BOSTON – On September 9, 1919 the Boston Police went on strike, an event that threw the city into chaos, propelled then-Massachusetts Governor Calvin Coolidge into the national spotlight for his hard stance, and forever changed United States labor law. A Boston Public Library panel discussion on the 90th anniversary of the Strike will examine the turmoil that ensued on that day – including riots and looting throughout the city as well as the calling in of the National Guard – and the lasting effects it has had on the labor movement.
The discussion will be aided by recently discovered police documents from 1919, which the Boston Public Library has digitized and made available to scholars and the public.
Panelists will include James R. Green, Professor of History and Labor Studies at the University of Massachusetts Boston; Christopher Capozzola, Associate Professor of History at Massachusetts Institute of Technology; and Margaret R. Sullivan, Records Manager and Archivist for the Boston Police Department.
The Boston Public Library has also compiled an exhibit of photographs and other artifacts related to the strike that will be on display through the month of September in the Chavannes Gallery at the Central Library in Copley Square.
The discussion is set for 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, September 9 in the Rabb Lecture Hall of the Boston Library, 700 Boylston Street, Copley Square.
