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American Labor from Harlan County to Today.

The working class in America has had a history of resistance against their oppressors since the establishment of labor exploitation in the United States. While observing the labor history of the 1800s to today will be effective in following the American working class through the last 150 years, we find a couple of significant events in the last 50 years that have significantly affected the labor movement in the United States. These events will be the basis of this site you look at now.

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1. David W. Gethings, “Harlan County, KY, Coal Miners Win Affiliation with UMWA Union, United States, 1973-1974 | Global Nonviolent Action Database,” Global NonViolent Action Database, April 24, 2013, https://nvdatabase.swarthmore.edu/content/harlan-county-ky-coal-miners-win-affiliation-umwa-union-united-states-1973-1974.

2. PAUL F. TAYLOR, Bloody Harlan: The United Mine Workers of America in Harlan County, Kentucky, 1931-1941 (S.l.: COMMONWEALTH BOOK COMPANY, 2020).

3. Harlan County USA, film (United States, Los Angeles, California: Cinema Five, KCET, 1976).

4. Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization (Washington, D.C.), accessed August 22, 2026, https://scua.library.umass.edu/professional-air-traffic-controllers-patco-boston-tower/.

5. Bobby Joseph and Merlyn Joseph, “Rise of the ‘gig Economy’ and It’s Health Toll on Workers,” Indian journal of occupational and environmental medicine, July 1, 2025, https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12318557/.