Coal miners' strike of 1873 facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Coal miners' strike of 1873 |
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Mahoning, Shenango, and Tuscarawas Valleys in the Youngstown area of Ohio and Pennsylvania
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| Date | 1873 | ||
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Mahoning Valley, Shenango Valley, Tuscarawas Valley
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| Goals | wages | ||
| Methods | Strikes, Protest, Demonstrations | ||
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| Casualties and arrests | |||
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The Coal miners' strike of 1873, was a strike against wage cuts in the Mahoning, Shenango, and Tuscarawas Valleys of northeastern Ohio and northwestern Pennsylvania. In the Tuscarawas Valley, the labor action lasted six months, and in the Mahoning Valley four and a half months, but the walkouts failed. The introduction of imported strikebreakers and manufacturers finding substitutes for the area's special block-coal, forced the organized miners back to work at prevailing wages.
Aftermath
The appearance of the Italian strikebreakers marks one of the earliest recorded arrivals of Southern Italians in the Mahoning Valley. After the conclusion of the strike, many settled in Coalburg's Little Italy. The actions of the coal mine operators may have also added to the number of African Americans settling in the Mahoning Valley. The tactic of exploiting immigrants and Blacks as strikebreakers continued for several decades. This undermined coal miners' efforts to organize. The strike marks post-Civil War changes in the relationship between capital and labor. Importation of replacements from afar to control the workplace now became possible via new technology, the telegraph and railroads.
Although the miners' strike began nine months before the Panic of 1873, railroad construction had begun falling the year before as a result of Civil War over expansion. This had a deflationary effect on coal prices as the demand for iron and steel decreased. Strikes by the same coal workers continued at least through March 1876 in the Tuscarawas Valley, when a strike at the Warmington Mine south of Canton escalated into violence that required the insertion of state troops by Governor Rutherford B. Hayes to restore order. Young attorney William McKinley represented the unpopular miners without a fee, by highlighting the dangers of the industry -- 250 fatalities in the state every year, and another 700 injuries -- and the practices of local mine owners. One of those owners was Mark Hanna. Although opponents in the case, the two formed a political alliance that saw McKinley elected U.S. president in 1896.
Images for kids
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Miners using mule to move coal.
