Volume 16 , Issue 19

100 Years Ago - 1914

It was early in 1914, one of the most violent events in the history of labor strikes in the United States took the lives of men, women and children. Miners on strike and their families had been evicted from their company owned housing and were forced to live in tent colonies.



The struggle for labor laws in America played out in Las Animas County in the spring of 1914. The control of much of Colorado's coal mines was in the hands of just a few companies, and miners grew increasingly intolerant of low wages, dangerous working conditions. The United Mine Workers of America called a strike in September of 1913, and the next few months, tensions escalated as the striking miners ransacked several mines. On April 20, 1914, despite the tragic outcome, this event sparked national outrage, leading the way of workers' rights in America.

On April 20, 1914 in the tent colony near Ludlow, Colorado, shooting erupted. The miners' tent colony was set ablaze. Throughout the region incensed miners retaliated by killing many company guards. The army was called into restore order.



On June 28, 1914, in Europe, things were much worse. A nineteen year old Bosnian Serb (Gavrilo Princip), fired the shot that killed Archduke Francis Ferdinand of Austria. That provided the spark that ignited World War I (WWI). By the end of the year, World War I, otherwise known as the Great War, had enveloped Europe.   |  View or Add Comments (0 Comments)   |   Receive updates ( subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

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