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Chronicling America is a searchable digital collection of historic newspaper pages through 1963 sponsored jointly by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Library of Congress.
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Also, see the Directory of U.S. Newspapers in American Libraries, a searchable index to newspapers published in the United States since 1690, which helps researchers identify what titles exist for a specific place and time, and how to access them.
Samuel Gompers (1850-1924) is the founder of the American Federation of Labor (AFL). Gifted at orating and assembling strikes, Gompers used them as effective weapons to change the degrading conditions of the working men of America. A highly respected and influential leader, he often offered his polarizing opinions on various topics such as prohibition, socialism, political parties, etc. Read more about it!
The information in this guide focuses on primary source materials found in the digitized historic newspapers from the digital collection Chronicling America.
The timeline below highlights important dates related to this topic and a section of this guide provides some suggested search strategies for further research in the collection.
| 1877 | As president of Cigar Makers’ International Union, Samuel Gompers advocates for better wages, hours, and conditions. |
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| 1902 | Gompers delivers speech on unionism and strikes at Big Mass-Meeting at Alhambra Theater in San Francisco. |
| 1908 | Gompers is convicted and sentenced to one year in jail for refusing to heed to an injunction not to boycott the anti-labor Buck Stove and Range Company. |
| 1911 | The sentence is later appealed and Gompers only spends one day in jail. He strongly believes that strike is one of labor's most effective weapons. |
| 1917 | Gompers writes an open letter against the Prohibition movement detailing how it affects labor. |
| 1919 | Gompers comments on how prohibition helps the Reds. |
| 1920 | Gompers expresses his distaste for socialism and Bolshevism. |
