Four Days till the Convention, I think...

The Lattimer Massacre in North East Pennsylvania had a huge impact on workers rights through unions...

"It was not a battle because they were not aggressive,
nor were they defensive because they had no weapons
of any kind and were simply shot down like so many
worthless objects, each of the licensed life-takers
trying to outdo the others in butchery."
-Inscription on the Monument erected at Lattimer, 1972.

The men gathered together, from different mines, to strike. In Lattimer, a group of 400 strikers were approaching lawmen. 150 rounds were fired and 19 men died, 36 were wounded. It was 9*10*1897. However, the incident unified the immigrants (most of Polish, Slovak, etc descent) and the Unions began to grow, so that men got better wages, better working and living conditions and less prejudice based on race or whether or not one was an immigrant.

There is a beautiful, preserved area near Hazleton, called Eckley Miner's Village, where the massacre occurred. You can walk through and see how people lived, how the mine owners lived. The movie 'The Molly Maguires' (another NE PA story!) was filmed in the village as well.

We married the end of August in Hazleton, PA. I spent some time in Lattimer that summer and we were the first guests of Emily's Bed and Breakfast, which remains one of the most beautiful houses I have ever been in! My husband had an apartment for us in Minneapolis all ready, and the first Sunday I was there, the Star Tribune featured an article on the history of Unions and Lattimer. It was a comforting reminder of home! One of those strange, mysterious things that always seems to happen to me:)!

As we celebrate this weekend, I hope we can all take a moment to remember the history that brought us to this day, this holiday. The amazing things that have been able to be accomplished in this country. Why and how America needed unions, and the families that sacrificed and where we may need to go in the future.