Today in labor history April 11

[Omaha Steve]

April 11



April 11, 1896 - The first issue of the Labor World newspaper was published in Duluth, Minnesota, by Sabrie Akin, an activist and single mother. The paper is still in publication and is one of the best labor newspapers in the United States. Read the latest issue and learn about the newspaper's history at its website, www.laborworld.org

April 11, 1934 - Frank Norman, leader of the citrus workers union, was kidnapped from his Lakeland, Florida, home and murdered by the Ku Klux Klan. Norman had championed the rights of all workers, regardless of their race.

Ford Motor Company signs first contract with United Auto Workers - 1941

Jackie Robinson, first black ballplayer hired by a major league team, plays his first game with the Brooklyn Dodgers at Ebbetts Field - 1947

Police in Austin, Minn. tear-gas Hormel striking meatpacking workers. Seventeen strikers are arrested on felony riot charges - 1986

Some 25,000 marchers in Watsonville, Calif. show support for United Farm Workers organizing campaign among strawberry workers, others - 1997