One hundred and fourteen years ago today, textile mill workers in Lawrence, Massachusetts, including women and children and people of 51 different nationalities, begin a labor strike against new labor policies. In coming weeks, the number of strikers, led by the Industrial Workers of the World, grows to over 20,000, including people from every mill in industrial Lawrence. Protestor Anna LoPizzo is killed by police. Protestors' hungry children are sent out to the homes of sympathizers in surrounding towns and states, shifting public opinion in favor of the strikers. Congressional hearings lead to better conditions at the mills.

Lawrence sits along the Merrimack River of Massachusetts, on land that had long been called home by the Pennacooks, Sagahew and Passaquo people, until settlers purchased the land from them.