On this day in Labor History the year was 1961.

That was the day when Herbert Lee was murdered just outside of Liberty, Mississippi.

He was a successful black cotton farmer, who became active in efforts to register black voters.

Lee had nine children.

He was one of the few area black farmers with a vehicle.

This made him very valuable to the voter registration movement.

Lee would drive Bob Moses from the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee around Amite County to reach unregistered voters.

It was dangerous work to register black share croppers and farmers in rural Mississippi.

Attempts by black residents to gain legal or economic equality were met with threats and violence.

On the morning of his murder, Lee had come to the Westbrook Cotton Gin outside of Liberty to drop off a truck load cotton.

There he was met by a childhood friend, Mississippi State Representative, E. H. Hurst.

Hurst came up to the truck and started shouting at Lee.

He then took out a gun and shot Herbert Lee in the head.

Witnesses stated that Lee had brandished a tire iron at Hurst.

Hurst claimed self-defense.

A jury declared the murder a justifiable homicide.

Louis Allen, a black farmer and timber worker, was one who had testified about witnessing the shooting.

Later he recanted his testimony, saying he had lied about Lee threatening Hurst because he feared for his life.

After Allen began to talk about what he saw that day, he became the victim of harassment and beatings.

Finally, on January 31, 1964 he too was gunned down in his driveway.

No one was every convicted or arrested for his murder.

On this day in Labor History the year was 1894. That was the day that labor leader Eugene V. Debs was arrested for supporting the strike of Pullman Palace Car Company workers. In May, the workers who made the popular train sleeping cars had walked off the job. George Pullman had slashed workers’ wages, but had kept the rents in his company town steady.

On this day in Labor History the year was 1968. That was the day that the American Indian Movement began at a meeting in Minneapolis, Minnesota. A group of 200 Native Americans gathered together to discuss a response to the US governments’ history of broken treaties and the devastating consequences on Native peoples.

On this day in Labor History the year was 1850. That was the birthday of Oscar Neebe. Neebe was one of eight men convicted of inciting violence at a workers rally at Haymarket Square in Chicago in 1886. He was born in New York City.

On this day in Labor History the year was 1863. That was the day that draft riots broke out in New York City. The Civil War had been raging for two years. For the first time in United States’ history, the government instituted a draft lottery. But those with enough money could buy their way out of the draft.

On this day in Labor History the year was 1912. That was the day that Woody Guthrie was born in Okemah, Oklahoma. Guthrie became one of the most prolific song writers to ever sing the stories of the working class. His most well-well known song is “This Land is Your Land” an anthem whose lyrics claim America for the common man.