February 12
Abolitionist Frederick Douglass born into slavery near Easton, MD - 1817
John L. Lewis, president of United Mine Workers of America and founding president of the CIO, born near Lucas, IA - 1880
And this: February 12, 1880 - John L. Lewis, president of the United Mine Workers and founder of the Congress of Industrial Organizations, was born. During his 40-year presidency of the Mine Workers, Lewis reshaped the American labor movement. In 1935, he withdrew his union from the American Federation of Labor (and punched out Carpenters Union President William Hutcheson in the process) when the AFL refused to endorse industrial unionism. Lewis then formed the CIO, which organized millions of unskilled, mass production workers into unions in the 1930s and 1940s.
Labor history found here:
http://www.unionist.com/today-in-labor-history & here:
http://www.workdayminnesota.org/index.php?history_9_02_12_2010