On March 25, 1894, in the second year of the worst economic depression the U.S. had ever seen, a procession of unemployed men set off from Massillon, Ohio, bound for Washington, DC. Local businessman Jacob Coxey had come up with the idea for the march, envisioning tens of thousands of people eventually accompanying him to the capital to demand a “Good Roads Bill” that would put people back to work creating and maintaining the nation’s infrastructure. Historian Benjamin Alexander wrote <https://hnn.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=191ccdd6c73c5afeafd52cfb8&id=99d62b72db&e=5ad0217db7> about the spectacle of this very first march on Washington:
*At the head of the procession walked Jasper Johnson, a West Virginian and one of a number of black marchers in the ranks, carrying the American flag and accompanied by his dog Bunker Hill. Next came a seven-piece marching band, followed by [Carl] Browne on horseback. Nearby rode the Great Unknown, bedecked in white and blue and atop a bright red saddle, continuing to yell orders, and alongside him rode a skilled trick rider known as Oklahoma Sam. Coxey followed in a fancy carriage known as a phaeton, along with his wife, her sister, and his three-week- old infant, named Legal Tender Coxey. Then came the wagons, including a panorama wagon displaying Browne’s artwork and sayings, including the official slogan of the marchers: “Peace on earth, good will toward men, but death to interest on bonds.” The marchers followed, with some Secret Service agents sprinkled among them, as well as the press corps.* When they arrived at the Capitol on May 1, the marchers were met with throngs of police, who to the dismay of a handful of Populist Party sympathizers in Congress, violently beat back the crowd, ending the weeks-long effort. But in the aftermath of an even greater depression a half-century later, a federal jobs program was no longer a fringe idea. In 1944, Coxey was officially invited back to Washington to read his petition from the Capitol steps. *https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/how-ragtag-band-reformers-organized-first-protest-march-washington-dc-180951270/ <https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/how-ragtag-band-reformers-organized-first-protest-march-washington-dc-180951270/>* -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#41263): https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/41263 Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/118542179/21656 -=-=- POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. #4 Do not exceed five posts a day. -=-=- Group Owner: [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://groups.io/g/marxmail/leave/13617172/21656/1316126222/xyzzy [[email protected]] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
