A 100th Anniversary Commemoration of the Anthracite Coal Strike of 1902
October 25 and 26, 2002
The Anthracite Coal Strike of 1902 is among the most significant events in American labor and industrial history. At a time when Pennsylvania's anthracite coal commanded a significant share of the American energy market one hundred and fifty thousand mineworkers struck in May 1902 demanding higher wages, union recognition, shorter workdays and other concessions from coal operators. President Theodore Roosevelt established the Anthracite Coal Strike Commission to adjudicate a settlement. Following five months of striking and violence mineworkers - represented by the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) - agreed to return to work in November, 1902, as the Commission commenced its hearings in Scranton and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Five-hundred witnesses provided fifty-six volumes of testimony and described meager living conditions in "company towns," unsafe working conditions, and child labor. In March 1903 the Commission granted a 10% pay increase, 9-hour workday, new rules for the weighing of coal, and established the Anthracite Board of Conciliation to adjudicate operator-worker disputes. Though the UMWA did not gain recognition, the settlement represented a partial victory for mineworkers. It also set the stage for Progressive Era reforms in labor-management relations.
Sponsored by numerous statewide, regional, and local historical organizations, the 100th Anniversary Commemoration of "the Great Strike" recognizes the historical significance of the events of 1902. Open to the public, events include State Historical Marker dedications, the annual awards dinner of the Pennsylvania Labor History Society with a keynote address on the 1902 strike, and a day-long Public History Symposium including national and international scholars drawn from industrial, labor, and working class history; the humanities; and the social sciences.
For more detailed information and a program/registration materials, contact (lease include your name, address, phone number, and e-mail in any communiqué):
Kenneth C. Wolensky, Historian,
Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission,
Commonwealth Keystone Building
400 North Street, Harrisburg, PA, 17120
717-772-0921
kwolensky@state.pa.us.
or
Jesse Titelbaum, Executive Director
Luzerne County Historical Society
49 S. Franklin Street
Wilkes-Barre, PA 18701
570-823-6244
lchs@epix.net