Loading AI tools
1870 strike in Massachusetts shoe factory From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The North Adams strike (also called North Adams Scandal) was a strike in 1870 by shoe workers of the Order of the Knights of St. Crispin, against Calvin T. Sampson's Shoe factory, in North Adams, Massachusetts. The strike itself was broken when the factory superintendent, George W. Chase, fired the Irish workers, replacing them with newly employed seventy-five Chinese men from California.[1] Bringing national attention to North Adams, the event started a nation-wide trend of bringing in scab labor and helped perpetuate the concept of immigrants coming to the United States to steal jobs, which led to much hostility towards Chinese immigrants across the nation.[2]
North Adams strike | |||
---|---|---|---|
Date | 1870 | ||
Location | 42°42′7.44″N 73°6′49.97″W | ||
Goals | Eight-hour day | ||
Methods | Strikes, Protest, Demonstrations | ||
Resulted in | Chinese immigrants brought in from California, replacing union workers for more competitive wages | ||
Parties | |||
| |||
Lead figures | |||
Non-centralized leadership Calvin T. Sampson George W. Chase | |||
Casualties and losses | |||
|
The incident sparked widespread working-class protest across the country, shaped legislative debate in Congress, and helped make Chinese immigration a sustained national issue.[citation needed] Twelve years later, the United States passed the Chinese Exclusion Act, barring most Chinese immigrants from entering the country. The Chinese Exclusion Act was the first major anti-immigration law in American history.[3][4][5]
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
Every time you click a link to Wikipedia, Wiktionary or Wikiquote in your browser's search results, it will show the modern Wikiwand interface.
Wikiwand extension is a five stars, simple, with minimum permission required to keep your browsing private, safe and transparent.