On this day in labor history, the year was 1846.
That was the day Sarah Bagley became the first female telegraph operator.
She was hired at the office in Lowell, Massachusetts.
Sarah spent weeks studying the electrical theory behind the new technology and began her job in earnest.
She soon quit in protest after learning her pay was far less than her male counterparts.
Bagley was no stranger to labor struggles.
She was among the many Lowell textile workers who struck in 1842.
Bagley was one of the founders of the Lowell Female Labor Reform Association.
She fought for the 10-hour day and better working conditions in the mills.
Sarah also helped to found the labor paper, The Voice of Industry.
When the Reform Association demanded state investigations into working conditions at area mills, she stated, “Is anyone such a fool as to suppose that out of six thousand girls in Lowell, sixty would be there if they could help it? Whenever I raise the point that it is immoral to shut us up in a room twelve hours a day… I am told that we have come to the mills voluntarily and we can leave when we will. Voluntarily! … the whip which brings us to Lowell is necessity. We must have money; a father’s debts are to be paid, an aged mother to be supported, a brother’s ambition to be aided and so the factories are supplied. Is this to act from free will? Is this freedom? To my mind it is slavery.”
Bagley returned to Lowell’s Hamilton mills after she quit the telegraph office.
She briefly continued her activism until she married and moved to Brooklyn.
October 2 - Rebuilding in Tough Times
October 1 - The Jerry Level
September 30 - The Elaine, Arkansas Massacre
September 29 - Creating a Standing Army
September 28 - Solidarity on the Docks
September 27 - Wreck of the Old ‘97
September 26 - Disaster on the Job Around the Globe
September 25 - Martyred for the Vote
September 24 - Banned in Canada
September 23 - Dr. Harriet Louise Hardy is Born
September 22 - The First Farm Aid
September 21 - Fighting Just to Maintain Standards
September 20 - The Fight for Equality
September 19 - The End of My Sweet Jennie
September 18 - The Atlanta Compromise
September 17 - Striking in the South
September 16 - NHL Managers Lock Out Players
September 15 - The Invergordon Mutiny
September 14 - The Murder of Ella Mae Wiggins
September 13 - Attica!
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