Selma to Montgomery and more

[sandnsea]

Quite a historic day for a protest.

On this day in 1965, Martin Luther King, Jr. led 25,000 marchers to Montgomery AL to fight for voting rights for African Americans. Today is the anniversary of the Selma to Montgomery march.

On this day in 1894, Jacob Coxey led an “Industrial Army” of unemployed from Massilon Ohio to Washington, DC to demand help from the federal government during a depression nearly equal to the depression of the 1930’s.

And on this day in 1911, 146 immigrant workers were killed in the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire in New York City, a tragedy that was the catalyst for a labor rights movement that eventually gave us safety laws, child labor laws, wage laws, collective bargaining rights and more.

http://www.lightupthedarkness.org/blog/?p=11

Edited to spell Massilon correctly, thanks fedup

[fedupinBushcountry]

1. Massilon, Ohio

that is my father's hometown. Great info Sandsea, thanks.

[JI7]

2. i responded on the blog but i don't think it went through

i wrote about the shirtwaist fire and a pic i saw of the event. it was of the girls who had jumped to their deaths to avoid being burned alive. there are people standing near the dead bodies looking up at the building at what probably was other girls who were ready to do the same.

it's tough to get the image out of your head. not just the pic , but actually thinking about how this really happened and what the girls were thinking about as they did that.

and how it took such a horrible thing like that happening to get decent laws passed.

[sandnsea]

3. It's set for moderation

Moderation seemed like a good idea at the time, but maybe not. People love to cram old blog posts with links to all kinds of garbage for search engine placement. Damned annoying. Probably better to take it off moderation though, ya think?

[ray of light]

4. Thanks for posting that, sandnsea

I agree with you that it's important to look at these historical events and remind people of our roots. These events changed us for the better; I hope Bush and the Republicans are not successful in smashing the reforms down.