Erik Loomis

@erikloomis.bsky.social

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Labor and environmental historian. Writer of books, teacher of American horrors, talker on labor movement. Beer, country music, and football are not just for the right wingers. Cats. The West. Music. Graves. Writes at https://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/

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I'm going to see a bunch of Goya today and this pretty much sums up my state of mind right now

This Day in Labor History: January 3, 1931. Farmers converged on England, Arkansas to demand poverty relief. This led to Will Rogers’ poverty tour and a greater national conversation about conditions in rural America in the early years of the Great Depression!

This Day in Labor History: January 2, 2006. A coal mine near Sago, West Virginia exploded. Thirteen miners were trapped inside and only one of those survived the two days it took to get the miners out. Let's talk about the horrors of murderous coal mining employers!

This Day in Labor History: December 30, 1970. A coal mine exploded on Hurricane Creek, near Hyden, Kentucky. Thirty-eight miners died that day, yet another example of the terrible safety conditions of coal mining, even at a late date!!!!

Without downloading any new pics, what’s your energy going into 2024

Pork chop over kale with olives and golden raisins, eggplant baked in oil and anchovies, and a green salad, plus a Bordeaux. Yep, grading is finally finished for the fall (we go very late)

This Day in Labor History: December 28, 1869. The Knights of Labor were founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The organization grew slowly, but by the late 1870s, the Knights had become the nation’s largest labor union, remaining so through 1886. Let's talk about the Knights!

This Day in Labor History: December 27, 1831. The Baptist Rebellion began in Jamaica. This slave rebellion of up to 60,000 people, put down over the next couple of weeks, also was the final straw that moved the United Kingdom toward outlawing slavery in its colonies!!!

This Day in Labor History: December 24, 1969. St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Curt Flood wrote a letter to Major League Baseball commissioner Bowie Kuhn protesting a trade to the Philadelphia Phillies and asking to be declared a free agent. Let's talk about his brave fight for free agency!!

This Day in Labor History: December 23, 1872. Coal miners near Clearfield, Pennsylvania got into a fight with strikebreakers trying to mine coal during a strike. This minor moment in American labor history tells us a great deal about how miners defined their jobs and their rights in 1872!!

This Day in Labor History: December 21, 1919. Emma Goldman is deported from the U.S. to the USSR as part of the Red Scare that saw the mass deportation of immigrant radicals and the imprisonment of many native-born radicals. Let's talk about this!

This Day in Labor History: December 19, 1907. The Darr Mine near Smithton, Pennsylvania, caught fire and exploded. 239 people died, many of them children. This was the largest workplace disaster in Pennsylvania history. Oh, here is the opening today.

This Day in Labor History: December 17, 1894. Labor Populists briefly overthrew Samuel Gompers as president of the American Federation of Labor, replacing him with John McBride. It didn't last long, but let's talk about the labor Populists!

This Day in Labor History: December 15, 1921. The Kansas National Guard arrived to break up women’s marches in support of a strike of coal miners in southeastern Kansas. Let's talk about the so-called Amazon Strike!

This Day in Labor History: December 14, 1945. The House passes what would become the Employment Act of 1946, an attempt to move toward a national full employment policy. Let's talk about the limited ability to legislate real full employment in this country!

This Day in Labor History: December 12, 1957. The AFL-CIO evicted four unions from the federation for corruption, most notably the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. Let's talk about the fight against corruption in postwar unionism!

This Day in Labor History: December 11, 1886. The Colored Farmers’ Alliance was established in Lovelady in Houston County, Texas. Let's talk about this important, if short-lived attempt for Black farmers to use white organizations to promote their own economic interests!

This Day in Labor History: December 8, 1886. The American Federation of Labor formed at a meeting of union officials in Columbus, Ohio. Let's talk about the most successful labor federation in American history!

This Day in Labor History: December 5, 1955. The American Federation of Labor and the Congress of Industrial Organizations merged into the AFL-CIO. Let's talk about why the two federations merged and what it meant for the decline of the era of aggressive organizing.

I have a half cat on me.

This Day in Labor History: December 4, 1907. President Theodore Roosevelt ordered federal troops to the gold mining town of Goldfield, Nevada to bust a strike of workers affiliated with the Industrial Workers of the World and Western Federation of Miners. Let's talk about TR: Unionbuster!

Be careful; bagpipes can inspire unpredictable behavior: bsky.app/profile/erik...

Key Moments in Rhode Island History

Sunday Morning Coming Down for this cat

This Day in Labor History: December 2, 1946. The Oakland General Strike begins! Let's talk about its surprisingly un-radical nature and why this is the last real general strike in American history!!!

The good old days of the Senate, when the body was filled with unmitigated drunks.

This Day in Labor History: December 1, 1868. A young black former Union soldier named John Henry was among a group of convicts sent from Richmond to West Virginia to blast a railroad tunnel, where he would soon die. Let's talk about the real John Henry and the hell of postwar prison labor!

This Day in Labor History: November 30, 1999. The World Trade Organization protests in Seattle began. This well-coordinated combination of labor, environmental, and anti-globalization activists were blown up by a few anarchists with no sense of responsibility and then the fascist Seattle police.

This Day in Labor History: November 28, 1901. A strike among Cuban cigar workers in Tampa, Florida collapsed after workers inspired by the Cuban revolutionary Jose Martí sought to create a cross-racial organization to resist employer oppression and fight for Cuban nationalism!!

Lincoln's early law partner looks like Johnny Cash with Charlie Rich's hair.