Today in Labor History Mar 20 "Uncle Tom’s Cabin" published, Westinghouse ends a 156-day strike more

[Omaha Steve]

March 20


March 20, 1852 - "Uncle Tom’s Cabin," the Harriet Beecher Stowe novel that publicized the evils of slavery, was published. It became the first novel to sell a million copies and one of the most important books in U.S. history.

For more information
The Library of Congress has an excellent web section on the book, the plays and films that it spawned, and its impact. Go to http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/jun05.html

Michigan authorizes formation of workers’ cooperatives. Thirteen are formed in the state over a 25-year period. Labor reform organizations were advocating "cooperation" over "competitive" capitalism following the Civil War and several thousand cooperatives opened for business across the country during this era. Participants envisioned a world free from conflict where workers would receive the full value of their labor and freely exercise democratic citizenship in the political and economic realms - 1865

The American Federation of Labor issues a charter to a new Building Trades Dept. Trades unions had formed a Structural Building Trades Alliance several years earlier to work out jurisdictional conflicts, but lacked the power to enforce Alliance rulings - 1908

Members of the International Union of Electrical Workers reach agreement with Westinghouse Electric Corp., end a 156-day strike - 1956

Three hundred family farmers at a National Pork Producers Council meeting in Iowa protest factory-style hog farms - 1997

Labor history found here: http://www.unionist.com/today-in-labor-history & here: http://www.workdayminnesota.org/index.php?history_9_03_20_2011