Catholics and Industrialization: Chronology

• 1869
  • The Noble Order of Knights of Labor is established in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
• May 1869
  • John A Ryan is born in rural Minnesota.
• 1873
  • Epidemics of cholera, smallpox, and yellow fever hit a number of southern cities.
    This same year the United States is hit by an economic depression.
• 1877
  • Workers on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad go on strike, action that leads to a violent national railroad strike.
  • Mother Jones traveled to Pittsburgh in support of the striking railroad workers.
• 1881
  • William H. O'Connell entered the American College in Rome, Italy.
• 1884
  • William H. O'Connell is ordained a priest.
• 1886

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  • A bomb exploded in Haymarket Square, Chicago during a meeting of protesters against the McCormick Harvesting Machine Company. Seven police officers and four workers die and seventy police officers are wounded.
  • The American Federation of Labor is established in Columbus, Ohio.
• 1890
  • Approximately 23,000 children worked in factories in thirteen southern states.
• 1891
  • Pope Leo XIII wrote his encyclical, Rerum Novarum.
  • Mother Jones traveled to Norton, Virginia in support of striking coal miners.
• 1894
  • The United States experienced a number of labor strikes in the coal mining, clothing, and railroad industries.
  • Mother Jones joined striking United Mine Workers near Birmingham, Alabama.
• 1895
  • William H. O'Connell is appointed rector of the American College in Rome, Italy.
• 1897
  • Mother Jones organized the wives and mothers of striking coal miners in northern West Virginia.
• 1898
  • John A. Ryan ordained by Archbishop John Ireland of St. Paul, Minnesota. Later in the year, Ryan enters a graduate program at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.
• 1900
  • The International Ladies Garment Workers Union is established in New York City.
• 1901
  • The United States Steel Corporation is founded.
  • Mother Jones is arrested in West Virginia.
  • William H. O'Connell is elevated to Bishop of Portland, Maine.
• 1902
  • American Catholic Quarterly Review published Ryan's essay, "The Morality of the Aims and Methods of Labor Unions," a piece supportive of unions.
  • 150,000 members of the United Mine Workers of America go out on strike in Pennsylvania.
• 1903
  • Mother Jones traveled to Philadelphia to assist child textile workers in their strike, eventually leading a group of children to Theodore Roosevelt's retreat in Oyster Bay, New York.
• 1904
  • Mother Jones arrested while assisting striking coal miners in Colorado.
• 1905

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  • The Industrial Workers of the World is established in Chicago, Illinois.
  • The Vatican appointed William H. O'Connell special papal emissary to Japan.
• 1906
  • William H. O'Connell is made coadjutor archbishop of Boston, Massachusetts.
• 1907
  • The American economy experiences a major crisis as the stock market crashes and a number of banks fail.
  • William H. O'Connell became Archbishop of Boston.
• 1911
  • One hundred and forty-six workers die in a fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in New York City.
  • The Vatican elevated William H. O'Connell to the rank of cardinal.
• 1912
  • Congress approved an eight-hour day for all federal employees.
  • Mother Jones spoke on behalf of striking railroad workers (Pacific Northwest), women bottling plant workers (Milwaukee, Wisconsin), copper miners (Montana), and coal miners (Kanawha Valley, West Virginia).
• 1913
  • The National Conference of Charities and Correction elected John A. Ryan to the executive committee of its national board. This same year, Ryan launched a campaign in support of a minimum wage law.
• 1914
  • Mother Jones testified before the House Committee on Mines and Mining.
• 1915
  • John A. Ryan joined the faculty of The Catholic University of America.
• 1918
  • A major influenza epidemic began in the United States and eventually killed 500,000 persons.
• 1919
  • Members of the Amalgamated Iron, Steel and Tin Workers went out on strike across the United States.
  • Mother Jones arrested while helping steel workers preparing for strike in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
• 1923
  • John A. Ryan initiated the Catholic Conference on Industrial Problems.
• 1924
  • John A. Ryan clashed with Cardinal William H. O'Connell of Boston over a constitutional amendment banning child labor. Ryan supported the idea, while O'Connell opposed it on the basis that the amendment would lead to unnecessary governmental intervention in the life of the family.
• 1926
  • At a Labor Sunday meeting at Carnegie Hall in New York City, John A. Ryan called for American labor to become more militant.
• 1929

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  • The Stock marker crashed, an event that ushered in the Great Depression.
• November 1930
  • Mother Jones died.
• 1931
  • The number of persons unemployed in the United States reached approximately four to five million.
  • John A. Ryan urged the federal government to develop a $5 billion public works campaign.
• 1932
  • The State of Wisconsin passed the first unemployment insurance law in the United States.
• 1933
  • The Roosevelt administration enlisted John A. Ryan to generate Catholic clerical support for its NRA codes.
• 1934
  • A general strike in San Francisco in support of striking dock workers paralyzed the city.
  • John A. Ryan elected to the three-person Industrial Appeals Board of the National Recovery Administration.
• 1935
  • The Committee of Industrial Organizations is formed within the A.F.L., three years later the renamed Congress of Industrial Organizations separated from the A.F.L.
• 1937
  • John A. Ryan gave the benediction at Franklin D. Roosevelt's second inaugural.
• April 1944
  • William H. O'Connell died.
• September 1945
  • John A. Ryan died.

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