Radio Rootz' This Day in History

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On this day, August 1, in 1917

  • produced by Arturo Contreras
  • in

Labor activist Frank Little was kidnapped from his hotel room in Butte, Montana, beaten, tied to the back of a car, and dragged to a nearby railroad trestle where he was hung. The police made no serious attempts to find his murderers. Frank Little, who was Native American and white, was a powerful union organizer with the Industrial Workers of the World, and was in Montana leading a miners’ strike against the Anaconda Copper Company. He was also an outspoken anti-WWI activist and discouraged all workers from joining the Army, stating that they should not fight on behalf of their Capitalist oppressors. On his gravestone it reads, ‘Slain by Capitalist Interests for organizing and inspiring his fellow men.’

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