Richard Nathaniel Wright (September 4, 1908 – November 28, 1960) was an American author of novels, short stories, poems, and non-fiction. Much of his literature concerns racial themes, especially related to the plight of African Americans during the late 19th to mid-20th centuries suffering discrimination and violence. Literary critics believe his work helped change race relations in the United States in the mid-20th century.

Source: internet

please comment if any errors are seen

0476 – Romulus Augustulus, the last emperor of the western Roman Empire, was deposed when Odoacer proclaimed himself King of Italy.

1609 – English navigator Henry Hudson began exploring the island of Manhattan.

1781 – Los Angeles, CA, was founded by Spanish settlers. The original name was “El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora La Reina de Los Angeles de Porciuncula,” which translates as “The Town of the Queen of Angels.” 

1825 – New York Governor Clinton ceremoniously emptied a barrel of Lake Erie water in the Atlantic Ocean to consummate the “Marriage of the Waters” of the Great Lakes and the Atlantic.

1833 – Barney Flaherty answered an ad in “The New York Sun” and became the first newsboy/paperboy at the age of 10.

1882 – Thomas Edison’s Pearl Street electric power station began operations in New York City. It was the first display of a practical electrical lighting system.

1885 – The Exchange Buffet opened in New York City. It was the first self-service cafeteria in the U.S.

1886 – Geronimo, and the Apache Indians he led, surrendered in Skeleton Canyon in Arizona to Gen. Nelson Miles. 

1888 – George Eastman registered the name “Kodak” and patented his roll-film camera. The camera took 100 exposures per roll.

1894 – A strike in New York City by 12,000 tailors took place to protest sweatshops. 

1899 – An 8.3 earthquake hit Yakutat Bar, AK. 

1917 – The American expeditionary force in France suffered its first fatalities in World War I.

1921 – The first police broadcast was made by radio station WIL in St. Louis, MO.

1923 – The first American dirigible, the “Shenandoah,” began its maiden voyage in Lakehurst, NJ. 

1944 – During World War II, British troops entered the city of Antwerp, Belgium.

1949 – The longest pro tennis match in history was played when Pancho Gonzales and Ted Schroeder played 67 games in five sets.

1951 – The first live, coast-to-coast TV broadcast took place in the U.S. The event took place in San Francisco, CA, from the Japanese Peace Treaty Conference. It was seen all the way to New York City, NY.

1953 – The New York Yankees became the first baseball team to win five consecutive American League championships.

1957 – The Arkansas National Guard was ordered by Governor Orval Faubus to keep nine black students from going into Little Rock’s Central High School. 

1957 – The Ford Motor Company began selling the Edsel. The car was so unpopular that it was taken off the market only two years.

1967 – “Gilligan’s Island” aired for the last time on CBS-TV. It ran for 98 shows.

1967 – Michigan Gov. George Romney said during a TV interview that he had undergone “brainwashing” by U.S. officials while visiting Vietnam in 1965.

1971 – “The Lawrence Welk Show” was seen for the last time on ABC-TV.

1972 – Swimmer Mark Spitz captured his seventh Olympic gold medal in the 400-meter medley relay event at Munich, Germany. Spitz was the first Olympian to win seven gold medals.

1981 – The Soviet Union began war games with about 100,000 troops on the Polish border.

1983 – U.S. officials announced that there had been an American plane, used for reconnaissance, in the vicinity of the Korean Air Lines flight that was shot down.

1986 – South African security forces halted a mass funeral for the victims of the riot in Soweto.

1989 – A reconnaissance satellite was released by the Air Force’s Titan Three rocket. The Titan Three set over 200 satellites into space between 1964 and 1989.

1993 – Pope John Paul II started his first visit to the former Soviet Union.

1993 – Jim Abbott (New York Yankees) pitched a no-hitter. Abbott had been born without a right hand.

1995 – The Fourth World Conference on Women was opened in Beijing. There were over 4,750 delegates from 181 countries in attendance.

1998 – In Mexico, bankers stopped approving personal loans and mortgages.

1998 – The International Monetary Fund approved a $257 million loan for the Ukraine.

1998 – Google was incorporated as a privately held company.

1999 – The United Nations announced that the residents of East Timor had overwhelmingly voted for independence from Indonesia in a referendum held on August 30. In Dili, pro-Indonesian militias attacked independence supporters, burned buildings, blew up bridges and destroyed telecommunication facilities.

2002 – The Oakland Athletics won their AL-record 20th straight game. The A’s gave up an 11-run lead during the game and then won the game on a Scott Hatteberg home run in the bottom of the ninth inning.

2003 – Keegan Reilly, 22, became the first parapalegic climber to reach the peak of Japan’s Mount Fuji.

On September 2, 1885, 150 white miners in Rock Springs, Wyoming, brutally attack their Chinese coworkers, killing 28, wounding 15 others, and driving several hundred more out of town.

The miners working in the Union Pacific coal mine had been struggling to unionize and strike for better working conditions for years. But at every juncture the powerful railroad company had bested them. Searching for a scapegoat, the angry miners blamed the Chinese. The Chinese coal miners were hard workers, but the Union Pacific had initially brought many of them to Rock Springs as strikebreakers, and they showed little interest in the miners’ union.

Outraged by a company decision to allow Chinese miners to work the richest coal seams, a mob of white miners impulsively decided to strike back by attacking Rock Spring’s small Chinatown. When they saw the armed mob approaching, most of the Chinese abandoned their homes and businesses and fled for the hills. But those who failed to escape in time were brutally beaten and murdered. A week later, on September 9, U.S. troops escorted the surviving Chinese back into the town where many of them returned to work. Eventually the Union Pacific fired 45 of the white miners for their roles in the massacre, but no effective legal action was ever taken against any of the participants.

Source: history.com for the complete article

The Knights of Labor, a labor union of tailors in Philadelphia, hold the first Labor Day ceremonies in American history. The Knights of Labor was established as a secret society of Pennsylvanian tailors earlier in the year and later grew into a national body that played an …read more

READ MORE: Labor Day: Facts, Meaning & Founding

Citation Information

Article Title

America’s first Labor Day

Author History.com Editors

Website Name

HISTORY

URL

https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/americas-first-labor-day

Access Date

December 27, 2022

Publisher

A&E Television Networks

Last Updated

December 26, 2019

Original Published Date

February 9, 2010

A repost from 2019 Happy Labor Day! Labor Day is a day for celebrating the achievements and hard work of the American workforce. Working families are the economic backbone of our country, and our policies should support and value them accordingly: all workers deserve fair wages, safe work environments free from harassment and discrimination, and the time and flexibility they need to care for themselves and their loved ones. 5 Ways to Fight for Working Families on Labor Day So today and every day, here are five ways you can thank and support working families: Spread the word about workers’ rights. Knowledge is power, and in order for the law to be meaningful, workers must know and feel empowered to exercise their rights. Our state-by-state guide provides a comprehensive overview of federal, state, and local laws that support working families. Make sure workers know where to get legal help. We run a free and confidential legal clinic where workers call us with questions or when they think their workplace rights have been violated. You can too at 1-833-NEED-ABB (1-833-633-3222). Advocate for strong workplace protections. We’re fighting to pass laws across the country that guarantee fairness for pregnant workers (27 states down!), paid family and medical leave, paid sick time, flexible scheduling, breastfeeding protections, and more. Defend local progressive legislation. We’re working with advocates and elected officials across the country to defend local governments, who increasingly face obstacles to passing progressive legislation in the form of states blocking, or “preempting,” ordinances like paid sick days, increased minimum wage, and more. Fight back against efforts to roll back workers’ rights. It’s important to make our voices heard when workers’ rights are under attack. We must continue to speak out against the Trump administration’s demonstrated hostility towards workers, from the potential appointment of a Labor Secretary with a proven history of prioritizing corporate interests at the expense of workers to its efforts to make it legal to discriminate against LGTBQ workers. Despite much progress, we still have a long way to go in the fight to secure basic workers’ rights and protections across the country. But this Labor Day, let’s pause and say thank you to working families for all that they do!   Warmly, Dina and Sherry Co-Founders & Co-Presidents A Better Balance resource: networkforgood.com

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