Turning Point: United Mine Workers

"My boy is dead.  My boy, who was my only support.  He earned sometimes 75 cents a day.  He was a good boy.  He took care of his poor-widowed mother.  Now he is dead.  The dog of a sheriff and the dogs of the men killed him.  They killed your people.  Now the soldiers are here to kill us, too.  We must not let them.  We must fight.  We must avenge the death of our people."

- a young mother, report to the Philadelphia Times [in reference to her change in mindset following her son's death at Lattimer]

Labor

"The primary result of the massacre was rapid growth in unionism in the anthracite region. During the next four months approximately 15,000 new names were added to the UMWA rolls."
-United Mine Workers of America

segment from "Stories from the Mines: How Immigrant Miners Changed America"

"The 15,000 members John Fahy had enrolled in the Hazleton district made his region the second largest in the country.  The lessons learned now taught by John Fahy led that union, in Pennsylvania at least, to organize chapters for all cultural groups, and to have officers from each group.  In 1898, John Mitchell became the president of the UMW and in 1902, the union was able to hold out against the operators on a national front to swing President Theodore Roosevelt to their side."

- Michael Novak, author of The Guns of Lattimer

Ethnic

"The coal you dig is not Slavish coal, or Polish coal, or Irish coal.   It is coal."
- John Mitchell, President of the UMWA from 1898 to 1908

"Racial hatred triumphed in that trial. Not justice. The miners knew it as well as anyone did. The 1[9] miners who fell under the firing of hate-mongers left a job for them to finish.  They had died so that others would have unionism. The next wave of Slavs went out with the rest of the mine workers under the banner of John Mitchell and the U. M. W. A. and achieved it. That unionism still flourishes as strongly as the gospel the miners' patron saint spread from one end of the hard coal country to the other: 'The coal you dig is not Slavish coal, or Polish coal, or Irish coal.   It is coal.' "

- Edward Pinkowski, author of Lattimer Massacre, considered by many to be the first expert on the Lattimer Massacre 

Robert Prosperi, Educator at the Anthracite Heritage Mueseum

"A major turning point in the history of organized labor within the anthracite region occurred in 1897, during another nationwide economic depression...It was under these conditions that the Lattimer incident occurred, marking a turning point in the labor history of the anthracite region.  The violent confrontation between workers and operator agents that took place near the Lattimer mine in September 1897 initiated the long, slow process of building cooperation between all mine workers.  This cooperation led to the development of a solid labor front in the anthracite region, which the UMW nurtured in the late 1890s and early 1900s…The Lattimer incident brought together the various immigrant communities within the anthracite region and dispelled old myths that Slavic and Italian workers were docile pawns of management.  The new immigrants were recognized as an important force within the region.  Fellow miners expressed their shock and outrage over the killings by joining the UMW.  Within four months, over fifteen thousand anthracite workers had joined the UMW.  Lattimer insured the UMW a future in the region, though it would take several more strikes before the union could take advantage of its new found strength.  On a national level, Slavic organizations through the United States contributed money to relief efforts for the Lattimer victims and their families, while at the international level, the Austrian-Hungarian ambassador demanded, but did not receive, compensation for the killings from the United States government."

-Anthracite-Related Resources of Northeastern Pennsylvania, 1769-1945

Audiovisual Sources: American Enterprise Institute, Films on Demand, Am-Pol Eagle