#samuel gompers

[1900scartoons]

A Strange Bed-Fellow, Indeed

September 28, 1908

AFL president Samuel Gompers puts the Democratic Donkey into bed with Labor, who looks alarmed.

The caption reads "Mr. Gompers has some new ideas about politics, but what does Labor think about it?"

Gompers had made a surprise endorsement of Democratic Candidate William Jennings Bryan in the 1908 election, according to the September 24th edition of the New York Times.

From Hennepin County Library

Original available at: https://digitalcollections.hclib.org/digital/collection/Bart/id/6595/rec/2085

[demospectator]

“Entrance to Joss House, Oneida Place” c. 1901 -1902.  Painting by Charles Albert Rogers (from the collection of the Bancroft Library).

Oneida Place: Lord Tam’s Home in Old Chinatown

About 15 years ago, The Bancroft Library acquired thirteen paintings of San Francisco's Chinatown by Charles Albert Rogers, dating from 1901-1902.  Born in New Haven, Connecticut, in 1848, Rogers studied art in New York and pursued further training in Munich, Paris, and Rome.  “By 1877 he was in San Francisco,” according to the Bancroft’s Western Americana Curator Theresa Salazar, “where he painted oil and watercolor portraits, landscapes, and coastal scenes.”  

The Bishop directory of 1877 shows a listing for “Rogers Chas., artist, r. cor Washington and Dupont” – residing in the heart of Chinatown. By 1895, the Langley directory shows that he had moved his studio as a “Landscape and portrait painter” to 628 Montgomery Street and residence to 834 Sutter Street.  In 1905, the Langley directory shows Rogers living at 509 Van Ness Avenue and a listing among “Artists – Landscape” at the same address.  Unfortunately for Rogers, the San Francisco earthquake and fire of April 18, 1906, apparently destroyed his studio and his work which was stored there.  After the earthquake, the artist moved to Los Angeles.  He would continue to paint, and he died in Alameda, California, in 1918.

In 2008, Salazar wrote for the Bancroft Library’s special edition of reproductions of “The Chinese Experience through Western Eyes” about Rogers’ Chinatown work as follows:  

“Rogers' depiction of Chinatown before its destruction in 1906 was fortuitous. Capturing the people and places of this city within a city, he records Chinatown before the earthquake, rendering the typical dress of its inhabitants and the flavor of the humdrum and humble activities of its back alleys. Its ramshackle wooden buildings and tenement houses were far from important architectural structures, as Rogers' paintings attest; but they also attest to the existence of a vibrant community and culture. Each painting bears the artist's original annotation as to location and date, with the time of day also noted on some works.  Rogers captures the overlay of Chinese artifacts on the nondescript 19th century brick building — . . . and other objects all create the distinctive characteristics of the neighborhood.”

Unlike many of his contemporaries who painted subjects in old Chinatown, Rogers’ painting of the joss house on Oneida [sic] “alley” remains startlingly faithful to the Chinese signage over the doorway.  The first three characters, read right to left in the old style, are 譚公廟 (canto: “Tom Gung miu”) or the “General (or duke or lord) Tam temple.”  The painting, thus, confirms Lord Tam, patron saint of seafarers, as the principal icon for this temple and its location on Oneida Place off of Sacramento Street in old San Francisco Chinatown.  

According to legend, Tam Gung could forecast the weather.  The Lord Tam of historical record was born in Huizhou prefecture where he could cure patients in his childhood.  His powers and good acts earned him a place in heaven as an immortal by the age of 20 in the Nine-dragon Mountain in Huizhou and deification during the Qing dynasty. Chinese whose ancestral homes are located in Huizhou or Chaoshan of Guangdong province venerate Tam Gung. In Hong Kong and Macau, Tam Gung or Tam Tai Sin (譚大仙; canto: “Tom daih seen”) is worshiped as a sea deity.

Images of the interior of the Lord Tam and Tam clan association temple are practically nonexistent.  If Rogers ever gained admission to sketch the temple’s sanctuary, no such renderings survived.  

Oneida Place as shown on the July 1885 map commissioned by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors (from the Cooper Chow collection at the Chinese Historical Society of America).

The best literary description of the Tam temple may be found in Frederic J. Masters’ article “Can a Chinaman Become a Christian?” published in the June – November 1892 issue of The Californian Illustrated Magazine (p. 622).  Masters wrote as follows:

“Another temple worth visiting is the small but elegant Joss-house of the Tam Clan. It is one of the oldest in San Francisco, and is found on Oneida place, a dirty, narrow alley branching from Sacramento street. The patriarch Tam is represented with a bald head and a fine, intelligent face.   Beautifully gilded and tasseled mottoes hang from the walls and roof. There is one motto that is very appropriate for a temple where kinsmen meet, of which the following is a rude translation: ‘That family with fragrance blooms, whose brethren, like flower calyxes, each to the other bound and all to parent stem, in undivided love abide.’' Another tablet in purple may be rendered in English, thus: ‘Upon us like the rain and dew, thy grace descends forever new.’  Another tablet inscribed by forty-eight names says: ‘The vastness of his mercy is boundless as the sea.’

“The altar service is of very chaste design, the center piece artistically enameled, surmounted with a brass lion with two dragons rampant, each with a projecting red tongue that moves at the least jar or breath of wind. On either side are two huge enameled metal candlesticks in the shape of towers, surmounted by two Caucasian figures dressed in the English costume of a century ago, each wearing stovepipe hats and holding a torch-like candlestick. Worship was being offered by two Chinamen at this temple at the time of our visit.

“333. Shrine -- Joss House” no date.  Photographer unknown. This as-yet un-identified altar setup (particularly the lion surmounting the central vessel) approximates the altar furnishings described by Frederic Masters survey of San Francisco Chinatown’s various temples in 1892.    

“A Chinese temple has no fixed time for religious service; no congregation meets together for united praise and prayer, or sits to listen to some exposition of doctrine and duty. The worshipper comes when he has something to pray about. Family sick-ness, adverse fortune or some risky business undertaking drives him to the oracle. As lie enters the temple he makes his bow to the gods with clasped hands, he lights his candles and incense, kneels upon a mat and calls upon the god by name three times. He then takes up two semi-oval blocks of wood called Yum Yeung Puey, bows toward the idol, prays for good luck and then tosses them up. The success of his supplication depends upon the position in which these blocks fall.  If they both fall in the same position the omen is unfavorable; the god has left his office or does not wish to be disturbed.   If the blocks fall one with the flat side turned up and the other with the flat surface turned down, the god is supposed to be taking some interest in his business. The worshipper now knocks his head three times three upon the floor, and offers up his petition. This done, he takes a cylindrical bamboo pot containing bam I wo slips about fifteen inches in length, each marked with a number.  These are called sticks of fate, and are shaken together with the ends turned to the idol, till one is jostled out. The priest or temple keeper looks at the number, consults his book and hunts up the answer given to the man's prayer.  The drum beats and the bell tolls.  Offerings of paper money, consisting of beaten tinfoil, a whole armful of which can be bought for half a dollar, are burnt in the furnace and are changed by fire into the currency of the gods. It has taken only ten minutes to burn candles, incense and gilt paper, say his prayers, cast his lot, and get his answer and be on his way home.

“Some happy morning he may be seen repairing to the same, temple to return thanks for some profitable answer to his venture in trade, for a relative restored to health, or for some good fortune believed to have come in prayers.  An express wagon drives up to the temple door, containing roast pigs and the choicest vegetables and fruits laid out in trays, which he offers to the god with libations of wine and tea. The god is supposed to feed upon the fumes of the meat and food, after which utilitarian John carts them back home to the family pantry.”

Unlike other better-known temples, such as the Tin How or Lung Kong temples, the Lord Tam temple, and even the small streets comprising Oneida Place, apparently attracted little interest from the photographers of the day.  Aside from its temple, Oneida Place’s only other claim to prominence was its listing as an overcrowded residential warren in Samuel Gompers’ notorious pamphlet published in 1902 by the American Federal of Labor “Some Reasons for Chinese Exclusion -- Meat vs. Rice – American Manhood Against Asiatic Coolieism [etc.].”  

As this clipping from the Sacramento Daily Union of October 17, indicates, the many lodgings for the Chinese laborers on Oneida Place were generally unsound. 

In spite of its lower profile when compared to Chinatown’s other alleyways and small streets, Oneida would occasionally serve as a location for newsworthy events, as this June 30, 1892, report in the Sacramento Daily Union about an opium processing house attests: 

The outbreak of bubonic plague cases in San Francisco Chinatown beginning in 1900 would bring drastic change to Oneida Place.  Based on the pretext of abating disease spread, the City’s Board of Health acted to demolish selected buildings in Chinatown, which also conveniently served a broad political objective of removing Chinatown and the Chinese altogether from the heart of downtown San Francisco.  The demolition program is recounted by local historian Woody LaBounty here:  https://www.sanfranciscostory.com/chinatown-demolition/?ref=san-francisco-story-newsletter

“People with axes on top of wooden building during demolition,” 1903  (J. M. Williamson M.D. Board of Health Photograph Album of Chinatown, San Francisco Public Library, SFP83-90).  Men with badges and axes pause in their demolition of mid-block rooming houses on Oneida Place off of the south side of the 700 block of Sacramento Street.  The remaining framing is consistent with the east-west line of the mid-block “Chinese Lodging” units noted on the 1885 “vice” map commissioned by the SF Board of Supervisors as no. 1 to 15 or no. 17 to 37 Oneida Place.

Three years after the Board of Health’s demolition of the workers housing in Oneida Place, the earthquake and fire of 1906 would completely scour the small street and smaller alleyway for the buildings fronting along the south side of Sacramento Street.

Research about this colorful small street of old Chinatown continues.

[updated: 2024-8-17]

[racefortheironthrone]

What are your thoughts on Woodrow Wilson? It seems like depending on who you ask, he’s either the intellectual father of the current international system, or the man who brought American race relations to their post Civil War nadir by segregating the federal government.

As someone who primarily studies U.S domestic policy, I don't hugely care about Wilsonian foreign policy.

Yes, yes, international law and the roots of the U.N, but at the end of the day the League of Nations wouldn't have been fit for purpose even if Wilson had managed to get the U.S to participate, he got massively steamrolled at the Paris Peace Conference by Clemenceau and Lloyd George on everything from imperialism to anti-German revanchism, and you can't get away from the fact that his liberal pronouncements on national self-determination were sharply limited by his racism when it came to the self-determination of insufficiently white people.

When it comes to domestic policy, it gets harder for me because a lot of important and good stuff happened in his Administration - the income tax, the Federal Reserve, the Federal Trade Commission, the Clayton Anti-Trust Act ("labor's Magna Carta" according to Samuel Gompers), the Commission on Industrial Relations, the passage of the Suffrage Amendment for women, etc. - but most of that happened thanks to other people. Wilson was more of a cheerleader and promoter than a policy wonk, so I think any Progressive would have done as good a job.

On the issue of "American race relations," I think Wilson's impact was largely symbolic, but his impact was absolutely on behalf of segregation. The Jim Crow agenda of black disenfranchisement and discrimination had mostly been completed between 1890 and 1910 - by the southern wing of the Democratic Party that he came out of, I should add - and Wilson's personal contribution was to extend the latter principle into the Federal government as a final thumb in the eye to lingering Republican sentiment on civil rights. At the same time, between McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt, the leadership of the Republican Party had basically already surrendered on black representation in Federal employment (just as at least the Executive had on anti-lynching laws, civil rights, and voting rights), so the damage had mostly been done.

His public support for Birth of a Nation - whether or not he actually said it, the tagline "like history writ with lighning" was a useful boost to the film's marketing - was probably more impactful in the long run. His Administration's inaction during the Red Summer of 1919 was most impacful of all, and even if you buy the bullshit argument that the Federal government didn't have the power to do anything in most cases, Wilson absolutely had the power when it came to Washington D.C and it somehow took him four days to send in the Army to stop white mobs from making war on the black community.

[alivesoul]

Therapy Assignment by Thomas Turner

It took almost a week for before I could start writing about the most traumatic experience in my life. The therapist I have been seeing gave me this assignment during our last session. She said she could tell I wanted to share something. I have had so many traumatic experiences in my estimation that I really didn’t know where to rank them.  I think the most traumatic event in my life was experiencing the abuse of my mother first-hand and not being able to do anything about it.  My mother had a friend named Ernestine who she knew for a very long time.  She trusted Ernestine as they were young mothers together during the time of my brother’s birth.  When my mother needed a place to stay, Ernestine offered her living room in her two-bedroom apartment in Soundview Houses in the Bronx.  Ernestine had a son named Richard and what me and mother came to discover is that Richard was a monster.  When my mother moved in, Richard was very nice to her. My mother, a full-blown alcoholic, needed beer or a "taste" of some kind in the morning just to get through the day.  Richard quickly figured that out and began readily supplying her habit. One night, he came on to her sexually and she submitted, and they began having a “relationship”. Things changed for the worse when he asked my mother for her 1st of the month check money. When she said no, he began beating her. 

The first time he beat my mother, I wasn’t present, but I came home to see the results.  Her face was red, swollen, and she had scratches on her arms.  You tell she had been crying a lot and she looked scared.  I never saw that in my mother before.  One day, he made her go down to Orchard Beach to go fishing, something she had no interest in doing. When he felt she wasn’t enjoying herself enough, he slapped her so hard her eye began to swell immediately and eventually it shut.  That was the first time I witnessed my mother being hit. I was so scared I couldn’t speak.  For the next four months, Richard would sexually and physically abuse my mother countless times.  Her friend Ernestine was also a victim, the man even threatened and beat his mother into silence and submission.  One morning , I woke up and heard her being beaten in the bathroom.  I opened the door and she was naked and bleeding. I screamed at him “Leave her alone!!” he didn’t respond, he just looked it at me with these beady eyes and he just kept hitting her.  That night, I resolved I was going to kill him.

I waited until I thought everyone was asleep, silently walked into the kitchen, grabbed the biggest knife I could find and made my way towards him.  I would stab him in the neck first and then in the chest, that would make sure he was dead.  As I approached him, my mother reached out to me and grabbed my arm, she had been watching me the whole time.  She simply said “No, Tommy” It was the way she said it, almost reassuringly, like, “I have a plan to get us out of this”.  To this day, I don’t know how I understood that, but I did, and I put the knife back, got back in bed and cried myself to sleep as my mother held me.  The next morning, my mother made me go to school extra early, when I came home from school, there were police officers waiting for me. While I was in school my mother had escaped the apartment by going up to the roof of the building and exiting out the adjacent building.  She made her way to Samuel Gompers High School where she found a cop and told him her story. 

I was taken from my mother that day by the city. It was from here that I ended up in a group home and eventually I found my way into foster care. I lost touch with my mother for four full years, before reconnecting with her in a hospital in Brooklyn where she had been diagnosed with HIV.

As she has aged, my mother has begun to take responsibility for much of the events of her life. She laments drinking and wishes she was a better mother to me. I have long forgiven my mother for what happened.  My mother sought the safety and love of men after losing her husband traumatically (he was struck by a D-train in the Bronx). She found neither. Every man in my mother's life caused her pain and suffering. Every single one. I personally think she did the best she could under the worst of circumstances. The abuse I would experience and my mother's abuse by the hands of so many men are the reasons why I do not have many male friends and I have a very low trust level for men in general.  I am also outraged by the systems that failed my mother in her time of need and instead sought to separate us as a family. My mother’s continued struggles for housing and health have been the constant theme music blaring in the background of my life ever since.  I just wish I could turn it off before she dies.   

[brookstonalmanac]

Birthdays 1.27

Beer Birthdays

Henry Hubach (1843)

Kaiser Wilhelm II; German emperor (1888)

Peter Kruger (1970)

Logan Plant (1979)

Five Favorite Birthdays

Lewis Carroll; writer (1832)

Bridget Fonda; actor (1964)

Frank Miller; comic artist, writer (1957)

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart; composer (1756)

Mordecai Richler; Canadian writer (1931)

Famous Birthdays

Mikhail Baryshnikov; dancer (1948)

Bobby "Blue" Bland; singer (1930)

Cris Collinsworth; Cincinnati Bengels WR, broadcaster (1959)

Joyce Compton; actor (1907)

James Cromwell; actor (1940)

Alan Cumming; actor (1965)

Troy Donahue; actor (1936)

Samuel Foote; English writer, actor (1720)

Samuel Gompers; labor activist (1850)

William Randolph Hearst; publisher (1908)

Skitch Henderson; bandleader (1918)

Lil Jon; rapper (1971)

Jerome Kern; composer (1885)

Nick Mason; rock musician (1944)

Dmitri Mendeleev; chemist, discovered periodic table of elements (1834)

Keith Olbermann; television broadcaster (1959)

Patton Oswalt; comedian (1969)

Samuel Palmer; artist (1805)

Donna Reed; actor (1921)

Hyman G. Rickover; navy admiral (1900)

Mimi Rogers; actor (1956)

Sabu; actor (1924)

David Seville; Alvin & The Chipmunks creator (1919)

Samuel C.C. Ting; physicist (1936)

Kate Wolff; folk singer (1942)

Steve Wynn; businessman, casino/hotel owner (1942)

[bobmccullochny]

History

January 27, 1943 - The U.S. 8th Air Force conducted the first all-American bombing raid on Germany as 55 bombers targeted Wilhelmshaven, losing three planes while claiming to have shot down 22 German fighters. The success of this first mission encouraged U.S. military planners to begin regular daylight bombing raids, which eventually resulted in high casualty rates for the American crewmen involved.

January 27, 1944 - Russian Army General Govorov announced the lifting of the Nazi blockade of Leningrad. During the 900-day siege, an estimated one million Russian civilians inside the city died of disease, starvation and relentless German shelling.

January 27, 1945 - The Russian Army liberated Auschwitz death camp near Krakow in Poland, where the Nazis had systematically murdered an estimated 2,000,000 persons, including 1,500,000 Jews.

January 27, 1967 - Three American astronauts were killed as a fire erupted inside Apollo 1 during a launch simulation test at Cape Kennedy, Florida.

January 27, 1973 - U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War ended as North Vietnamese and American representatives signed an agreement in Paris. The U.S. agreed to remove all remaining troops within 60 days thus ending the longest war in American history. Over 58,000 Americans had been killed, 300,000 wounded and 2,500 declared missing. A total of 566 prisoners-of-war had been held by the North Vietnamese during the war, with 55 reported deaths.

Birthday - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) was born in Salzburg, Austria. From the age of five, through his untimely death at age 35, this musical genius created over 600 compositions including 16 operas, 41 symphonies, 27 piano and five violin concerti, 25 string quartets, 19 masses, and many other works.

Birthday - British novelist Lewis Carroll (1832-1898) was born in Daresbury, Cheshire, England (as Charles Lutwidge Dodgson). Best known for Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. He also lectured in mathematics and was a pioneering photographer.

Birthday - Labor leader Samuel Gompers (1850-1924) was born in London. He emigrated to America at age 13, worked in a cigar factory, eventually becoming head of the Cigar Workers' Union. He later brought together several national unions under the name American Federation of Labor and became its first president.

Birthday - German Kaiser Wilhelm II (1859-1941) was born. He was a grandson of England's Queen Victoria and ruled Germany from 1888 through World War I. Although he had military training, he left conduct of the war mainly in the hands of Generals Paul von Hindenburg and Erich von Ludendorff. In 1918, amid the defeat of Germany, he abdicated and fled to the Netherlands where he lived in seclusion until his death. He was given a military funeral by Hitler

[fullmusicbardsquared]

im really glad all the people in the American industrial revolution had such rememberable names. the leaders of ideological opposed labor unions knights of labor and afl? yeah they're TERENCE POWDERLY and SAMUEL GOMPERS

[reliabledragon]

As Samuel Gompers put it, "Men and women cannot live during working hours under autocratic conditions, and instantly become sons and daughters of freedom as they step outside the shop gates."

[lboogie1906]

Joseph Robert Saddler (January 1, 1958) known by his stage name Grandmaster Flash, is a musician and DJ. He created a DJ technique called the Quick Mix Theory. This technique serviced the break-dancer and the rapper by elongating the drum breaks through the use of duplicate copies of vinyl. This technique gave birth to cutting and scratching. It gave rappers better music with a seamless elongated bed of beats to speak on. He invented the slipmat.

He is the founder and creator of Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, the first rap group to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2007.[ In 2019 he became the first hip-hop artist to be honored with the Polar Music Prize. He acquired an honorary doctorate in Fine Arts from Buffalo State University. He was awarded an honorary doctorate in music from Lehman College. He was issued a proclamation from the city of New York stating that August 4th is Grandmaster Flash Day.

His family immigrated from Barbados. He was raised in the Bronx, where he attended Samuel Gompers High School, a public vocational school. He learned how to repair electronic equipment. His parents played an important role in his interest in music. His father was a fan of Caribbean and African American recordings.

He was fascinated by his father’s record collection. His interest in DJing came from his fascination with his father’s record collection as well as his mother’s desire for him to educate himself in electronics. He became involved in the earliest New York DJ scene, attending parties set up by early luminaries like DJ Kool Herc and Disco King Mario.

His uncle Sandy Saddler was a featherweight boxing champion. He married Brittany Williams

​(1999/-died 2015)​. He married Brittany Silver (2018-21). #africanhistory365 #africanexcellence

[1900scartoons]

The Political Drama Of the Campaign Of 1908

October 25, 1908

Taft and Bryan meet in a head-on car crash with their VP's (Sherman and Kern) flying out of the back seats. Debs flies overhead in an aeroplane. Gompers says "A-ha foiled again!" Hearst is an organ grinder with Hisgen as his monkey holding out a mug for votes. Chafin dives into a pool. Watson has barely avoided being hit, and says "Well I swan!"

The caption reads "President Roosevelt has been asked to write a play on the present campaign. The last week scene might look something like this."

The various men were all party bosses or presidential candidates.

See Also: William Howard Taft; William Jennings Bryan

From Hennepin County Library

Original available at: https://digitalcollections.hclib.org/digital/collection/Bart/id/6774/rec/2111

[nicolae]

Harta politică - Dicţionar explicativ

Un mic ghid despre conceptele politice pentru politicieni ��i activişti. Politica este procesul de luare a deciziilor de către grupuri de oameni. Termenul se aplică guvernelor civile, dar acest proces s-a observat în toate interacţiile între grupurile umane, inclusiv în instituţii corporative, academice şi religioase. Ea constă din "relaţii sociale implicând autoritatea sau puterea" şi se referă la reglementări ale unităţilor politice, şi la metode şi tactici folosite pentru a formula şi aplica politica. Maxima lui Samuel Gompers, parafrazată adesea ca "Premiază prietenii şi pedepseşte duşmanii", se referă la două din cele cinci tipuri de putere recunoscute de psihologii sociali: puterea stimulativă (puterea de a premia) şi puterea coercitivă (puterea de a pedepsi). Celelalte trei puteri derivă din acestea. Puterea legitimităţii, puterea unui poliţist sau a celui care ia decizii, este puterea dată de unei persoane de o autoritate recunoscută pentru a impune standarde comportamentale. Puterea legitimităţii este similară puterii coercitive prin aceea că o comportare inacceptabilă este pedepsită mai mult sau mai puţin direct. Puterea deciziei este deţinută de persoane în virtutea unor aptitudini sau atitudini. Îndeplinirea dorinţei de a se simţi la fel ca o celebritate sau un erou este premiul pentru obedienţă. Acesta este un exemplu de putere stimulativă în care o persoană se autopremiază. Puterea expertului derivă din educaţie şi experienţă. De notat că puterea expertului este condiţională circumstanţelor. https://www.telework.ro/ro/e-books/harta-politica/ Read the full article

[neutralgray]

A Synthesized History: An Amateur Comparison of the Perspectives between the "Patriot's," the "People's," & The "True" History of the United States - Part 11

Full Essay Guide link: XX

(Patriot - Chapter 13 | People - Chapter 13 | True - Chapter 21)

Turn of the Century in the United States

The previous section dealt with the United States at the turn of the century, largely in regard to business interests in new coastal territories. Here we will continue to look at that period, examining the conflicts in the Caribbean from perspectives outside of the obvious gain of capital, and also examine the country in that general period, right as the world folded into the 20th century.

Besides potential corporate interests in Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines, influential Christian missionaries dreamed of "civilizing" foreign people into their ideas of Christianity. Naval strategists also saw obvious benefits to having foreign located bases and coal stations, creating strongholds for the United States outside its borders. Still, others simply wanted further U.S. territorial expansion.

There was opposition to the Caribbean debacles, however. Many progressives opposed it, forming a diverse group called the Anti-Imperialist League. Some prominent names in this group included William Jennings Bryan, Andrew Carnegie, Jane Addams, Samuel Gompers, Booker T. Washington, Grover Cleveland, Mark Twain, and Benjamin Harrison. The Anti-Imperialist League's very existence could be considered a sort of moral victory, but despite the many influential names in the group, the League won very few practical victories. It's also worth mentioning that not everyone in the league was there for the sake of morality-- racist beliefs, as always, influenced many. Racists that opposed imperialist policies opposed them because they saw the territorial expansion as a threat to the white race, potentially diluting the racial purity of the state. Many natives to the Philippine islands and Cuba were African, Asian, or dark pigmented in some capacity. There were also racist points in favor of American interference, however.

Some people believed that the black and Asian natives of these Caribbean territories were simply incapable of self-governance, thus it was the "white man's burden" to help civilize them. This belief also nicely coincided with the popular social Darwinism many progressives adhered to. Social Darwinism encouraged viewing political and economic concepts through biological understanding and natural selection-- survival of the fittest. Ergo, privileged white Americans were inherently propped up as the superior race by this "intellectual" viewpoint. Despite potential societal progress that resulted from some Progressive ideas, this particular theory of the world consequently justified racism as the natural order of things.

Another conflict to American interests was the political leanings of the rebels and freedom fighters often encountered. Many of these rebel leaders pushed for socialist ideas and policies. If these territories were allowed to be independent and proved successful, having a socialist government run by darker skinned people so close to the United States would be a massive insecurity for the American image.

Socialism and general anti-capitalist sentiments had become more prominent among many people in the states, though. While socialist politics never truly gained any strong lasting foothold in the United States, the early 1900's was perhaps the most viable period of time for them to develop. In Oklahoma, the Socialist Party had over 12000 members with over 100 socialists in local offices. Many prominent American writers at this time were socialists or at least possessed anti-capitalist beliefs. These writers included Upton Sinclair, Jack London, Theodore Dreiser, and Frank Norris. With Socialism becoming so prominent, differing ideas emerged on how to maintain the movement's importance and cultural power. Some socialists thought to increase general appeal by opposing more radical groups such as the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW).

The IWW was a group formed by socialists, anarchists, and trade unionists. It was formed to do what it was believed the American Federation of Labor (AFL) could not-- unite many diverse people under one united union of strength. The AFL was a large but exclusive union of skilled white men. While the AFL had accomplished much, it was evident that those who led the AFL lived rich lifestyles, making them appear to be hypocrites who took more than their "fair share." The AFL was also divided because it used smaller specialized sub-unions based on craft or nationality. The IWW, on the other hand, was a single banner for all.

The IWW never had more 10,000 members at any one time, but they were effective because of how they utilized those numbers. Members of the IWW would sometimes go to jail for speaking out and would be immediately replaced with another speaker. Some IWW strikes used deliberate strategies of allowing for arrests and simply filling up the jails until silencing strikers with jail wasn't a viable option. They encouraged "direct action," encouraging workers to make decisions rather than wait solely on leaders and representatives. They also discouraged forming contracts with employers, avoiding potential for exploitation or divided labor based on individualistic promises that weakened the union's mission as a whole.

The IWW tried to be an all-encompassing union group that helped to assist any laborer it could, regardless of background. The IWW also assisted with groups that weren't inherently associated with them. When the workers of the Woolen Company went on strike in 1912, strikers reached out to the IWW for assistance and leadership. The IWW obliged. When strikers were arrested, more strikers took their place. When families were struggling to feed their kids, the IWW arranged for many of the kids to be moved temporarily into the homes of sympathetic patrons who could watch over them, freeing strikers of family conflict. When the city of Lawrence declared a statute of child neglect to discourage further waves of vacating children, they did so with the guise of "protecting children." Interestingly enough, though, when more waves of children were being sent off by train from their parents, law enforcement beat these waves of adults and children. Suddenly protection of the children didn't seem to matter all that much.

The IWW was no stranger to violence being enacted on them, such as in the city of Lawrence. In 1912 one member, Jack White, was arrested due to a "free-speech fight" and stayed in jail for half a year. In 1915, Joe Hill, an IWW organizer, was charged in a murder/robbery case with dubious evidence and was executed by firing squad. In 1916, IWW members were fired on in Everett, Washington by 200+ vigilantes that were gathered by the sheriff. In 1917, Frank Little, another IWW organizer, was tortured and hanged. The IWW pressed on, though. The executed Joe Hill, just before his death, wrote to a fellow member: "don't waste time mourning. Organize."

It was time in desperate need of organized labor, too, because many lowborn and migrant workers were met with hostile financial and living situations. The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire in 1911 best illustrated how workers were often collateral damage for the sake of squeezing capital from their labor. At the Triangle Shirtwaist factory, doors opened inward rather than outward, and these doors were almost always locked during business hours to keep track of all employees and prevent theft or breaks. When a fire broke out on the working floor, employees couldn't escape. Firefighters in New York had ladders but these ladders could typically only reach the 7th floor of a building at maximum height-- the Triangle Shirtwaist factory, along with many others in New York, were positioned on higher floors. When the fires were over, 146 employees were dead. The factory fire exposed a very real danger many workers gambled with every day. Over 500,000 laborers in New York worked above the 7th floor in many buildings. It was a tragedy that simply did not have to happen if work was structured with compassion for the worker.

Many of the laborers in the Triangle Shirtwaist factory were women, accounting for 123 of the 146 deaths. Women were employed by many companies but often treated as less capable and generally only hired by "specialized" occupations, such as educators or textile workers. Women workers also organized often, with many advocating for socialism. For a lot of these socialist advocates, suffrage was also thought to be intrinsically linked. Influential feminist leaders, however, such as Helen Keller and Emma Goldman, were skeptical of suffrage inherently meaning better conditions for women. They continued to encourage organization and direct action.

It was the same old story of labor conflict in the United States-- laborers would identify a problem, strike, make demands, and, if "successful," strikes would usually end up with compromised victories wherein conditions would moderately improve. This had become so predictable that the National Civic Federation (NCF) was formed in 1900, with the purpose of establishing better relations between capitalists and the laboring class. The NCF was compromised of big business representatives, labor movement leaders, and consumer advocates. It was an organization dedicated to compromise in the name of "moderate" (ergo: safe) reformation. It was an economic parallel of how the founding fathers designed the American government. That is to say, any demands of the people were always filtered by regulatory bodies which would disarm potential radical changes and go for the "safe" options, which were thought to be more "stable" in the long-term. The founding fathers formed this style of government to "protect" the people from their own potential short-term passions. The economic sector symbiotically reflected that.

While the socialistic IWW was largely open to anyone, the Socialist Party in America had no real solution for the race issue. The party denounced racism but either failed or refused to acknowledge that special measures may have to be taken to rectify racial inequality. With no political party truly advocating for the specific issues facing black Americans, those Americans began to organize themselves. Major groups pushing for the advancement of black Americans included the National Afro-American Council, the National Association of Colored Women, and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).

Problems affecting black Americans include the repeated lynchings, Jim Crow laws, and general racial hostilities that affected both Northern and Southern states, but especially the Southern states where most black American continued to live. Another recent issue that heavily affected the black community at this time was the 1896 Supreme Court case of Plessy vs Ferguson, which started as a result of Homer Plessy riding on a "whites only" railroad car, in violation of Louisiana state law. The case ultimately decided that racial segregation was not unconstitutional. It was determined that the constitutional language used in "separate but equal" did not imply inferiority of any specific race and that separate "equal" facilities, including schools, were legal and acceptable.

Influential black leaders of the time demonstrated several different ways educated and politically active black Americans thought of their community's social plights. Affluent men such as Booker T. Washington, W. E. B. Du Bois, and Marcus Garvey had vastly different thoughts on how the black community should conduct itself and respond to their unequal treatment in the United States. Washington believed that slow and steady economic progress was best as racial communities worked to accommodate one another over time. Du Bois encouraged black Americans to advocate for their own economic and political power, and is now often associated with the "talented tenth," a sociological concept that a sect of educated black leaders should use their influence for great political and economic gain, which would, in theory, ultimately benefit the social standing of black Americans. Marcus Garvey believed that racial equality in America was impossible and that many black Americans should return to Africa and uplift the groups of Africans there, establishing a black independent and educated state.

The presidents during this time included William McKinley, Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt, William H. Taft, and Woodrow Wilson. The Cuban and Philippine conflicts began under McKinley, who credited divine inspiration from God as his reason to declare war on Spain and begin the American occupation of the Caribbean area. Schweikart's account suggests that other countries had strong presence in the Atlantic and it was possible that powerful American rulers considered control of the Caribbean an eventual inevitability, thus why McKinley felt as though why God himself apparently wanted them to take the Philippines and "Christianize" the already largely Christian islands. It was not a matter of freeing anyone from anyone's control or seeking independence and liberty-- it was about controlling a strategic land resource before another powerful country did.

Public pressure was also present, of course. Papers like New York World and the San Francisco Examiner learned that the secrets to selling papers was to sell sensations. Scandals, political conflicts, and personal interest stories appealed to many and it lit a fire under those who demanded a call to action. This was yet another variable influencing American politics at the turn of the century.

Roosevelt developed a reputation as a "trust buster," often going after monopolies and potential monopolies. The Northern Securities suit in 1902 dismantled a trust between worth $400 million that was shared by Northern Pacific, Great Northern, Chicago, Quincy, and Burlington railroads. He passed the Elkins Act in 1903, which prohibited railroads from giving rebates to large corporations. The Expedition Act of 1903 also fast-tracked anti-trust suits through the legal system. He also established the Department of Commerce and Labor, which "supervised" big businesses in the United States. These aggressive practices made him popular with many in the country but Roosevelt was also a lover of combat and fully participated in the Spanish-American War-- even recalling it fondly in later accounts. When acting as president, Roosevelt would stoke passions in men, stating that the war was "men's work" and implying opposition to the war was antithetical to being a "man."

Taft continued Roosevelt's work of trust busting and continued to oversee the construction of the Panama Canal, which is a project started under Roosevelt's presidency in 1904 (initially started by the French in 1881, who then abandoned the project). Taft's presidential reign was marred with conflict between Republican and Progressives, the latter of which were spearheaded by Roosevelt who, despite having previous ties with Taft, now often opposed Taft's political direction. The ex-president's influence was powerful and stymied much of Taft's intended administration.

During this period, several acts were passed that improved the quality of life for Americans. These acts included:

the Meat Inspection Act- improved sanitary conditions of slaughterhouses

the Hepburn Act- helped regulate railroad under the authority of the Interstate Commerce Commission

the Pure Food and Drug Act- prohibited sale of misbranded food or drugs, and laid the groundwork for the Food and Drug Administration

The Federal Reserve Act- created the Federal Reserve, the centralized banking system of the United States

These laws helped regulate and ultimately save lives by halting dangerous practices and regulating new safer practices. These laws were also, however, always "safe." Presidents have lobbyists, advisors, and corporate backers, which also influence these decisions. The laws were good but still conciliatory, depending on your perspective-- that is to say, they did nothing to fix income inequality, which directly or indirectly contributed to many of these problems in the first place.

Final Thoughts:

We're approaching the "Great War," which I'm very curious to learn about. From what I do know of history (as a complete amateur who knows nothing) is that American involvement in the first world war was minimal, and only towards the end of the conflict.

As for thoughts on these actual sections, it's astounding to me how powerful "American Exceptionalism" is. There's a continued cynicism in Zinn's work that is completely justified but it leaves one wondering how anyone could have faith in the United States. Schweikart and Allen's work attempts to explain why America remains so optimistic despite its many, many problems but much of what they say often feels unconvincing-- opinionated, naive, or just working as an excuse for blatantly terrible truths. Sjursen does a good job balancing out these voices, often laying out the terrible and complex reality behind history while also lifting up the potential for change and the great things that have been accomplished. Even still, I wonder if Sjursen's cautious and small shred of optimism is justified in any way, but maybe that's my own cynical nature.

What's clear is that the United States is a deeply flawed land of contradictions and complex socio-economic intersections. There is an optimism present in the idea that the United States sells itself on, but the reality is often much worse. So all of this begs the question... if this country is so flawed and conflicted, why do people continue to believe in it? Ignorance, naivety, hope, brainwashing? And when we consider the modern era of Millennials and Generation Z who were more politically active at younger ages than previous generations, will this optimism remain with those generations? Is it even still there? I myself am as young as you can be while still being firmly Millennial (1994-- 29 years old at the time of writing this in 2023), and while I want to believe in good government and good people with genuinely good intentions, I can't say that I have any optimism for the current state of the USA. The country has exploited its own population one too many times, just as it exploited and ravaged the Caribbean.

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Eye on San Diego Unified

Gompers Prep Academy teachers vote to decertify their union

In a 25-to-17 vote, teachers at Gompers Preparatory Academy in Chollas View have voted to decertify their union. The decision means they will no longer be members of the San Diego Education Association, which has represented teachers at the public charter school since 2019.

Some teachers said they had been forced to join the union and issued a complaint with the California Public Employment Relations Board (PERB).

The Gompers vote comes as the rest of the district’s SDEA employees cast ballots on a new contract that includes a 15% pay raise over two years.

Gompers teachers will not be part of that contract.

The Gompers staff took advantage of a window of opportunity, allowing them to appeal to PERB for a vote on decertification. That window opened because teachers in the San Diego Unified School District had been working without a contract for almost a year.

In 2005, parents and educators came together to convert Gompers from what they considered a failing public school into the successful charter it has become, with a 100% graduation rate.

Cynthia Ornelas is a 6th-grade teacher at Gompers. She was a leader in the effort to oust the union.

"There is definitely a lot more joy that's going to be in classrooms now, instead of a burden with the union," Ornelas said. "The union was making decisions for us, oh my goodness! We never knew what they were deciding because they didn't communicate with teachers."

Jonathon Mello, an SDEA organizer, has led union efforts at Gompers. He told KPBS News Wednesday that he will be meeting with teachers who wanted the union before deciding whether SDEA will appeal the vote.

Gompers first opened in 1955 as a junior high school. Ironically, it was named after the labor union leader Samuel Gompers.  *Reposted article from KPBS by M.G. Perez on June 7, 2023

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Throwback to a time of great change and progress in America! From the inauguration of the Air Mail Service to the Georgetown University Football Team, this photo captures some of the most influential figures and events of the early 20th century. Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, Samuel Gompers, Alexander Graham Bell, Millicent Hearst, Helen Herron Taft, and William Jennings Bryan all played a role in shaping our nation's history. 

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Woman's symposium: Christie Ileto speaks to 8th-grade girls at Samuel Gompers School

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January 27th

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart 1756. Lewis Carroll 1832. Samuel Gompers 1850. Learned Hand 1872. Elmore James 1918. Donna Reed 1921. Bobby "Blue" Bland 1930. Mairead Maguire 1944. Nick Mason 1944. Mikhail Baryshnikov 1948. Seth Justman 1951. Keith Olbermann 1959. Bridget Fonda 1964. Patton Oswalt 1969.