x

75% of people globally want unbiased news (Pew Research) but are concerned they're not getting that.

Get balanced coverage with Symby. See how stories are covered across diverse outlets and spot when one side covers a story the other skips.

PODCAST

Labor History in 2:00

The Rick Smith Show

A daily, pocket-sized history of America"s working people, brought to you by The Rick Smith Show team.

education

All Episodes

1:59

February 3 - Wartime Industrial Murder

Labor History in 2:00 ·

2026/02/03

On this day in Labor History the year was 1971. That was a day of tragedy for the workers at the Thiokol Chemical Corporation plant in southeastern Georgia. An explosion killed twenty-seven workers, and injured dozens more.

en

1:59

February 2 - Calling Dr. Blackwell

Labor History in 2:00 ·

2026/02/02

On this day in Labor History the year was 1821. That was the birthday of the first woman to earn her medical degree in the United States. Her name was Elizabeth Blackwell.

en

1:59

February 1 - Sitting in at Woolworth’s

Labor History in 2:00 ·

2026/02/01

On this day in Labor History the year was 1960. That was the day that four black freshmen students from the Agricultural and Technical College of North Carolina sat down to make a stand for justice.

en

1:59

January 31 - The End of Slave Labor

Labor History in 2:00 ·

2026/01/31

On this day in Labor History the year was 1865. That was the day that the US Congress passed the 13th Amendment to the constitution, abolishing slavery. President Lincoln had already issued the Emancipation Proclamation. But there was worry that the proclamation, an emergency wartime measure, would not stand up in the courts after the war had ended.

en

1:59

January 30 - Chicago Gravediggers End 43 Day Strike

Labor History in 2:00 ·

2026/01/30

On this day in Labor History the year was 1992. That was the day that the gravediggers of Chicago ended their forty-three day strike. The United Press International’s headline declared, “The dead will rest in peace now that Chicago-area gravediggers have reached a tentative contract.” The gravediggers were part of Service Employees International Union Local 106.

en

1:59

January 29 - President Jackson Sets a Precedent

Labor History in 2:00 ·

2026/01/29

On this day in Labor History the year was 1834. That was the first time in United States history that a President called in federal troops to settle a labor dispute and It would certainly not be the last. President Andrew Jackson ordered federal troops to quiet the workers on the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal.

en

1:59

January 28 - Wisconsin Leads on Unemployment Insurance

Labor History in 2:00 ·

2026/01/28

On this day in Labor History the year was 1932. That was the day the first unemployment insurance law in was established in the United States. It happened in Wisconsin. Governor Phillip LaFollette signed the Unemployment Compensation Act.

en

1:59

January 27 - Working Class Stamps

Labor History in 2:00 ·

2026/01/27

On this day in Labor History the year was 1950. The cost of a first-class stamp was three cents. And starting on this day, one of the options for first class postage bore the image of US labor leader Samuel Gompers. The British-born Gompers was a founder and long-time head of the American Federation of Labor.

en

1:59

January 26 - Legislating Money Out of Politics

Labor History in 2:00 ·

2026/01/26

On this day in Labor History the year was 1907. That was the day that President Theodore Roosevelt signed into law an effort to get corporate money out of national politics. The law was called the Tillman Act. The act was named after its sponsor, Senator Benjamin Tillman of South Carolina.

en

1:59

January 25 - Shays’ Rebellion

Labor History in 2:00 ·

2026/01/25

On this day in Labor History the year was 1787. That was the day known as Shays’ Rebellion. The United States was a new nation, and the Constitution had not yet been written. The revolutionary army had won the war with Britain, but the young nation was mired in debt.

en

1:59

January 24 - The Boycott

Labor History in 2:00 ·

2026/01/24

On this day in Labor History the year was 1984. That was the day that Nestle agreed to terms in order to end a seven year international boycott against the company. The boycott was over the unsafe and dangerous ways that Nestle marketed and sold its baby formula in third world countries.

en

1:59

January 23 - More Labor Than They Planned

Labor History in 2:00 ·

2026/01/23

On this day in Labor History the year was 1936. That was the day when twenty laborers who were part of the Civilian Conservation Corps got involved in a type of “labor” they probably never expected. The Civilian Conservation Corps was a program established by President Franklin Roosevelt to get young men back to work during the Great Depression.

en

1:59

January 22 - Knights of Labor Leader, Terrance...

Labor History in 2:00 ·

2026/01/22

On this day in Labor History the year was 1849. That was the birthday of U.S. labor leader Terence Powderly. Powderly was born the second youngest of twelve children to Irish immigrants in Carbondale, Pennsylvania.

en

1:59

January 21 - The Charleston Five

Labor History in 2:00 ·

2026/01/21

On this day in Labor History the year was 2000. Just after midnight six hundred police officers clashed with picketing longshoreman in Charleston, South Carolina. The port in Charleston ranked the fourth largest in the United States.

en

1:59

January 20 - The First MLK Day

Labor History in 2:00 ·

2026/01/20

On this day in Labor History the year was 1986. That was the first time Dr. Martin Luther King Day was observed as a national holiday. A powerful voice for Civil Rights, Dr. King was assassinated in 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee while standing on the second floor of the Lorraine Motel.

en

1:59

January 19 - Gunned Down in Cold Blood

Labor History in 2:00 ·

2026/01/19

On this day in Labor History the year was 1915. That was the day that two striking workers were shot and killed by gunmen hired by a fertilizer plant in New Jersey. In addition to the 2 killed many more were injured by the hired guns.

en

1:59

January 18 - Showing the Union Pride

Labor History in 2:00 ·

2026/01/18

Have you ever worn a union button or t-shirt to work? On this day in Labor History the year was 1912. Members of the Australian Tramways Association in Brisbane, Queensland decided to put on their union badges at work.

en

1:59

January 17 - The 1915 Hunger March

Labor History in 2:00 ·

2026/01/17

On this day in Labor History the year was 1915. It was the day that the people in Chicago stood up to demand an end to hunger and unemployment. Their stand began at a meeting at Bowen Hall, part of the Hull House complex founded by Nobel Peace Prize winner Jane Addams.

en

1:59

January 16 - Packinghouse Workers Join the ‘46 Strike...

Labor History in 2:00 ·

2026/01/16

On this day in Labor History the year was 1946. That was the day the United Packinghouse Workers of America went on strike. Their initial demand was for a twenty-five cent an hour raise. They were also joined in the strike by the Amalgamated Meat Cutters union.

en

1:59

January 15 - Randolph’s Fight to Desegregate Wartime...

Labor History in 2:00 ·

2026/01/15

On this day in Labor History the year was 1941. That was the day that black labor leader, A Philip Randolph, issued a call for a March on Washington. He proposed the march to bring attention to the employment discrimination faced by African American workers.

en

870 results

Similar Podcasts

Science Talk

Albert Einstein College of Medicine

五分钟心理学

柠檬心理

Daily Facts

Amalia Dupray and Montgomery Jones.

Les dents et dodo

BFMTV

Veterinary Clinical Podcasts

The Royal Veterinary College