On this day in 1929, in Gastonia, in the southern piedmont of North Carolina, 1,800 mill workers walk off the job, protesting falling wages, long work weeks, and dangerous factory conditions. In response, management evicts families from mill-owned homes and the governor sends in 250 National Guard troops. On April 18, nearly 100 masked men destroy the union’s headquarters. Strikers form a tent city on the outskirts of town. In a confrontation several weeks later, the police chief is killed by armed tent city guards. 71 strikers are arrested.

In early September, a masked mob rounds up strikers and runs them out of the county. Ella Mae Wiggins, pregnant mother, union leader, composer and musician, is shot dead.

The strike ends in September, with no improvements to labor conditions.