30 August 1908: Birmingham coal strike ends

On this day, 30 August, 1908, union officials of the United Mine Workers called off a strike by Black and white coalminers in Birmingham, Alabama, four days after the Governor sent in the army to evict the strikers' tent colony and following a violent campaign of repression. Despite this, workers attempted to continue the stoppage but they were sadly defeated. Armed thugs terrorised the strikers, and lynched one Black miner, while the press generated hysteria about the race mixing workers. The Birmingham Age-Herald denounced a union meeting where "a negro…embrace[d] a white speaker…in the very presence of gentle white women and innocent little girls." The defeat was a blow to mineworkers and working class racial unity in the South.
More information, sources and map: https://stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/10269/birmingham-coal-strike-ends

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