8 July 1908: Birmingham coal strike

On this day, 8 July, 1908, Black and white coal miners in Birmingham, Alabama, walked out on strike together against an attempt from bosses to eliminate the union. The strike grew quickly to a majority of workers in the area, including those who had previously been scabs. Bosses used evictions, armed thugs, scabs from the North, and forced convict labour to try to break the strike, and the press advocated vigilante attacks and tried to rouse white residents against the multiracial union. Eventually the Governor declared martial law and sent in the army against the workers, breaking the strike and marking a...