be passed to forever change the workforce that are still enforced in today’s society. In 1929, when the United States entered the war, there was a significant decrease of …show more content…

The famous Ella Mae Wiggins, a popular speaker known for her ballads in support working women, was set to perform one of her famous ballads and speak at the at the strike. Early that morning, the owner of the mill, Manville-Jenckes, mobilized hundreds of men to attend the rally. They set up many roadblocks to trump the rally. Right before the rally began, a group of 22 unarmed union members, strikers, and sympathizers, including Ella Mae Wiggins, road in a truck from Bessemer City to the rally site south of Gastonia. Ella Mae Wiggins insisted that carrying weapons would further aggravate the situation, if they encountered people who did not support them. The truck hit the roadblock and was order to return to Bessemer City on “pain of death.” The strikers turned back and headed for Bessemer City. A short time on the road back home, they were ambushed by truck loads of armed

Show More
Related

Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire Essay

443 Words | 2 Pages

There was a great rise in the number of Europeans coming into the country for better lives and opportunities. These individuals were desperate for any source of income, anything that they could do to help themselves and their family survive. The factory owners took advantage of their situation which gave rise to "sweat shops" in which low paid immigrants, including women and children were made to work excessive hours in the most unsafe conditions. Much of the tragedy which took place could have been avoided, but many of the safety conditions at the building made it nearly impossible for them to do so. Even though efforts were made in the previous years to strike against the owners to provide better working conditions, these efforts did not help those individuals who worked at factories where the owners had refused to give into the demands of the works, one of which was the Triangle Shirtwaist Company.

Read More

Factory Conditions In The 1800's

249 Words | 1 Pages

Factory Conditions In the North By the mid 1800’s More and more things were made by machines. Clothes, shoes, Watches. These machines had to have operators.

Read More

Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Case Study

1153 Words | 5 Pages

Imagine being an immigrant with no money to provide for yourself or your family. You have to turn to work in a Shirtwaist Factory in order to make a living. While working inside of the Shirtwaist factory you notice there are many injuries that occur from the machinery, you are being lowly paid for working extended hours including holidays, and the bosses lock the doors so that you can’t leave your job. Many of the immigrant woman became upset and decide to go on strike, for better working conditions. As a result the owners of the company sweep the women under the rug and they’re right back at the factory working unfair jobs until the fire occurs.

Read More

Child Labor Laws In Katherine Paterson's Lyddie

813 Words | 4 Pages

In the mid 1800s industry was advancing and children of all ages were working in dangerous factories. People attempted to strike against these rules, while some decided not to. In the book ¨Lyddie¨ by Katherine Paterson, the main character Lyddie has a job in a factory with very poor conditions and long hours. Since this was only the 1800s, child labor laws were not yet established and Lyddie was recently introduced to her idea of rebelling against the rules for more rights.

Read More

Bread And Rose Summary

260 Words | 2 Pages

In the book Bread and Rose: Miles, Migrants, and the struggle For The American Dream by Bruce Watson talks about the strike that took place in Lawrence, Massachusetts in 1912 that totally changed labor history for American workers. At the begging of the 20th century Lawrence, Massachusetts was the textile center of America with 12 mills employing more than 32,000 migrant workers. Three of those mills were owned by J.P. Morgan, controlled by the American woolen Company. Most of the textile workers were newly arrived immigrants that came from diverse backgrounds. More than 20 different nationalities were represented, speaking more than 20 different languages.

Read More

Similarities Between Cesar Chavez And Mother Jones

939 Words | 4 Pages

About one hundred thousand workers from six hundred different mills were on strike there. The strikers wanted their work cut from sixty to fifty-five hours. About a sixth of the strikers were children under sixteen.” ( 5, Josephson). As a result, she gathered a large group of mill children and their parents, shaming the mill owners of their actions.

Read More

How Did The United States Use Propaganda During Ww1

1752 Words | 8 Pages

The battle was overseas which made it that much more difficult. The rise of Industrialization was happening once again because factories began wartime production. Since men were being drafted out to fight, women took over their jobs. The labor force shifted from

Read More

Organized Labor Dbq

408 Words | 2 Pages

The organized labor of 1875-1900 was unsuccessful in proving the position of workers because of the future strikes, and the intrinsical feeling of preponderation of employers over employees and the lack of regime support. In 1877, railroad work across the country took part in a cyclopean strike that resulted in mass violence and very few reforms. An editorial, from the Incipient York Time verbalized: "the strike is ostensibly hopeless, and must be regarded as nothing more than a rash and splenetic demonstration of resentment by men too incognizant or too temerarious to understand their own interest" (Document B). In 1892, workers at the Homestead steel plant near Pittsburg ambulated out on strike and mass chaos the lives of at least two Pinkerton detectives and one civilian, among many other laborers death (Document G).

Read More

Pullman Strike Thesis

1261 Words | 6 Pages

The strike became one of the most influential events in the history of United States labor law. The labor law in 1894 in the United States was changed in a significant way after the strike, as it was the first strike that received national attention and tested labor laws. The government intervened in the relationship between employers and their workers. For the first time an injunction by the government was used to break up a strike and block a major union activity. Many industrials and unions were affected by this intervention.

Read More

Labor Unions DBQ Essay

988 Words | 4 Pages

Factories were paying far too little for someone to feed their whole family for that little, so many either would die or would turn to crime to survive; these laborers wanted equality. Men, women, and children were working and got employed in factories to work, and the dangerous and strenuous labor that children were put through to help the family expense caused many young children to die. Workers individually could not stop corporations, but collectively they could make an impact on their wages. The corporations eventually had to succumb to the pressure of labor supplies because the National Trade Union convinced the majority of the labor force to work from 12 hours a day to 10 hours. After the labor unions won, workers worked less, and they still had the same salary.

Read More

Farmers's Response To Industrialization In The Gilded Age

1456 Words | 6 Pages

In a time when America was coming out of the bloodiest war that was ever fought, against themselves, The Civil War, and when America looked overseas for a new frontier with Imperialism. It is in this context that America started to grow westward with farm land and in industry with the million of workers, but America still felt growing pains. Two significant ways in which farmers and industrial workers responded to industrialization in the Gilded Age (1865-1900) were the formation of organizations to protect farmers, and the creation of labor unions and the use of strikes to protect the workers. One significant way in which farmers responded to industrialization in the Gilded Age (1865 - 1900) was the formation of organizations to protect farmers. During Westward Expansion farmers fell victims to the low pricing of the crops.

Read More

The Lowell System: New Transition In American History

984 Words | 4 Pages

In 1813, Boston Associates a group of capitalists “constructed the first textile mill” in Waltham, Massachusetts. “In 1822, the Boston Associates developed a new water-powered mill at a village along the Merrimack River, which they rename Lowell” (America, 286). In the beginning, the system seemed promising but years later, multiple problems such as restricted living, dangerous living condition, low wages started to appear. Finding workers was not much of a problem for factories.

Read More

Industrialization In The Gilded Age Essay

812 Words | 4 Pages

The time period from when the Second Industrial Revolution was beginning, up until President McKinley’s assassination in 1901, is known as the Gilded Age. After the Civil War, many people headed out West to pursue agriculture, and many immigrants moved to urban areas to acquire jobs in industrial factories. It is in this context that farmers and industrial workers had to respond to industrialization. Two significant ways farmers and industrial workers responded to industrialization in the Gilded Age, were creating the Populist Party and the American Federation of Labor (AFL).

Read More

Middle Class In The 1800s

386 Words | 2 Pages

In the early 1800s, mills were starting to appear and they sold thread to women who would then weave it into cloth and sell it back. This caused a mixed between work and leisure, looms crowding furniture

Read More

Essay On Working Conditions During The Industrial Revolution

799 Words | 4 Pages

They faced opposition from other mill owners who knew that reforms would cost them money and give workers more rights. The reformers successfully forced changes to the way workers was treated. They are now called Factory Acts. The factory act changes in time and increased the rights of men, women and children

Read More

More about General Textile Strike Thesis

Related Topics

Open Document