On Saturday morning, March 23, 2013, in Baltimore, MD, an historic marker was unveiled on South Howard Street, next to the Camden Yards station/museum. It celebrates the workers who struck the B & O Railroad on July 16, 1877. It was the fuse that ignited the first national strike in the United States. This time in the country was known as “The Gilded Age.” The grasping Robber Barons, (think 1% Gang), ran the show and enforced their arbitrary will on working class people. When the company called in the “usual strikebreakers,” the workers became enraged. Strikers clashed with the “militias and regular army troops in violent confrontations.”
To learn more this unprecedented “Mass Strike,” and some Labor history, too, go to: Illinois During the Gilded Age, “1877: The Great Strike”; and, U.S. History: “The Great Upheaval” and, finally to a commentary about the 1877 Strike by our own Bill Barry.
For a full photo album of the event from Bill Hughes, check out his Facebook Page.
Labor historian and activist Bill Barry is one of the parties most responsible for this historic marker becoming a reality.
