Many people in this country seem to have forgotten the epic labor battles that took place over the history of the USA to secure rights, wage fairness and worker safety. The other side played hardball, hiring thugs and mercenaries to break strikes. I doubt that many people have ever even heard of the 1917 deportation of strikers from Bisbee, Arizona, location of the Lavender Pit copper mine; also a place with an extraordinary concentration of exotic mineral specimens, and a bohemian element that took root in the 1970s, after the mine closed. The following quote comes from a University of Arizona Web Exhibit. The Bisbee Deportation was still fresh in Fred Watsons mind when interviewed 60 years later. This is not surprising, because on July 12, 1917, Watson and 1,185 other men were herded into filthy boxcars by an armed vigilante force in Bisbee, Arizona, and abandoned across the New Mexico border. The Bisbee Deportation of 1917 was not only a pivotal event in Arizonas labor history, but one that had an effect on labor activities throughout the country. What led to this course of action by the Bisbee authorities?
Posted on: Wed, 19 Nov 2014 01:54:56 +0000
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