172. Fair Labor Standards Act
This, in short—in very short—is how it went:
1886: 8 hoursIn Chicago’s Haymarket Affair, a rally supporting an 8-hour workday turned into a bombing and shootout. Several policemen and workers were killed; four labor activists were hanged for a bombing prosecutors couldn't tie any of them to directly.
1894: Fair wagesPullman railroad workers went on strike after George Pullman slashed wages while refusing to lower company-town rents. When the American Railway Union boycotted trains carrying Pullman cars nationwide, President Cleveland sent federal troops to break it. The resulting violence killed 34 in Chicago alone.
1911: Safe conditions146 workers, mostly young immigrant women, died in the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory because owners had locked the exit doors.
1914: The right to organizeIn the Colorado Ludlow Massacre, the National Guard and private security troops attacked striking coal miners' families. Over 20 people died, including 11 children and 2 women in a fire set in the tent colony.
1937: a 40-hour weekChicago police fired on a crowd of striking steel workers and their families marching toward the plant to demand union recognition and a 40-hour week; ten were killed, dozens more wounded in the Memorial Day Massacre.
On June 25, 1938, FDR signed the Fair Labor Standards Act, setting a minimum wage, a 44-hour week, and an end to most child labor. It excluded agricultural and domestic workers entirely, a carve-out to secure Southern votes. Today, we’ve mostly forgotten the violent struggles laborers waged just a few generations ago.
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This post is part of The American 250, a series featuring 250 objects made by Americans, located in America, in honor of the country's 250th anniversary. 250 words on 250 works, from January 1 to December 31, 2026.
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