Today in Labor History May 31 Trial of Sacco and Vanzetti began, Rosie the Riveter dies

[Omaha Steve]

May 31


May 31, 1921 - The trial of Sacco and Vanzetti began in Dedham, Massachusetts. The anti-worker, anti-immigrant tone of the proceedings was set in Judge Webster Thayer’s opening remarks. Attorney Felix Frankfurter, an observer of the proceedings and later a U.S. Supreme Court justice, said the court engaged in “systematic exploitation of the defendants’ alien blood, their imperfect knowledge of English, their unpopular social views and their opposition to the war . . .”

For more on the Sacco and Vanzetti case and the activism it inspired, go to http://www.msu.edu/course/mc/112/1920s/Sacco-Vanzetti/sacvan.htm and http://www.monthlyreview.org/mrzine/yates211206.html

Rose Will Monroe, popularly known as Rosie the Riveter, dies in Clarksville, Ind. During WWII she helped bring women into the labor force - 1997 (read about how women have had to fight for their rightful place in American life – and in the labor movement as well -- in Rocking the Boat: Union Women’s Voices 1915-1975, available in the UCS bookstore)

Book link: http://commerce2.pair.com/unionist/ccp7/index.php?app=ecom&ns=prodshow&ref=Rockboat



Labor history found here: http://www.unionist.com/today-in-labor-history & here: http://www.workdayminnesota.org/index.php?history_9_05_31_2011