Spokane Labor History

Exploring the radical history of labor in Spokane, Washington and the surrounding region.

[Spokane Labor History @LaborSpokane]

Nothing to see here, just Woody #Guthrie hanging out with William Lee Cumming, the chair of the Spokane Communist Party, in the 1940s (via Folk Singers & the Bureau on Facebook and h/t @lukebaumgarten)

[Washington State SBWU @WashingtonSBWU]

BREAKING: Workers at the 5th and Pike Starbucks in downtown Seattle have just walked out on STRIKE.
@pax crowds and dangerous understaffing have lead to unsafe conditions in the store that these brave partners refuse to tolerate anymore!
#PAXWest2023 #Solidarity

[Spokane Labor History @LaborSpokane]

Sorry this account has been semi-defunct, but I do hope to get back to it eventually. I'm happy to share others' findings or events on labor history/labor struggles in the region.

[Spokane Labor History @LaborSpokane]

Help her out? 👇This comes to mind...in Kellogg, though: https://t.co/zTGuyosKOu

[Rachel Engler-Stringer @REnglerStringer]

@LaborSpokane if you had a very short window in which to visit sites of significance for labour history in Spokane and Cœur D’Alene, what would you do?

[Spokane Labor History @LaborSpokane]

1921 Spokane Prisoners' Strike

[The Spokesman-Review @SpokesmanReview]

100 Years Ago in Spokane: The city rockpile was intended to force prisoners to work for their room and board – but now, the prisoners were saying, “Nope.”

https://t.co/z0SNrs3kXk

[Spokane Labor History @LaborSpokane]

Looking into whether there was a chapter of the NAEL in Spokane. There was definitely targeted persecution of Asian workers, including police raids in Chinatown, that should be researched/exposed more.

[Spokane Labor History @LaborSpokane]

"The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), announced that it 'did not countenance the action ...' Bellingham's AFL unions remained affiliated with the National Asiatic Exclusion League, which had more than 800 members in Bellingham alone."

[HistoryLink.org @HistoryLink]

#OnThisDay in 1907, white workingmen attacked Bellingham's East Indian millworkers. https://t.co/VvIgGCUIJm

[Carol Sundahl @SundahlCarol]

@HistoryLink “While any good citizen must be unalterably opposed to the means employed,” editorialized The Reveille soon after the riot, “the result of the crusade against the Hindus cannot but cause a general and intense satisfaction.” 💔https://t.co/J8UGLoj4Iu

[WE NEVER FORGET @LaborMartyrs]

#Solidarity #UnionStrong
Secrets of a Successful Organizer - August Tuesdays Training Series | Labor Notes https://t.co/9h5H55mi9v

[AFSCME Council 28 (WFSE) @wfsec28]

WFSE Local 1488 rallying in coalition with @SEIU925 and @SEIU1199NW to kick off contract bargaining with UW. #RespectProtectPayUs

[Spokane Labor History @LaborSpokane]

New documentary on Billy Tipton https://t.co/h1V7GgPEEn

[HistoryLink.org @HistoryLink]

#OnThisDay in 1934, 1,500 Seattle Longshoremen joined 12,500 other maritime workers in closing every seaport between San Diego and Juneau. The strike lasted until July 31. https://t.co/Z1hpJZPNYI

[HistoryLink.org @HistoryLink]

100 years ago today, Governor Hart signed the Alien Land Bill, which barred non-white immigrants from buying, owning, or leasing land in the state and mandated confiscation without compensation of any lands purchased before or after passage of the act. https://t.co/eKWnlsX3kJ

[Logan C @thelocalhistory]

@danielwinlander @LaborSpokane Mrs. Rosa Malone.

[Anna Harbine @caffeinejunky]

@LaborSpokane Totally just put my nominations in! Thanks for the reminder! Glad you and @thelocalhistory are pushing for Maxes. I put all my votes in for Denny Yasuhara, Spokane teacher, activist, and national president of the JACL in the 90s.

[Spokane Labor History @LaborSpokane]

@voodoobones @thelocalhistory I mean, all I'm saying is, we want kids to know they can be whatever they dream🤣

[Spokane Labor History @LaborSpokane]

Oh my gosh, I just realized this is a thing! Submissions are due Sunday night. Who should we name some Spokane schools after? I'm thinking Black civil rights lawyer and activist Carl Maxey and suffragette and socialist May Hutton. Who else? https://t.co/CB2A8Eq9hE

[JD @JackDaniyel]

Deadline is tonight to name 4 new @SpokaneSchools.h/t @LaborSpokane

Suggestions:
Carl Maxey https://t.co/MJun9L0Kl2
Elizabeth Gurley Flynn https://t.co/pVBOlW916n
May Hutton https://t.co/1CMUkOcRDx
Billy Tipton https://t.co/z5LTU6OR9i

https://t.co/Q46UsyW9tK

[Spokane Labor History @LaborSpokane]

Elizabeth Gurley Flynn of the IWW, who chained herself to a downtown Spokane lamppost and got arrested, and who became a posterchild of the Spokane Free Speech Fight of 1909?

[Spokane Labor History @LaborSpokane]

I ended up submitting all my votes for Carl Maxey, since I feel it's important to honor the man who got Black teachers into Spokane public schools for the first time with a school named for him. https://t.co/40QqvVQX0I.

[Spokane Labor History @LaborSpokane]

@nuthingsscareme Great idea! Please vote <3