![]() ![]() In August 1831 the enslaved preacher and activist Nat Turner organized and led more than 70 men, both enslaved and free, in a collective action for freedom and vengeance that left more than 50 white Virginians dead. Lowell Mills (Boston Public Library, Leventhal Map Center, Wikimedia Commons)īut this time period also witnessed one of the most well-organized and largest slave revolts in American history, the Southampton Insurrection (also known as Nat Turner’s Rebellion). As early as 1834 women workers at those mills went on strike, leading to the formation of the influential Lowell Female Labor Reform Association. The early 19 th century is often defined as the origin point for the organized labor movement in America - as the Industrial Revolution commenced and workers began to gather in greater numbers in spaces such as the Lowell Mills, those communities began to find their collective voices and power. If we link the histories of slavery and enslaved workers to labor and the labor movement, for example, we can better understand the true interconnectedness of all Americans in the process.įor one thing, viewing enslaved workers as a community of laborers helps us reimagine enslaved resistance and rebellion as an inspiring form of labor activism. It also depends on expanding our vision of the labor movement to include all American communities, throughout all of American history. Certainly organized labor has not been exempt from the influence of white supremacy, for example, as illustrated by its overt and all-too-often central role in discriminatory moments such as the Chinese Exclusion era of the late 19 th century.Ĭhallenging those white supremacist narratives doesn’t simply require remembering them, though. Those collective memories can’t just be commemorations, however they also have to engage with the movement’s complexities and contradictions, its flaws and failures as well as its successes and legacies. This series by American studies professor Ben Railton explores the connections between America’s past and present.Īs I’ve argued before, in this column and elsewhere, Labor Day isn’t just the unofficial end of summer or an occasion for barbecues and ballgames - it’s an opportunity to remember the histories of the labor movement.
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