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THIS WEEK IN PEOPLES’ HISTORY, SEP. 3–9, 2025  
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_ No Job Is Worth Dying For (1991), Racist Terror in Mississippi
(1875), Max Roach Lays Down the Freedom Suite (1960), ‘Never
Again’ (2000), ‘They Shall Beat Their Swords Into Plowshares’
(1980) _

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_NO JOB IS WORTH DYING FOR_

SEPTEMBER 3 IS THE 34TH ANNIVERSARY of a deadly 1991 fire in Hamlet,
North Carolina’s, ramshackle Imperial Foods Products chicken
processing plant. Some 90 workers needed to get out of the 1-story
factory quickly.  They thought they had a choice of nine different
exit doors. 

But seven of the exits were either locked shut or completely blocked
by large objects on the plant’s exterior. When the workers rushed to
get out, most found themselves trapped by a door that could not be
opened. Twenty-five were killed and 60 were seriously injured.

None of those casualties would have occurred if the owner of Imperial
Foods had not ignored dozens of laws and regulations intended to
prevent such a fire and to ensure that fire exits can be opened. 

But perhaps even more dispiriting during the Labor Day week is the
fact some five thousand U.S. workers are killed on the job each year,
and at least 120,000 die from an occupational disease.
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_RACIST TERROR IN MISSISSIPPI_

SEPTEMBER 4 IS THE 150TH ANNIVERSARY of the beginning of the Clinton,
Mississippi, massacre, which started when terrorist Red Shirts
attacked an 1875 election rally of some three thousand citizens, most
of whom were Black, who gathered to hear speeches by prominent
Republicans including Mississippi’s anti-racist governor Adelbert
Ames. 

The attacking Red Shirts broke up the rally and continued to attack
and terrorize everyone in the area who was thought to support the
Republican governor’s re-election. The Red Shirts’ killed at least
50 people (but the complete death toll was never publicized),
including Black schoolteachers and religious leaders and anyone who
tried to defend them. 

The federal government responded by sending troops to Clinton, but the
violence came to an end before the troops arrived.

Sporadic deadly attacks on pro-Republican campaign activities
continued throughout Mississippi until election day. On election day,
the intimidation of pro-Republican voters, plus outright election
fraud, was so effective that Democrats regained control of the state
legislature. [link removed]
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_MAX ROACH LAYS DOWN THE FREEDOM SUITE_

SEPTEMBER 6 IS THE 65TH ANNIVERSARY of the 1960 recording session
during which Max Roach and an all-star crew of musicians including
vocalist Abbey Lincoln laid down the final tracks for their stunning
album, “We Insist: Max Roach’s Freedom Suite.”

Roach and lyricist Oscar Brown composed the album’s five tracks, all
of which concern the Civil Rights Movement and the Emancipation
Proclamation, in honor of the Proclamation’s upcoming centennial. 

The album’s five great tracks are Driva Man, Freedom Day, Triptych:
Prayer/Protest/Peace, All Africa, and Tears for Johannesburg. You can
listen to it here: [link removed]
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_‘NEVER AGAIN’_

SEPTEMBER 8 IS THE 25TH ANNIVERSARY of a memorable event in 2000
marking the 175th anniversary of the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs,
when Kevin Gover, the Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Indian
Affairs offered a long, formal apology for much of the Bureau of
Indian Affairs’ past work, ending with these words: 

"Never again will we allow unflattering and stereotypical images of
Indian people to deface the halls of government or lead the American
people to shallow and ignorant beliefs about Indians. Never again will
we attack your religions, your languages, your rituals, or any of your
tribal ways. Never again will we seize your children, nor teach them
to be ashamed of who they are. Never again." 

You can watch, and listen to Kevin Gover’s 12-minute presentation
here: [link removed] [[link removed]]

 

_‘THEY SHALL BEAT THEIR SWORDS INTO PLOWSHARES’_

SEPTEMBER 9 IS THE 45TH ANNIVERSARY of the public debut of the
anti-nuclear weapons Plowshares Movement, whose first non-violent
protest was to break in to the untended General Electric munitions
factory in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, where Philip Berrigan and
seven other protesters hammered on the nosecones of two missiles being
built to carry nuclear warheads. In addition, the protesters poured
blood on missile-related documents.
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For more People's History,
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* occupational safety and health
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* Racist Attacks
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* Max Roach
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* Department of the Interior
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* Plowshares
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