Susan B. Anthony, suffragist, abolitionist, labor activist, born in Adams, Mass. - 1820

Birth of Allan Pinkerton, whose strike-breaking detectives ("Pinks") gave us the word "fink" - 1819

Abolitionist Frederick Douglass born into slavery near Easton, MD - 1818

First use of term “scab,” by Albany Typographical Society - 1816

Luddites smash 63 “labor saving” textile machines near Nottingham, England - 1811

Largest rebellion by enslaved people in US history begins in Louisiana

Pressured by employers, striking shoemakers in Philadelphia are arrested and charged with criminal conspiracy for violating an English common law that bars schemes aimed at forcing wage increases. The strike was broken - 1805

In England, a compassionate parliament declares that children can't be required to work more than 12 hours a day. And they must have an hours' instruction in the Christian Religion every Sunday and not be required to sleep more than two in a bed - 1802

In his inaugural address, President Thomas Jefferson declares: “Take not from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned.” - 1801

Queen Marie Antoinette, wife of Louis XVI, is beheaded during the French Revolution. When alerted that the peasants were suffering due to widespread bread shortages, lore has it that she replied, “Let them eat cake.” In fact she never said that, but workers were, justifiably, ready to believe anything bad about their cold-hearted Royalty - 1793

Powered by children 7 to 12 years old working dawn to dusk, Samuel Slater’s thread-spinning factory goes into production in Pawtucket, R.I., launching the Industrial Revolution in America. By 1830, 55 per cent of the mill workers in the state were youngsters, many working for less than $1 per week - 1790

Twenty-six journeymen printers in Philadelphia stage the trade’s first strike in America over wages: a cut in their $6 weekly pay - 1786.