Today in Writing History August 1, 1819: Herman Melville was born. He was one of the greatest American writers of all time. The death of his merchant father in 1832 left his family destitute. So, he became a merchant seaman, having many of the same brutal and exploitative experiences other seamen had in those days. Rum, sodomy and the lash! Consequently, he jumped ship in the Marquesas and lived with the local indigenous people. His first two books, “Typee” and “Omoo,” were about these experiences. His two greatest stories of all time, “Billy Budd,” and “Moby Dick,” were also influenced by his experiences as a seaman.
Melville also explored a variety of sexual themes in his writing, including homosexuality, celibacy, incest and impotence. Though his most famous works involve nearly all-male casts, he does explore the exploitation of women in “The Tartarus of Maids.”Homosexuality, in particular, was a common theme in many of his stories (e.g., Typee, Omoo, Redburn, Moby Dick, Billy Budd). Indeed, it is commonly believed that he was either gay or bisexual. He had a wife and kids, as well as long, romantic relationship with Nathaniel Hawthorne.
1830s
Today in Labor History August 1, 1834: The British abolished slavery in their Empire as the Slavery Abolition Act 1833 went into force. However, it remained legal in the possessions of the East India Company until the passage of the Indian Slavery Act, 1843.
1840s
Today in Labor History August 1, 1842: The Lombard Street riot, a three-day race riot, occurred in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was the last riot in a 13-year period of violent racist attacks in the city. In the early 19th century, large numbers of freed and fugitive slaves immigrated to Philadelphia. During that time, the city’s black population grew over 50%. There were also growing numbers of Irish immigrants who were also subjected to racism and exclusion. There was great competition between marginalized groups for jobs and economic survival. Consequently, periodic outbreaks of racial, ethnic, and religious violence occurred among Irish Catholics, German Protestants, blacks, and sometimes even pacifist Quakers.
On the morning of August 1, 1842, the black Young Men’s Vigilant Association held a parade of over 1,000 people on Philadelphia’s Lombard Street. They were commemorating the eighth anniversary of the end of slavery in the British West Indies. An Irish Catholic mob attacked them, setting fires and attacking firefighters and police. The cops arrested several of the victims, but none of the perpetrators. Over the course of three days, rioters looted and burned the Second African American Presbyterian Church, the abolitionist Smith’s Hall, and many homes and public buildings. Eventually, they called in the militia to restore order.
1910s
Today in Labor History August 1, 1917: IWW organizer Frank Little was lynched in Butte, Montana. Little was a Cherokee miner and member of the IWW. He went to Butte during the Speculator Mine strike to help organize the miners. Little had previously helped organize oil workers, timber workers and migrant farm workers in California. He had participated in free speech fights in Missoula, Spokane and Fresno, and helped pioneer many of the passive resistance techniques later used by the Civil Rights movement. He was also an anti-war activist, calling U.S. soldiers “Uncle Sam’s scabs in uniforms.” On August 1, 1917, vigilantes broke into the boarding house where he was staying. They dragged him through the streets while tied to the back of a car and then hanged him from a railroad trestle.
Author Dashiell Hammett had been working in Butte at the time as a striker breaker for the Pinkerton Detective Agency. They had tried to get him to murder Little, offering him $5,000, but he refused. He later wrote about the experience in his novel, “Red Harvest.” It supposedly haunted him throughout his life that anyone would think he would do such a thing. Frank Little is also mentioned in Jess Waters’ novel about the Spokane Wobblies, “The Cold Milions.”
1920s
Today in Labor History August 1, 1921: Sheriff Sid Hatfield and Ed Chambers were murdered by Baldwin-Feltz private cops. They did it in retaliation for Hatfield’s role in the Matewan labor battle in 1920, when two Feltz family thugs were killed by Hatfield and his deputies. The private cops executed Hatfield and Chambers on the Welch County court house steps in front of their wives. This led to the Battle of Blair Mountain, where 20,000 coal miners marched to the anti-union stronghold Logan County to overthrow Sheriff Dan Chaffin, the coal company tyrant who murdered miners with impunity. The Battle of Blair Mountain started in September 1921. Coal company thugs dropped bombs on the miners from planes on September 2.
Today in Labor History August 1, 1927: The Nanchang Uprising began. It was the first significant battle in the Chinese Civil War between the Kuomintang and Chinese Communist Party. The Chinese Communists launched the uprising to counter the Shanghai massacre of 1927 by the Kuomintang. The Communists successfully occupied Nanchang, but later withdrew to the Jinggang Mountains.
Hilo Massacre
Today in Labor History August 1, 1938: Police opened fire on 200 unarmed trade unionists protesting the unloading of a ship in Hilo Harbor, on the Big Island of Hawaii, in what became known as “the Hilo Massacre.” The protest was in support of striking waterfront workers. 50 workers were injured. Police also used tear gas and bayonets. The workers came from numerous ethnic backgrounds, including Japanese, Chinese, Native Hawaiian, Luso (Portuguese) and Filipino. They belonged to several unions, including the ILWU. They were fighting for equal pay to dockers on the U.S. west coast and for a closed, union shop.
1940s
Today in Labor History August 1, 1944: The Warsaw Uprising against Nazi German occupation was launched by the Polish underground resistance. They timed the uprising to coincide with the retreat of the German forces ahead of the Soviet advance. However, while approaching the city, the Red Army temporarily halted combat operations, enabling the Germans to regroup, defeat the resistance and destroy the city. The resistance was the largest military effort taken by any European resistance movement during World War II and they received almost no outside support. It is presumed that Stalin deliberately halted his forces in order to crush the Polish resistance and more easily force the country under Soviet control.
Today in Writing History August 1, 1949: Jim Carroll, American poet, author, and musician was born.
1960s
Today in Writing History August 1, 1965: Frank Herbert’s novel, Dune was published for the first time. It was named as the world’s best-selling science fiction novel in 2003.