What Happened – November 21

It was on this day in 1927 that over 500 men, women and children marched towards a small mining town in Colorado only to be met by state policemen, dressed in plainclothes and armed with machine guns. The group was organized by striking miners and they had been holding a rally every morning in Serene CO for the past two weeks to protest dangerous working conditions at the Columbine Mine. This morning, however, the gates to the company town were locked and the men inside told the protesters to stay out. There was some yelling back and forth…the miners claiming they had business at the post office to conduct and a police officer responding that if they walked in then they will be carried out. One of the miners came forward to discuss the issue, and was struck in the head with a baton. Tear gas was fired by the state police as the workers climbed over the fence…where they were then met with a hail of bullets. Six of the strikers were killed and at least 60 more wounded. An American flag, carried by a 16 year-old protester, was later found with seventeen bullet holes in it. The strike would continue on for several more weeks, until the president of the mining company said she would recognize any union that was not associated with the International Workers of the World. This resulted in the United Mine Workers receiving their first contract in the state of Colorado, as well as state legislation granting more labor rights to organized labor.

The earliest event that Wiki says happened on this day is “164 BC – Judas Maccabaeus, son of Mattathias of the Hasmonean family, restores the Temple in Jerusalem. This event is commemorated each year by the festival of Hanukkah” and the most recent is “2009 – A mine explosion in Heilongjiang province, northeastern China, kills 108.

A couple other things that also took place on this day are:

1953 – It is announced by the British Natural History Museum that the “Piltdown Man” skull is a hoax.

1980 – An accident by the Texaco while drilling for oil causes a freshwater lake in Louisiana to drain into a salt mine below.

Happy birthday to Brian Ritchie, Goldie Hawn, and Dr. John.

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