Congress okays the Contract Labor Law, designed to clamp down on "business agents" who contracted abroad for immigrant labor. One of the reasons unions supported the measure: employers were using foreign workers to fight against the growing U.S. labor movement, primarily by deploying immigrant labor to break strikes - 1885

Norman Thomas born, American socialist leader - 1884

Federal troops drive some 1,200 jobless workers from Washington D.C. Led by unemployed activist Charles "Hobo" Kelley the group's "soldiers" include young journalist Jack London and William Haywood, a young miner-cowboy called "Big Bill" - 1884

Congress creates a Bureau of Labor, under the Interior Dept. It later became independent as a Dept. of Labor without executive status in the Dept. of Commerce and Labor; in 1913 it became the Dept. of Labor we know today - 1884

Some 10,000 New Orleans workers, black and white, participate in a solidarity parade of unions comprising the Central Trades and Labor Assembly. The parade was so successful it was repeated the following two years - 1883

International Working People's Association founded in Pittsburgh, Penn. - 1883

Union employees strike The Los Angeles Times in an unsuccessful attempt to unionize all staff. - 1883

The Brotherhood of Telegraphers begins an unsuccessful three-week strike against the Western Union Telegraph Co - 1883

13 white waiters in San Francisco struck against the employment of African Americans. This led to the formation of the White Cooks and Waiters Union. -1883

After 14 years of construction and the deaths of 27 workers, the Brooklyn Bridge over New York’s East River opens. Newspapers call it “the eighth wonder of the world” - 1883

Cigar makers in Cincinnati warn there could be a strike in the Fall if factory owners continue to insist that they pay 30 cents per month for gas heat provided at work during mornings and evenings - 1883

Cowboys earning $40 per month begin what is to become an unsuccessful 2 1/2 month strike for higher wages at five ranches in the Texas Panhandle - 1883