On this day in 1936 violence erupted in Rockwood, Tennessee, during a strike at a hosiery mill there. There had been rocks thrown, property damage, and the use of tear gas as the workers there protested an increase in work hours with no corresponding increase in pay.
The Highlander Folk School had become involved in the action, sending organizers to Rockwood to set up a union local. This resulted in accusations that Highlander was a “communistic” organization, leading to a confrontation at a union rally in early May between the head of Highlander, Myles Horton, and the head of a local “citizen’s committee” which was there to disrupt the rally. This confrontation turned into a fight between the two men, which almost became a brawl between the strikers and the committee.
The strike itself was crushed in June, 1936.
