historyMay 26, 20262:27pending
26 May 1824: Pawtucket Mill strike
About this episode
On this day, 26 May 1824, the first recorded factory strike in US history took place when 102 women and girls working at the Slater Mill in Pawtucket picketed their factory.
Two days prior, the mill owners in the town had decided to increase working hours by one hour a day for everyone with no additional pay, and cut the pay of power-loom weavers by 25%. The weavers affected were all women and girls aged 15 to 30, whom were previously being paid "extravagant wages for young women," according to the employers.
What the owners did not expect, something which had not happened before in the infant textile industry, or indeed any factory in the country: the women organised themselves and went on strike. They were joined by other workers and members of the local community, who blockaded the mills, protested and hurled rocks at the mansions of the owners. One prominent local politician, George F. Jenkes wrote in his journal during the dispute: “I have just returned from one of the moste gloomy assemblage of people I have ever witnessed, from the street from the Pawtucket Bank across the bridge to Josiah Mill’s shop is literally filled with Men Women and Children — making a mob of very daring aspect, insulting the managers of cotton mills in every shape — pulling and hauling — screaming and shouting thro the streets.”
On the final day of the week-long strike, one of the mills was set ablaze. The day after the fire, the mill owners moved to negotiate with the workers, and they reached a compromise.
In the wake of the dispute, other groups of workers began organising themselves, and other strikes would break out across the New England textile industry in the coming years.
Learn more about this dispute in our podcast episode 32: https://workingclasshistory.com/2019/08/12/e28-the-pawtucket-mill-strike/
Our work is only possible because of support from you, our listeners on patreon. If you appreciate our work, please join us and access exclusive content and benefits at patreon.com/workingclasshistory.
Two days prior, the mill owners in the town had decided to increase working hours by one hour a day for everyone with no additional pay, and cut the pay of power-loom weavers by 25%. The weavers affected were all women and girls aged 15 to 30, whom were previously being paid "extravagant wages for young women," according to the employers.
What the owners did not expect, something which had not happened before in the infant textile industry, or indeed any factory in the country: the women organised themselves and went on strike. They were joined by other workers and members of the local community, who blockaded the mills, protested and hurled rocks at the mansions of the owners. One prominent local politician, George F. Jenkes wrote in his journal during the dispute: “I have just returned from one of the moste gloomy assemblage of people I have ever witnessed, from the street from the Pawtucket Bank across the bridge to Josiah Mill’s shop is literally filled with Men Women and Children — making a mob of very daring aspect, insulting the managers of cotton mills in every shape — pulling and hauling — screaming and shouting thro the streets.”
On the final day of the week-long strike, one of the mills was set ablaze. The day after the fire, the mill owners moved to negotiate with the workers, and they reached a compromise.
In the wake of the dispute, other groups of workers began organising themselves, and other strikes would break out across the New England textile industry in the coming years.
Learn more about this dispute in our podcast episode 32: https://workingclasshistory.com/2019/08/12/e28-the-pawtucket-mill-strike/
Our work is only possible because of support from you, our listeners on patreon. If you appreciate our work, please join us and access exclusive content and benefits at patreon.com/workingclasshistory.
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