Child labor Photographer Lewis Hine captures the image of a shrimp and oyster worker, Biloxi, Miss. February 1911. Gelatin silver print. Manuel, the five-year-old shrimp-picker shown here, spoke no English. At the time this photograph was taken, he had already worked for a year in this incredibly tedious and very hazardous occupation. Salvin Nocito, 5 years old, carries 2 pecks of cranberries for long distance to the "bushel-man." Whites Bog, Browns Mills, N.J. Sept. 28, 1910. Witness E. F. Brown. Location: Browns Mills, New Jersey

Organizing For millions, living and working conditions were poor, and the hope of escaping from a lifetime of poverty slight. As late as the year 1900, the United States had the highest job-related fatality rate of any industrialized nation in the world. Most industrial workers still worked a 10-hour day (12 hours in the steel industry), yet earned from 20 to 40 percent less than the minimum deemed necessary for a decent life. The situation was only worse for children, whose numbers in the work force doubled between 1870 and 1900. The first major effort to organize workers' groups on a nationwide basis appeared with The Noble Order of the Knights of Labor in 1869. Originally a secret, ritualistic society organized by Philadelphia garment workers, it was open to all workers, including blacks, women and farmers. The Knights grew slowly until they succeeded in facing down the great railroad baron, Jay Gould, in an 1885 strike. Within a year they added 500,000 workers to their rolls.

Great Strike of 1877 July 14-September 4, 1877 The strike started in Martinsville, WV because the B & O RR had cut wages for a 3rd time on one year. The workers blocked all trains from moving until the 3rd cut was undone. It spread- first other RR workers struck as well, then other workers walked in solidarity. There was a lot of violence between militia called to deal with the strikers and strikers.

Great Strike of 1877 Pittsburgh became the site of the worst violence of related strikes.  An owner suggested that the strikers should be given "a rifle diet for a few days and see how they like that kind of bread.“ As in some other cities, local law enforcement officers refused to fire on the strikers. Several state militia units were ordered into service, including the 3rd Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment President Rutherford B Hayes had to send federal troops to stop the strike as it spread all the way to St Louis and Chicago. It took 45 days to end the uprising.

Aftermath B & O Railroads had to improve pay and start giving pensions The president formed the National Guard. Damages to railroads and their cargo was over $15,000,000 The spirit of unity between workers was strong.

Knights of Labor The first to organize were craft workers. Unlike most trade unions of the day, the Knights’ unions were vertically organized–each included all workers in a given industry, regardless of trade. The Knights were also unusual in accepting workers of all skill levels and both sexes; blacks were included after 1883. After the Great RR Strike of 1877 their numbers boomed.  They were participating in a general strike for an 8 hour day in Chicago on May 1, 1886. This strike was also directed at the McCormick Harvesting Machine Company, where workers had been locked out for months for protesting working conditions.