designslinger.com - 323 views
chicago's contribution to the labor day movement
Sign Up or Sign In to vote for this story or Read more »
Comments
The policeman statute, standing just outside the 35th @ State Street Central Police Headquaters, reminds Chicagoans of our storied labor past.
The 19th Century influx of European immigrants put downward pressure on wages & increased labor tensions, especially among those who lived in company towns such as that built by George Pullman on Chicago's far South Side.
While the late Governor Altgeld questioned the culprit behind the fatal Haymarket Square bombing, his belated clemency did little to help those executed or to bring labor peace to this city of broad shoulders.
Statues serve the purpose of allowing those who erect such edifices to present their historical interpretation at the expense of other points of view.
Police officers died during the Haymarket disturbance, but who threw the dynamite remains in question.
did you even notice the statue of the policeman outside of the main police station? it has a history....
Definitely seen the policeman statue before. I had no idea it had such a checkered, er, explosive history.
And it's safe to assume from the existence of a sympathetic statute that the governor's reputation has been resuscitated by historians?
He always had some sympathy since the labor movement looked favorably on his pardon from the beginning. But, yes, historians have pointed out that he was right, the reasoning of the trial was legally dubious, and the men deserved a pardon.
Post new comment