- Zinn Education Project

May 3, 1898: Septima Clark Born

Educator and civil rights organizer Septima Clark was born in South Carolina.

Newspaper account of African Americans killed and wounded during labor strife in Polk County, from the New York Times; August 10, 1896.

Aug. 5, 1896: Polk County Massacre

White workers murdered Black workers in Arkansas who were coming to work on the railways.

July 25, 1898: U.S. Invades Puerto Rico

U.S. troops invaded Puerto Rico at Guánica.

Lucas Square St. Louis Rail Strike | Zinn Education Project

July 22, 1877: St. Louis Rail Strike

Rail workers and residents of St. Louis, Missouri briefly took over the city as part of the wider Great Railroad Strike of 1877.

The 1897 Petition Against the Annexation of Hawaii.

July 8, 1898: Hawai’i Annexation

Hawai’i was annexed to the United States.

July 6, 1892: Homestead Strike

Spies from the Pinkerton Detective Agency and striking steelworkers engaged in a major battle as part of the Homestead Strike.

June 7, 1892: Homer Plessy Arrested for Violating Louisiana’s Separate Car Act

Homer Plessy was arrested for violating Louisiana’s Separate Car Act.

May 21, 1881: Blanche K. Bruce Became Register of the Treasury

Blanche K. Bruce became Register of the Treasury, which placed his name on all U.S. currency.

May 11, 1894: Pullman Strike

The American Railway Union led the Pullman Strike.

Rock Springs Massacre | Zinn Education Project

Sept. 2, 1885: Rock Springs Massacre

White coal miners in Rock Springs, Wyoming, brutally attacked Chinese workers.

May 1: International Workers Day

International Workers’ Day began as a commemoration of the 1886 Haymarket massacre in Chicago.

Harriet Hanson Robinson: “Characteristics of the Early Factory Girls.”

Film clip. Voices of a People's History.
Harriet Hanson Robinson's "Characteristics of the Early Factory Girls" (1898) read by Lili Taylor.

The citizens breaking down the door of the parish prison with the beam.

March 14, 1891: 11 Italians Lynched in New Orleans

A mob lynched 11 Italians in New Orleans for the killing of the New Orleans police chief.

July 11, 1892: Coeur d’Alene Idaho Miners Strike

Miners in Coeur d’Alene held a strike and took on the Pinkertons.

Feb. 4, 1899: War of Philippine Independence

When the United States refused to recognize Philippine independence, Philippine Republic president Emilio Aguinaldo declared war.

May 6, 1882: Chinese Exclusion Act Signed

The 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act was signed, prohibiting Chinese immigration to the United States.

Zora Neale Hurston | Zinn Education Project: Teaching People's History

Jan. 7, 1891: Zora Neale Hurston Born

Zora Neale Hurston, a folklorist, anthropologist, and author, was born in Alabama.

Jan. 17, 1893: Queen Lili`uokalani of Hawai`i is Overthrown

Queen Lili`uokalani of the independent kingdom of Hawai`i was overthrown as she was arrested at gunpoint by U.S. Marines.

April 9, 1898: Paul Robeson Born

Paul Robeson was one of the most important figures of the 20th century. He was a “renaissance man” — an acclaimed athlete, actor, singer, cultural scholar, author, lawyer, and internationally-renowned political activist.

To ‘Joy My Freedom: Southern Black Women’s Lives and Labors After the Civil War

Book — Non-fiction. By Tera W. Hunter. 1998.
An examination of post-Civil War lives of African American women, focusing on their labor organizing, leisure, hope, and struggle.

Monumental: Oscar Dunn and His Radical Fight in Reconstruction Louisiana

Book — Non-fiction. By Brian K. Mitchell, Barrington S. Edwards, and Nick Weldon. 2021. 256 pages.
This Reconstruction history graphic novel tells the story of Oscar James Dunn, a New Orleanian who became the first Black lieutenant governor and acting governor in the United States.

They Left Great Marks on Me: African American Testimonies of Racial Violence from Emancipation to World War I

Book — Non-fiction. By Kidada Williams. 2012. 281 pages.
This book documents African Americans' testimonies about racial violence during Jim Crow, and the crusades against that violence that became political training grounds for the Civil Rights Movement.