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Moments in us labor history, part 1: the pawtucket textile strike of 1824

Part of a series on US labor history published by ParkPunks the week of May 1, 2026.

Research, writing, and image sourcing.

Slide is titled: Moments in U.S. labor history, part 1: The Pawtucket Textile Strike of 1824. Beneath the image: The first factory strike and the infancy of industrialization in America. The image is a sketch of the Slater Mill by Wilford Harold Munro from "Picturesque Rhode Island: Pen and Pencil Sketches of the Scenery and History," published 1881. The image is titled at the bottom "The Old Slater Mill." In fine print at the top right, it says, "no AI."
Slide reads: "On May 25, 1824 (notation 1; citation 1), textile factory owners held a meeting. The results of this meeting: The workday increased 1 hour (to 13–14 hours per day) (notation 2) Meal time decreased, and Pay for power-loom weavers (girls and women, most 15–30 years old) was reduced 25%. Owners organized so workers had no other options." (Notation 1) Date according to diary of a local, Jencks, who was operating on hearsay. Others sources say May 24. (Notation 2) Hours depended on season, 12 in winter, more in summer. Jencks says this would increase the workday to 14 hours. Some sources say as “few” as 10 in winter. The text surrounds an image of a newspaper excerpt reading, "This Looks Rebellion - Providence, RI - May 31: The citizens of Pawtucket have, for a few days past, been in a state of excitement and disorder, which reminds of the accounts we frequently read of the tumults of the manufacturing places in England, though unattended with the destruction and damage usually accompanying those riots."
Image is an 1835 engraving of power looms in a textile mill during the industrial revolution. The slide reads: "By the morning of May 26, about 100 (notation 1) women, their coworkers, and sympathetic community members staged what they called a “turnout.” Today, a strike. They blocked people from entering the mills and refused to return to work until they had 12-hour workdays and their old wages restored. (citation 2) June 1, someone tried to burn down a mill. June 3, the workers returned to work, their demands met. They also gained a safety committee. (notation 1) Jencks reports 102. He also wrote of attending workers’ meetings during the work stoppage, his testimony evolving more to things he personally witnessed.
Text is in front of a portfrait of Samuel Slater, a white older man in a suit. The slide reads: "In many ways, this story starts in 1789, with the immigration of Samuel Slater, a man Andrew Jackson would call the father of the American Industrial Revolution, and people back in Britain sometimes called “Slater the Traitor” for his theft-by-memorization of British textile machinery designs. To power his mill, he had to dam the Blackstone River. The natural flow of which pre-capitalism artisans, farmers, fishermen, and others relied upon for their smaller shops and farms. People sued. Someone destroyed it. He built before the courts could make judgment. (citation 3)"
Picture is of a historical marker along the Pawtucket River. The slide reads: "By 1793, the mill in Pawtucket was operational. By 1824, Pawtucket was a mill town, workers’ housing owned by their employer. In a democracy where land-ownership was a requirement to vote, many workers lost that right." The historical marker says, "Control of water power meant control of economic, political, and social power. A mill developer's first "power grab" was to build a walled dam. This created a pond that stored water to power the mill. Other villagers didn't willingly give up control, however. Fishermen, artisans, farmers, and others relied on a natural river flow. When Samuel Slater began building this dam, citizens filed a lawsuit against him. Four of them destroyed the dam when it was partially built. Yet, Slater pressed on and finished the dam before the courts had a chance to decide on the case."
A town map titled "Slatersville, Rhode Island, 1895" is at the bottom of the slide. Which reads: "Slater crafted the “Rhode Island System,” hiring whole families and children as young as 7, building Sunday schools—which were some of first popular education and a method of social control (citation 4)—and paying in “company” money, only good at the company store. (citation 5)"
Image in background is illustration by Frances Trollope titled "Love Conquers Fear" from The Life and Adventures of Michael Armstrong, the Factory Boy, 1840. It depicts two young boys comforting each other in an industrial factory, while the adult workers and managers stare with judgment or annoyance. Text over the image reads: "Slater’s mill in Pawtucket and Eli Whitney’s cotton ’gin came in 1793 and benefitted one class. The resulting demand for cotton created demand on the enslaved and the worker, and increased profit for the enslaver and boss."
This slide has no image. It reads: "32 years before the Pawtucket Textile Strike of 1824, the workers’ time was their own. No bells told them when it was okay to eat. Then, in exchange for stable income, the owning class took that away, only giving the bare minimum (e.g., a maximum workday of 12 hours) when someone tried to light a mill on fire. A trend that continues to this day. ParkPunks, May Day 2026 | by Jessica Ritchie"
Works Cited: Citation 1: George Foster Jencks, Diary, 1824, Pawtucket. Citation 2: “1824 Strike - Blackstone River Valley National Historical Park (U.S. National Park Service).” National Park Service. June 5, 2024, https://www.nps.gov/blrv/learn/historyculture/1824-strike.htm. Citation 3: “Harnessing the Power of the Blackstone River Historical Marker.” Hmdb.org, 21 June 2020, www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=151665. Accessed 28 April 2026. citation 4: Pennell, Michael. “More than a ‘Curious Cultural Sideshow’: Samuel Slater’s Sunday School and the Role of Literacy Sponsorship in Disciplining Labor.” Journal of Working-Class Studies, vol. 4, no. 1, 1 June 2019, pp. 51–66, https://doi.org/10.13001/jwcs.v4i1.6189. Accessed 29 April 2026. Citation 5: “Mill Life - Blackstone River Valley National Historical Park (U.S. National Park Service).” Nps.gov, 2021, www.nps.gov/blrv/learn/historyculture/mill-life.htm. Further sources: 1. “Samuel Slater - Blackstone River Valley National Historical Park (U.S. National Park Service).” Www.nps.gov, 14 Dec. 2021, www.nps.gov/blrv/learn/historyculture/samuel-slater.htm. 2. “Going in Circles: A Revolution along the Blackstone (U.S. National Park Service).” Www.nps.gov, www.nps.gov/articles/000/going-in-circles-a-revolution-along-the-blackstone.htm. Editor’s Note: No firsthand accounts from the perspective of the workers exist today. The diary of George Foster Jencks is as close to an unbiased (non-mill-owning) perspective as we have. Apologies for the exclusion."
Slide reads: "Image Attributions: (Title Slide) The Old Slater Mill: Munro, Wilford Harold. Picturesque Rhode Island: Pen and Pencil Sketches of the Scenery and History. 1881. (Slide 2) This Looks Rebellion: 31 May 1824, www.nps.gov/blrv/learn/historyculture/1824-strike.htm. This is an oft-referenced article from a then-contemporary newspaper. Alas, it isn’t oft-cited, and we could not find the RI newspaper of origin by publication. (Slide 3) Power Looms in a Textile Mill During the Industrial Revolution: 1835 engraving by J. Tingle of illustration by T. Allom. Baines, Edward. History of the Cotton Manufacture in Great Britain: With a Notice of Its Early History in the East, etc. London, H. Fisher, R. Fisher, And P. Jackson, 1835. (Slide 4) Samuel Slater: Bagnall, William R. Samuel Slater and the Early Development of the Cotton Manufacture in the United States. 1890. (Slide 5) Harnessing the Power of the Blackstone River Marker by Devry Becker Jones. Taken 19 June 2020. (Slide 6) Slatersville, Rhode Island, 1895. (Slide 7) Love Conquers Fear illustration by Frances Trollope from The Life and Adventures of Michael Armstrong, the Factory Boy, 1840. CC4.0 attribution: by Wellcome Library, London, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"
Moments in US labor history, part 3: The Haymarket Affair, 1886

Part 3 in the ParkPunks May Day series exploring US labor history. Published May 6, 2026.

Research, writing, and image sourcing.

Title slide reads: "Moments in US Labor History, part 3: The Haymarket Affair, 1886. In a protest for the 8-hour workday, 1 protestor threw dynamite. 8 men were sentenced. 4 would hang."
Slide has no image. It reads: "With a population of about 200 in 1832, and more than 500,000 in 1880, Chicago was a boomtown. Chicago is between Lake Michigan and Mississippi-River access via the Des Plains River. With an ever-expanding rail network, it was the hub of trade and travel, where east met west and north met south. The 1871 Chicago fire left a nearly blank slate for rebuilding, and economic opportunity for immigrants seeking work. By 1890, 40.5% of all Cook County residents were immigrants. (citation 1) 1884 is at the beginning of the Gilded Age, and just after a global depression (with many contributing factors) that began in the U.S. with the Panic of 1873. (notation 1) In July 1877 the Great Railroad Strike came to Chicago, where there were active and established socialist groups and anarchists. Notation 1: *Stateside, this is complicated. Wages stagnated or grew, prices fell; westward expansion increased profits for some; smaller banks collapsed as did businesses. GDP and productivity increased. (citations 2 and 3)."
Image shows men with no weapons fleeing men with their sabers drawn. It's an illustration depicting Chicago during the nationwide railroad strikes of 1877. The slide reads: "Chicago’s role as an industrial hub sowed the seeds of its storied role in work reform. (citation 5) Their demands in the railroad strike of 1877: Nationalized rail and telegraph lines. And An 8-hour workday."
1883 illustration, titled "The Protectors of Our Industries, depicts workers of all industries carrying on their backs a raft of product—sacks of grain and cotton, piles of metal products, lumber, paper, and so on. On top of the products of their labor sit money bags labeled "Vanderbilt's millions," or "Gould's millions," (and so on), upon which lounge the caricatures of the capitalists of that era: Vanderbilt, Gould, Fields, and Sage. The workers lift the raft from the ocean, stooped under its weight. The slide reads: "Working conditions were untenable. Workers in the US labored an average of 60 hours per week, a 6-day work week. (citation 4) October 1884, the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions (later the American Federation of Labor of the AFL-CIO) met and decided: a nationwide 8-hour workday would be achieved by May 1, 1886."
Text surrounds two portraits. On the left, Albert Parsons in 1880. A white man looking off-camera with his hair is parted to the side and he wears a groomed mustache and a suit with a kerchief tie. To the right is Lucy Parsons in 1886. A mixed-race woman looking at the camera, wearing a fashionable hat and a vertically striped, high-neck dress. The slide reads: "May 1, 1886 between 30,000 and 60,000 workers left their jobs. Employers shortened the workday for 27,000. 80,000 workers marched Michigan Avenue, led by Albert and Lucy Parsons, and IWPA (notation 1) leaders. (citation 5) Beneath Albert Parsons' portrait, he's listed as: "Anarchist, newspaperman, and IWPA founder." Beneath Lucy Parsons' portrait, she's described as "Social anarchist, then anarcho-communist, founding member of Industrial Workers of the World, and co-founder of Chicago Working Women's Union." The notation at the bottom spells out IWPA: "International Working People's Association."
A sketch in the background, titled "Illinois - The Anarchist-Labor Troubles in Chicago" depicts a man, either a doctor or a priest, hunched over a grievously wounded man. Men in the background appear to be recovering from recent battle. The slide reads: "May 3, two workers were killed by police at a rally of striking reaper workers at McCormick Harvesting Machine Company. Anarchist autonomous groups called for a meeting May 4 at Haymarket Square. The rally began with public speakers and marching. Then someone threw dynamite at the police line. From Schneirov’s “The Haymarket Bomb in Historical Context”: “... the panicked police pulled out their revolvers and fired into the crowd for nearly three minutes... It is estimated that the police killed seven or eight civilians in the crowd and wounded between thirty and forty others. There was little mention and no troubling by the press over these civilian casualties. One officer, Mathias Degan, lay fatally wounded by the bomb and sixty-six other policemen were injured. Eventually, six additional officers succumbed to their wounds. What police did not reveal to the public was that half of all the police wounded were wounded by police bullets as well as by bomb fragments; further, three of the police dead were killed by police bullets alone...”
7 portraits are numbered 1 through 7 to accompany descriptions 1 through 7 on the left. The slide reads: 8 prominent anarchists and socialists were charged with conspiracy. 7 were sentenced to death. 1 to 15 years in prison. 2 had their sentences commuted. 1 killed himself. The state would murder 4." Then the numbered descriptions: "1. Albert Parsons (previously mentioned)" accompanies the top-left portrait, a man looking off-side, his hair parted on the side and a walrus-y mustache. "2. Samuel Fielden: English-American, Christian Anarchist, Methodist lay preacher, worked cotton mills age 8," accompanying the top-middle portrait, a man with a stout face and a bushy beard and mustache. "3. Louis Lingg: German-American anarchist. Wrote in his autobiography that his father was injured at the lumber mill." Quote: "'At this time I was 13 and my sister 7... and at this age I received my first impressions of the prevailing unjust social institutions... the exploitation of men by men.' Committed suicide in his cell." This accompanies the portrait at top-right, a man with his hair slicked back, looking at the camera head-on, sporting a respectable but less bushy mustache than Albert Parsons. "4. August Spies: German-American news- editor and anarchist. Grew up in relative privilege, joining SLP [notation at end] after witnessing injustice." His is the middle portrait, a man looking to the left, his hair brushed back naturally, without product, and his mustache curled up at the ends. "5. Michael Schwab: German-American socialist and editorial assistant at the Arbeiter-Zeitung, where Spies was editor & Fischer typesetter." Accompanying the bottom-left portrait, a man with spectacles and a thick beard, looking off-side, his hair also brushed back without product. "6. George Engel: Orphaned at 12, German-American socialist and labor activist with a toy store... who was playing cards at home during the bombing." Accompanying the bottom-middle portrait, a man with a squat face and a large mustache, his hair parted on the side with a sort of wave in the front. "7. Adolph Fischer: German-American anarchist and typesetter at the Arbeiter-Zeitung." The accompanying portrait is bottom-right, a man looking off-side, his hair styled to the side with an upright wave at the front, and a bushy mustache that curves around his mouth. Notation: SLP = "Socialist Labor Party"
Image description: a woman unfurls a banner reading "The Anarchists of Chicago." She peers over her shoulder at portraits of the alleged bombers. A torch is lit in the background. Image text: Despite suspicions among labor leaders of a conspiracy tailored to hobble the labor movement [notation 5], the martyrdom of workers asking for an 8-hour day increased support for unions and labor nationwide, and May Day has been celebrated internationally ever since." Then a quote: "'The time will come when our silence will be more powerful than the voices you strangle today.' - August Spies' last words." Followed by a byline: "ParkPunks, May Day 2026 | by Jessica Ritchie"
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