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1170 BC 11/23 First recorded strike (in Egypt)1526,3/22 First American slave revolt1581 First Europeans reach El Paso Del Norte1600,2/17 Giordano Bruno stripped, gagged, and burned to death in Rome for suggesting that the Earth might not be the center of the universe1633,6/22 Galileo forced to disavow Copernican theory1642,1/8 Death of Galileo Galilei1732,2/22 George Washington born1737,1/29 Birth of Thomas Paine1770,3/5 Crispus Attucks is first casualty of American revolution1776,1/10 Thomas Paine's "Common Sense" published1783,9/3 U.S. Revolution won; peace treaty signed with England1791, 5/ "…the carpenters mounted America's first 10-hour day strike in May, 1791." For more on shortening the working day click here1791,12/15 Bill of Rights in U.S. Constitution1798,3/1 First strike, printers 1800,5/9 John Brown born
1803,11/18
Haitians defeat Napolean’s army in Battle of Vertieres
1804,1/1
Haiti declares independence and emancipation. Boycotts and ostracizing from
U.S. and Europe begin
1809,2/12 President Lincoln born1818,2/12 Frederick Douglass born in 18181820,2/15 Susan B Anthony Birthday1820,3/8 Harriet Tubman born. Later declared Int'l women's day1825,4/27 Boston Carpenters strike for 10-hour day1827,8/24 First U.S. labor newspaper published1827 First Black-owned newspaper published1828,11/28 William Silvus born. Click here1830,5/1 Mother Jones born1830,5/28 Cherokee removal 1834 James Walker Fanin moves to Texas and agitates for break with Mexico. Made his living as slave trader1835,7/3 Children strike in Patterson, NJ for 11 hour day & 6 day week1835,11/1 1st general strike for 10 hour day, Philadelphia PA1836, ? Sam Houston and Cherokee Chief Bowls agree that tribe will not support Mexican government in exchange for guaranteed land1836, 3/2 Texas declared independence from Mexico. Slavery established1839,6/30 Cinque led successful slave revolt on the Amistad1840,3/31 "President Martin Van Buren issued a broadly-applicable executive order granting the ten-hour day to all those government employees engaged in manual labor."1842, Spring The Beeman family moved from Bird’s Fort to John Neely Bryan’s trading post on the Trinity River. Eventually, they named it Dallas. Click here1843,6/1 Soujourner Truth born1844 First Native American-owned newspaper published1846? Basic genocide in Texas. Cherokees driven off their land in East Texas1847, 7/17 "Communistic" settlers of Bettina landed at Galveston. Their attempt to run a utopian society only lasted one year1848 Democrat Lewis Cass gets most Texas votes for President, 10,6881848,6/24 Albert Parsons born1848, Women gathered at Seneca Falls, NY, for program of emancipation1850-1856 Large numbers of progressive Germans and other Europeans begin to emigrate to Texas. Among them is Otto Meitzen1852, Democrat Franklin Pierce gets most Texas votes for President, 13,5521853, 1/28 Jose Marti, Cuban revolutionary, born1855,11/5 EV Debs born1856, Andre Douai and other abolitionists driven out of Texas1856, Democrat James Buchanan gets most Texas votes for President, 31,1691856, 9/6 Tejanos attacked for trying to free slaves in Colorado County1857, Judge Taney ruled that fugitive slave Dred Scott had no rights in America1859, 7/13 Beginning of Juan Cortino insurgency near Brownsville1860 Carpenters Local#7 formed in Galveston. Longest uninterrupted union local in Texas.1860 Democrat John Breckinridge gets most Texas votes for US President, 47,5481860, 7/8 Fire in downtown Dallas1860,7/24 Dallas lynchings and beatings. For Texas labor history before Civil War, click here1861 Texas votes to secede from the union. 19 counties oppose, including most of Hill Country and North Texas. Vote in Dallas: 741 to 237 to secede. 1861, 4, Tejanos in Zapata County massacred by Confederates1861,8/10 "Battle of Nueces" Texas Germans slaughtered while trying to get to Mexico. For this period, click here.1862, October. 41 civilians hanged in Gainesville, 2 others shot, on suspicion of supporting the North. Click here1862,2/4 Bill Bill Haywood born1863,1/1 African American Emancipation1864,5/5 Cinco de Mayo Mexican Holiday celebrating defeat of imperialist invaders in Battle of Puebla1864,9/28 International Workingmen's Assn founded1865,4/9 Lee Surrenders to Grant1865,6/19 Texas African Americans learn they have been emancipated. "Juneteenth"1865,9/16 Mexican Independence Day1866, 8 National Labor Union, the first national labor federation in America, formed. For info, click here1868,2/23 W.E.B. DuBois born1868,12/31 End of Texas Freedmen's Bureau1869, 1/6 First African American labor convention1869,7/27 William Sylvus died. Click here1869,12/26 Knights of Labor founded1870 Texas re-admitted to United States1871,5/27 Paris commune crushed, 25,000 massacred1872,? Paul Quinn Negro University begun in Waco
1872 Democrat Horace Greeley gets
most Texas votes for President with 66,546
1873 Heinrich Schwartz arrived
in Hempstead to become first ordained Rabbi in Texas
1873: Club Recipropo, an Hispanic mutual aid society, formed in Corpus Christi1874,1/13 Tompkins Square massacre1876 Kate Richards [later O’Hare] born in Kansas1876 Outlaw Belle Starr establishes a livery stable in downtown Dallas1876 Democrat Samuel Tilden gets most Texas votes for U.S. President with 104,7551876,1/12 Jack London born1877,6/21 10 miner activists called "Molly Maguires" and hanged in Pennsylvania1877, 7/24 Federal troops used to violently suppress national railroad strike1878, 12/12 Jane McManus Storm Cazneau drowned. She advocate emancipation of Texas slaves and annexation by the U.S.1879,3/14 Albert Einstein born1879,8/8 Emiliano Zapata born1879,10/7 Joe Hill born1880, 6/27 Helen Keller born1880 Winfield Hancock, Democrat, gets most Texas votes for President, 156,4281880’s Knights of labor formed five district assemblies with 30,000 members in Texas.1882,? Galveston Screwmen Strike to preserve racism on the job. Click here.1882,4/3 Jesse James shot dead1883, 11/23 Sugar workers massacred near Thibodeaux, Louisiana
1883, 3/31 Cowboys strike in Texas Panhandle. Click here.1884 Democrat Grover Cleveland gets most Texas votes for U.S. President with 225,309
1885: Farmers' Alliance formed National HQ at Jefferson, Market
and Wood in downtown Dallas
1885: 10/1 First edition of Dallas
Morning News. Col A.H. Belo moved to Dallas
1885 Unions struck over use of slave convict labor in building the state capitol. Click here.1885 Knights of Labor under Martin Irons successfully struck Jay Gould Railroad line1886,3/1 In Sherman, Knights of Labor under Martin Irons again decides to strike Great Southwest Railway against Jay Gould. After much bloodshed, they lose this one and the Knights go into decline. For more info, click here1886: Manuel Lopez delivered the concluding speech in Spanish at the Knights of Labor Texas state convention in San Antonio1886,5/1 Mayday. Nationwide strike for 8-hour day. For Texas history of the period, click here.1886,5/4 Haymarket massacre1886, 10- Knights of Labor defied segregation laws during convention in Richmond1886,12/8 AF of L formed1887,8/24 National Association of Letter Carriers formed1887,10/4 African American sugar workers went on strike to gain a one dollar per day wage increase in Louisiana. The Louisiana Militia, along with numerous prominent "owners," shot at least 35 unarmed workers. They then lynched two strike leaders in front of the town. Massacre in Thibodeaux area around November 23.1887,10/20 John Reed born1887,11/11 Haymarket martyrs hanged1888 Democrat Grover Cleveland gets most Texas votes for US President with 234,883, but Alson Streeter of the Union Labor party received 8.2%, 29,4591888,11/23 Harpo Marx born1888,9/2 Carl Brannin born in Cisco, TX (died in Dallas after lifetime of social activism)1888 Texas State Capitol completed despite national boycott because convict labor was used
1889: 4/22 Oklahoma Land Rush
1889,4/16 A. Phillip Randolph born1889, 7/14 Bastille Day begun when French revolutionaries stormed palace1890, 1/25 United Mine Workers of America founded1890,8/7 Helen Gurley Flynn born
1890 Dallas was merged with the City of East Dallas
1891 James Hogg is governor of Texas for 2 terms
1891 Texas craft unions try to organize at state level but fail1892, June, Texas People’s Party founding convention in Dallas1892 Democrat Grover Cleveland received most Texas votes for president with 239,148. But the People’s Party candidate, James Weaver, received 99,688!1892,7/1 Homestead steel strike. 7 strikers & 3 Pinkertons killed1892,7/12 Carnegie Steel strike broken by gunmen1892,11/8 20,000 workers stage general strike in New Orleans1893,5/13 Western Federation of Miners formed in Butte, Montana1893, December, Blind Lemon Jefferson born in Couchman, near Wortham. Click here1894,3/25 Coxey's Army set out to cross America1894,5/11 Nationwide railway strike begins at Pullman1894,6/28 Labor Day declared official US holiday1894,9/3 National Association of Letter Carriers formed (NALC)
1896 Democrat William Bryan
received most Texas votes for President, 370,434.
He
was endorsed by the Progressive Party. Texas delegates opposed
1896,5/18 Supreme Court approved racial segregations1898 Texas Federation of Labor formed1898,4/1 William Cowper Brann, editor, shot and killed in downtown Waco. UMWA wins 8-hour day1898,4/9 Paul Robeson born1898,10/28 2 miners killed in Virden, Il1900 Hurricane wiped out Galveston1900 Democrat William Jennings Bryan received most Texas votes for President, 267,432. Socialist Eugene Debs received 1,846 and Socialist Labor Party candidate Joseph Malloney received 162. The People’s Party ran Wharton Barker, who received 20,981.1900,4/12 Florence Reese born. She wrote "Which Side Are You On?"1900 AFL granted charters to city-central trade councils in Austin, Dallas, Sherman, Corsicana, Gainesville and Hillsboro. Membership was 8,4751901 Spindletop strike near Beaumont starts Texas oil industry. For more on oil, click here1901,7/29 Founding of Socialist Party1902, 10/3 Theodore Roosevelt became first president to mediate during a strike. Failed to settle coal strike1903 Africa American cowboy Bill Pickett invented “bulldogging” at a Central Texas ranch1903 Oak Cliff residents vote to merge with Dallas1903: UMWA wins strike in Thurber. Texas' most thoroughly union city formed (see 1920s also). Click here1903: Theodore Roosevelt gave first presidential order prohibiting government employees from seeking wage increases by attempting to influence legislation
1904 Democrat Alton Parker won
most Texas votes for President, 167,200.
But
Eugene Debs won 2,791, and Thomas Watson of the Populist Party won 8,062.
Charles
Corregan of the Socialist Labor Party received 421
1904,10/4 The Colorado State Militia killed 6 striking miners, took 15 prisoner, and deported 791904, ? Houston Streetcar Conductors Strike. Click here.1905 Federal Labor Union with almost all Hispanic members founded in Laredo1905,6/27 IWW organized 1905 in Chicago. For reading on IWW, click here.1906,2/13 Victor Reuther birthday 1907,9/1 Walter Reuther born
1907, 3/21 Cornerstone of Scottish Rite Cathedral laid in Dallas
1907, 3/31 "…the Flippen-Prather Realty Company announced the
opening of the first
100 acres of
Highland Park, a restricted residential suburban development"
1907, 3/4 "The Citizens Association came into being on March
4, 1907.... It was nothing short,
The News believed, of the birth of the
Greater Dallas movement.... On May 21, they won their first City elections.
1908, 5/25 Trinity River
flooded Dallas
1908 William Bryan won most Texas votes for US President, 217,302. Debs won 7,870 or 2.7% while Thomas Watson of the People’s party won 994 and August Gillhaus of the Socialist Labor Party received 1761908, 12/26 Jack Johnson of Galveston became first African American Heaveyweight Champion Race riots resulted when he successfully defended the title against white challengers. He survived betrayal, scorn, And abuse until his death in 1946. In 1954, Jack Johnson was inducted into Boxing’s Hall of Fame1908,12/23 AFL leaders found in contempt for promoting a boycott in the Buck’s Stove case. See Labor Law as History1909,2/12 NAACP begun 19091909,11/22 20,000 female garment workers on strike in New York1909 Wilford B Smith moved to Dallas and published The Pitchfork until he died in 19391911,1/12 "Bread and Roses" strike in Lawrence until March 141911 Southern Methodist University begun in Dallas1911,3/25 147 garment workers either burned to death or smashed into the pavement outside the Triangle Shirtwaist factory in New York1912 Woodrow Wilson, Democrat, received most Texas votes for U.S. President, 221,589 while Eugene Debs took 25,743 or 8.4%. He did even better in Oklahoma. Arthur Reimer of the Socialist Labor Party won 4421912,2/24 Women and children textile strikers beaten by Lawrence, Massachusetts, police1912,7/14 Woody Guthrie born in Okemah, Oklahoma1912 Houston NAACP begins its proud history. For more info click here1913, 2/2 Denver free speech fight led by IWW1913 El Paso smelter workers strike broken with violence by Texas Rangers1913,8/3 First agricultural workers strike at Durst Ranch in Wheatland, Calif. Click for more on agricultural workers1914 Dallas’ Love Field begun as army air corps training base1914 Houston Ship Channel opened1914,1/5 Ford Motor Company raised wages to $5 for an 8-hour day to keep the unions out 1914,4/20 Ludlow massacre. For Texas history of the period, click here.1914 E.R. Meitzen, Socialist candidate for Texas governor, makes his party the second largest in Texas 1915: SMU opened
1915,1/17 Ralph Chaplin publishes "Solidarity Forever". Lucy Parsons leads hunger march in Chicago1915,11/19 Joe Hill executed in Utah1916 Woodrow Wilson, Democrat, won 286,514 votes for President in Texas. Allan Benson of the Socialist Party won 18,969, or 5%1916,9/2 Operating railway employees win 8-hour day. "A giant victory for labor."1916,9/5 Child Labor Law passed1917, 4/17 Kate Richards O’Hare headed committee that drafted anti-war resolution for American Socialist Party1917 Houston Oil companies break Texas strike to keep 12-hour, $3 day1917,6/6 Speculator mine disaster. 164 killed at Butte, Montana1917, 7/12 1,186 miners deported from Bisbee Arizona into barren desert1917,8/1 Frank Little Lynched in Butte. For more on Frank Little, click here1917,8/2 Greencorn Rebellion1917, 8/23 20 killed in battle between Houston police and Black soldiers in Houston1917,11/1 Texas and Louisiana oilfield workers walk out1917,11/7 Russian Revolution1918 Canadians win 8-hour day1918,10/6 First National Conference of Trade Union Women1918,11/2 Priscilla Bell birthday. Died 2001. Click here1918 AFL counts 512 affiliated locals in Texas1918, 11- Pan-American Federation of Labor established1919: Socialist Party splits 3 ways with two factions supporting new Soviet Union1919,2/6 Seattle General Strike began1919,4/13 1919,8/4 15,000 silk workers struck in Paterson NJ for 44 hour week.1919,8/4 Patterson NJ strike1919,9/30 African American sharecroppers in Elaine, Arkansas, hold a meeting to unionize. Up to 900 murdered.1919,11/11 Centralia, Washington, Massacre. 4 VFW killed, 8 IWW's jailed 25 to 40 years. Wesley Everest lynched1919, 9/22 Great Steel Strike begun (See Brody's book)1920, 1/20 Atty Gen Palmer arrests 4,000 foreign-born labor agitators. “Palmer Raids” are on!1920,3/12 Longshoremen in Galveston join national walkout. Texas Legislature passed reactionary “Open Port Law,” which was declared unconstitutional in 19261920 Texas women vote in their first presidential election
1920 Democrat James Cox won most
Texas votes for President, 288,767 The “Black and Tan Republican” Party won
27,247. Socialist Eugene Debs won 8,121 or 1.7%
1920s 162 Mexican workers deported from Thurber "with acquiescence of union they had helped form."1920,1/2 FBI seized labor leaders and union leaders1920,5/19 Matewan Massacre in SW Virginia1920,8/2 Pancho Medrano Sr born1920,8/26 Women win vote1920 (Late in year) Ku Klux Klan #66 organized in Dallas. Click here1921, 5/24 Two Italian activists, Sacco & Vanzetti, framed up for murder, eventually executed 1921,5/31 More than 300 African Americans killed in Tulsa, Oklahoma1921, Christmas week, Debs freed from prison. Kate Richards O’Hare freed earlier that year. yO’Hare led “children’s crusade” to get Greencorn rebels and other anti-war activists out of prison1922 Open Port Law used to break Houston strike of railroad shop workers
1922, 11? Texas elected Earle B
Mayfield, an admitted KKK member, to the U.S. Senate. Click here
1923 African American inventor
Henry Garrett installs the first traffic lights in Dallas or in the world
1924 Daily Worker began publishing
1924 Democrat John Davis won most Texas votes for President with 484,6051924,? AFL Convention held in El Paso1924,6/2 Native Americans granted U.S. citizenship1924,6/14 children burned to death in IWW hall in San Pedro, California1925 Dallas Negro Chamber of Commerce (later Black Chamber) begun1925,5/19 Malcolm X born1926, 5/20 Railway Labor Act assured railroad unions the right to negotiate1926 Oil money from Santa Rita strike begins funding Texas higher education1926 Chuck Berry born1927,3/31 Cesar Chavez born1927, 6/26 miners struck in Bisbee, Arizona1927,8/22 Sacco & Vanzetti executed1928 Republican Herbert Hoover won most Texas votes for President with 367,036. Socialist Norman Thomas won 722 and Communist William Z Foster won 2091929,1/15 MLK born1929,9/14 Ella Mae Wiggins murdered when her truckload of striking unionists ambushed by vigilantes during textile strike in Gastonia, NC. All arrested were acquitted1930, 11- Metal Trades Department of the AFL endorsed demand for 5-hour day1930, 4/14 John Steinbeck published The Grapes of Wrath1930: Catholic Workers Union formed for Hispanic agricultural workers in Crystal City1930,11/30 "Mother Jones" Mary Jones died1931, 3/3 Daivs-Bacon bill guaranteed “prevailing wgae rate” on federal construction sites1931,12/7 Hunger March on Washington1932 Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow start 2-year crime spree in their home town of Dallas
1932 Democrat Franklin Roosevelt
wins most Texas votes for President with 760,348.
Communist
William Foster won 207; Socialist Norman Thomas won 4,450
1932,3/7 Ford Hunger March. 5 killed near Detroit1932,5/15 NY Times announces that AFL dropped its traditional opposition to unemployment insurance. Later that year, they reversed Gompers' tradition of "voluntarism" and asked for 6-hour day legislation.1933 Association of Journaleros formed as independent union of Texicans from many occupations1933, 4/30 Willy Nelson born1933,6/16 National Industrial Recovery Act became law, including section 7(a) that said, "employees shall have the right to organize and bargain collectively through representatives of their own choosing, and shall be free from interference, restraint, or coercion of employees… in the designation of such representatives." 1934,2/12 Dressmakers walk out on 15 factories owned by the Texas Dress Manufacturers in Dallas1934, Thurber High School graduates its last class. The only union town in Texas deserted1934,4/6 U.S. Senate approves Hugo Black’s bill for a 30-hour week. President Roosevelt is thus goaded into approving NLRA1934,7/16 San Francisco General Strike1935,6/1 Wagner Act Passed. It was called "Labor's Magna Carta"1935,7/5 National Labor Relations Act passes Congress. For arguments against the NLRA, see Labor Law as History1935,8/14 Roosevelt signs Social Security Act over Republican opposition. Click here1935,8/26 UAW chartered by AFL. Francis Dillon appointed president. For Texas history of the period, click here.1935,11/9 CIO formed as committee in AFL1936,1/29 Akron rubber workers sit-down strike1936,5/21 Washington Job Protection Agreement passed
1936 Democrat Franklin Roosevelt
won most Texas votes for President: 734,485.
Socialist
Norman Thomas won 1,075 and Communist Earl Browder won 253
CIO
organized unions all over Texas
1936 12/24 150 Houston
dockworkers beaten by police
1937,1/24 UAW organizes first aircraft local1937,2/11 Sit down at Flint begins. Victory comes on March 4th.1937,5/26 "Little Steel" strike1937,5/30 Memorial Day massacre at Republic steel1937,6/24 Railroad Retirement Act passed1937,8/25 Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters gets contract with Pullman Company1938,2/2 San Antonio pecan shellers' strike. For more on this click here1938,5/16 U.S. Supreme Court decision permits "permanent replacement" of strikers1938,6/25 Fair Labor Standards Act signed by FDR. Effective 10-24-381938, October, Federal Minimum Wage law took effect and set wages at 25 cents/hour11/1938: CIO holds first first constitutional convention as separate organization1939 Texas Building Trades Council formed after “New Deal” brought 1,750 projects to Texas1940 Democrat Franklin Roosevelt gets most Texas votes for President with 840,151. Socialist Norman Thomas gets 728 and Communist Earl Browder gets 2121940,10/24 40-hour workweek goes into effect under FLSA of 19381941,4/1 UAW strikes at Ford for recognition1941,4/11 Ford signs first UAW Contract1941,6/20 Breakthrough contract signed with Ford at River Rouge Plant. In the same year in the Dallas Ford plant, UAW 870 chartered. Click here1941, 9/1 In a Labor Day editorial, the Dallas Morning News proposed a constitutional amendment for “Right to Work/Scab.”1941,12/7 Pearl Harbor day1942,2/19 Japanese Americans put in concentration camps1942, 8/24 Bracero Program instituted to bring in 50,000 Mexican workers first year. "Wartime" program kept until 19641942, 11/24 War Labor Board adopted official policy of equal pay for equal work for men & women1943 NAACP lawsuit wins equal pay for African American teachers in Dallas schools1943,2/21 UAW Local 645 wins ratification at North American in Grand Prairie1943,4/22 First UAW-CIO contract at North American Aviation in Grand Prairie, Texas1944,6/5 D Day. Americans engage Germans in France1944 Democrat FD Roosevelt gets most Texas votes for President with 821,605. Socialist Norman Thomas gets 5941944,8/3 White streetcar workers in Philadelphia strike to protest promotions of Black employees1945,5/8 VE day 1945,8/7 Hiroshima bombed1945,8/9 Nagasaki bombed 1945 Oil workers carry out strike for “52 for 40 or fight!” to get 52 hrs pay for 40 hrs work. President Truman used the military to break the strike1945, 10- World Federation of Trade Unions organized with CIO support1946,1/21 Steel Strike1947, March. Measure passed to create Houston College for Negroes, which later became Texas Southern University.1947, 4/8 Texas passed its “Right to Work/Scab” law in eager anticipation of its pending legalization in Congress.1947,6/23 Taft Hartley anti-union law passed over Truman's veto. Section 14(b) allows “Right to Work/Scab” laws. For a discussion of labor law as history, click here1948, January Kate Richards O’Hare died in California1948 Democrat Harry Truman gets most Texas votes with 750,700. Socialist Norman Thomas received 8741948 U.S. military is racially integrated1949: A. Maceo Smith of Dallas elected to NAACP national board1949,2/1 13th Amendment1949,8/3 UAW wins Local 893 at Vought in Grand Prairie, Texas1949,9/29 UAW negotiated first pension plan ($100/mo) with Ford. Union movement abandoned expanding Social Security and, with contractual health care for members, achieving national health care plan1949,11/4 International Union of Electrical Workers (IUE) set up to grab Electrical Workers Union (UE) contracts as part of CIO effort to destroy unions whose officers failed to take the anti-communist oath195_ Jose Estrada deported (twice?) from Dallas after accusations of communism1950 Federal government took over the railroads until 19521950 Herman Sweatt enters law school at UT. First African American1950,5/29 UAW GM Workers win hospitalization plan1950,12/3 UAW Local 893 wins its first COLA raise at Vought, $.031952 Republican Dwight Eisenhower received most Texas votes for US Presidentwith 1,102,878. Vincent Hallinan of Progressive Party won 294
1953,7/27 End of Korean war, 19531954,5/17 Supreme Court rules segregated schools unconstitutional in Brown v Topeka1954, 6/29 NAACP holds national convention in Dallas1954,9/7 Elaine Lantz born, 19541954, 9/7 Dallas NAACP lined Black students at door of Linfield Elementary to show that Black students are not still admitted despite Supreme Court ruling1954 Incumbent Dixiecrat Governor Alan Shivers used red-baiting and opposition to unions to barely defeat Ralph Yarborough1955, 9/12 NAACP filed suit seeking full integration of Dallas schools. Fight continued to 2003. click here1955,12 AFL and CIO mergeMid 1950’s: Texas Attorney General John Ben Shepperd outlawed the NAACP in Texas, He declared it a subversive organization. Texans kept their membership secret1955,7/20 Convair Crusader nuclear-powered aircraft began testing at Ft Worth Convair plant. Project abandoned 3/28/571955,12/1 Rosa Parks arrested on bus in Montgomery
1956: 7/28 Texans voted more than 3 to 1 for segregation measures.
See Notes
1956 Republican Eisenhower gets most Texas votes with 1,080,6191956, 8/31 Racist threats and official malfeasance triumph over integration in Mansfield1957, 7/30 Texas AFL-CIO forms1959,12/5 Montgomery bus boycott begins. Texan Pancho Medrano sent by UAW to assist
1960 Democrat John Kennedy gets 1,167,932 votes to win Texas
1960 AFL-CIO union membership peaks at 400,000 members
1961,4/24 Bay of Pigs in Cuba1961, 4/27 Dr. Martin Luther King addressed the 25th anniversary of UAWs1962, 1/15 Federal employees gain right of collective bargaining under Kennedy1963, 11/22 Jack Kennedy assassination in Dallas
1963,11/9 End of poll taxes in Texas. For Texas history of the period, click here1963 6/9 Equal Pay Act prohibited discrimination against women1963,6/12 Medgar Evers assassinated in Mississippi1963,8/28 "I Have A Dream" March on Washington1964 San Antonio bookseller accused of having “seditious papers” (books by Marx and Jean-Paul Sartre).
Case goes to Supreme Court1964 Democrat Lyndon Johnson gets1,663,185 votes to win Texas
1964,6/21 Civil Rights activists Chaney, Goodman and Schwerner murdered in Mississippi1964,7/2 1964 Civil Rights Act passed1964,7/9 Mass Transportation Act passed1964 Bracero Program ended1965,2/21 Malcolm X assassinated1965,3/21 Selma Freedom March1965,5/26 A. Philip Randolph Institute founded1965,7/30 Medicare law passed1965,9/6 farm workers start grape boycott1966, 6/1 Star County farm workers strike near Rio Grande City1966,8 United Farm Workers Organizing Committee (UFWOC) formed from Cesar Chavez' independent union and AFL-CIO AWOC. Later became United Farm Workers of America (UFW)1967, Jan Dr. George Green starts Labor History Archives at the University of Texas in Arlington. Grew to be largest in Southwest. Click here.1967 “Riots” at Texas Southern University. Thousands of police bullets riddle boys’ dormitory1967 First African American member of Dallas School Board, Emmett Conrad, elected1967 Texas women relieved from some legal oppression. Click here
1968 Democrat Hubert Humphrey gets 1,266,804 votes to win Texas
1968,4/4 MLK killed in Memphis while helping sanitation workers strike1968, 6/5 Robert Kennedy killed1968,10/2 Tlatelolco massacre, 500 killed in Mexico City1969 First African American on Dallas City Council, George Allen, elected1969,2/4 Mark Clark and Fred Hampton killed by Chicago police1969, 6/28 Stonewall Riot in Manhattan started the modern gay rights movement1969, Peter Johnson arrived in Dallas to promoted the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC)1970 Jose Angel Gutierrez & others start La Raza Unida Party in Crystal City1970 Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) passed after a long fight1970’s San Antonio community organization COPS became a force under Ernesto Cortes1970,4/21 Earth Day1970,5/7 UAW President Walter Reuther sends telegram to President Nixon protesting the invasion of Cambodia1970,8/1 Carl Hampton killed by Houston police1970, 10-6 Dallas Legal Services filed Tasby v Ellis to integrate schools. Click here1971 18 African Americans file lawsuit to replace Dallas’ at-large City Council elections1971, Teamsters National Black Caucus formed1971,5/9 Walter & May Reuther killed
1972 Democrat George McGovern gets 1,154,289 votes to win Texas.
Socialist Workers Party candidate Linda Jenness gets 8,864
1973, 1/22 Abortion legalized by Roe v. Wade Supreme Court Decision
begun in Dallas
1973, 2/27 American Indian Movement (AIM) stands up to FBI at
Wounded Knee
1973, 7/24 Santos Rodriguez killed by Dallas police. Click here
1973,1/27 End of Vietnam War. For notes on labor’s role, click here1973,7/13 Labor Council for Latin American Advancement (LCLAA) formed1973 Houston policemen exposed as members of KKK1974,2/23 Farah recognizes ACTWU as bargaining agent in El Paso pants factory after nationwide fight9/1976 San Antonio legal workers protected their union brothers and sisters by refusing to show their documents during an INS raid1974,3/22 Coalition of Labor Union Women (CLUW) founded1974,8/1 First women American miners began work1975,7/30 Jimmy Hoffa disappeared1975,11/13 Karen Silkwood killed while trying to alert workers about the dangers of radioactivity
1976 Democrat Jimmy Carter gets 2,082,319 Texas votes. Peter Camejo
Soc Work gets 1,723.
Anti-war
independent Eugene McCarthy received 20,118 and there were 2,982 write-in votes
1979,3/27 Three Mile Island nuclear accident occurred1979, 6/13 Texas makes June 19 “Juneteenth” a state holiday. The first state to thus honor emancipation.1979,7/19 Nicaragua revolution
1980 Republican Ronald Reagan won Texas with 2,510,705 votes
1980,3/24 Archbishop Oscar Romero assassinated by graduates of the U.S. Army School of the Americas1980,4/11 EEOC began to regulate sexual harassment1980,8/22 Joyce Miller is first woman elected to AFLCIO Executive Council1981 First former union president elected President of U.S. (Reagan)1981,8/3 PATCO broken by President Reagan1982 Ku Klux Klan marched through Dallas and demonstrated on police station steps. For more on KKK, click here
1984 Republican Ronald Reagan won Texas with 3,433,428 votes.
Communist Gus Hall had 126 write-in votes
1984,5/21 First five union activists fired by LTV in Grand Prairie, Texas1985,7/1 UAW 848 wins contract with LTV after 15-month in-plant strategy1986-89 Hundreds of Texas Savings & Loans collapse1987,10/19 Stock market crash1987 Five major industrial unions initiate the Jobs with Justice coalition. Eastern Airlines strike support benefits
1988 Republican George Bush won Texas with 3,036,829
1989,// Dallas activists join Amalgamated Transit Union strike against Greyhound1990,1/15 North Texas Jobs with Justice carries out its first action, the Dallas MLK birthday march. Click here1990,2/19 Pittston miners strike wins1990, 6/15 Justice for Janitors Day established1991 Th