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Long before the first Monday in September was deemed Labor Day, workers across the country called for better working conditions – which was not well received.
In early September 1917, more than 1,200 copper miners became ensnared in the infamous Bisbee Deportation after striking for fair wages and safe working conditions.
A local call from the Cochise County sheriff resulted in a group of 1,500 locals who showed up to arrest the striking miners. After 15 hours of travel and no water, they were abandoned in the middle of the New Mexico desert with nothing but the clothes on their backs.
– Hannah Van Sickle, The Arizona 100