This Month in Missouri History

Rallies for 8-hour work day and women's suffrage

In years past, the month of May saw significant protest marches in Missouri in favor of establishment of an 8-hour work day and for the women's right to vote in elections.

Also, there was an unveiling of a famous statue done by a rare personality in the 1800s-a woman sculptor. And Henry Shaw of Missouri Botanical Garden fame arrived in St. Louis.

Each month, the Missouri History Museum helps Young Saint Louis.com identify significant historic people or events which have an anniversary in the current month. If you'd like to know more about the state's history, go to www.mohistory.org.

Battle for 8-hour work day

May 1, 1886, became a symbol of labor strife as workers across the country, including St. Louis, struck to push their drive for a universal 8-hour work day.

Workers poured into the street in Chicago, Milwaukee, Detroit, Cincinnati, Baltimore, Washington, D.C., New York, Philadelphia, Boston and other cities.

On May 4, an outshoot of the labor unrest was the deadly Haymarket Square Riot in Chicago, which remains a landmark date for labor strife in the U.S.

But, the May 1 activities in St. Louis weren't all violence and strife. The New York Times included a roundup of reports of May Days from around the country. The St. Louis article noted: "The furniture manufacturers in this city formed an association last night and unanimously resolved to operate their factories on the eight-hours-per-day system after today, on the basis of eight hours' wages.'

(For the complete article, visit: http://www.marxfaq.org/subject/mayday/articles/times.html.)

May 1 continues to be a "holiday" in many countries with socialist and communist leanings. For more about the early May Day developments, visit: http://www.holtlaborlibrary.org/mayday.html and http://rwor.org/a/may1/haymark.htm.

Protest for Women's Right to Vote

The 1879 national convention of women's suffragists in St. Louis received extensive coverage in the New York Times newspaper.

In an article dated May 8, 1879, the Times article started:

"The platform of the Woman's suffragists, presented to the convention this morning, declared the right of self-government through the elective franchise as the birthright of the native citizen and the acquired right of the adoptive citizen, the exercise of which may be regulated, but not destroyed, by legislation.

"It demands an amendment to the Federal Constitution defining the rights of citizenship and suffrage so clearly that even the Supreme Court can understand them.

"It asserts that since, under decisions of the United States Supreme Court, the male African is the only United States citizen who holds the ballot in every State of the Union under the Federal Constitution, the white men should make common cause with the women of the country in securing national protection in the right to vote.

"It declares it to be the duty of Congress to adopt a sixteenth amendment to the Constitution, giving women the right to vote; also that all State Legislatures should request Congress to submit such an amendment to them."

(For a complete copy of the NY Times article, go to: http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=
9F02EFDE133EE63BBC4153DFB3668382669FDE)

This NY Times coverage is an indication that St. Louis and Missouri had a key role in the establishment of the legal right of women to the electoral vote.

Woman sculptor Harriet Hosmer

On May 27, 1868, a crowd estimated at 40,000 attended the unveiling of the statue of Thomas Hart Benton in Lafayette Square Park.

Of course, Benton was a major artist and a Missouri native. But, one of the unique aspects of this unveiling was that the sculptor was a woman, Harriet Hosmer. This was a time when there were virtually no women sculptors.

One of the reasons she moved to St. Louis was because she was allowed to study anatomy at the St. Louis Medical College. She had been denied admission to such classes in her hometown in Massachusetts.

In an article in the St. Louis Beacon, writer Kristen Hare noted:

"Harriet Hosmer wasn't born in St. Louis. She didn't grow up her or, in fact, live here for very long.

"But, the woman who would go on to carve her own way as a neo-classical sculptor in a man's world was changed by her time in St. Louis. And she left her mark, including some of her work, in several significant places.

"'Next to her hometown, we really are the next big location for events that shaped her life,' said Julie Dunn-Morton, curator of fine art collections at the St. Louis Mercantile Library, where Hosmer's marble sculpture 'Beatrice Cenci' is on permanent display."

For the complete Beacon article, visit www.stlbeacon.org/visual_arts/harriet.

For more about Thomas Hart Benton, visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Hart_Benton_(senator).

Henry Shaw arrives in St. Louis

Henry Shaw is a big name in St. Louis. He is the founder of the Missouri Botanical Garden, which has been a beautiful showplace in the city for years.

On May 3, 1819, Shaw arrived in what was then the French village of St. Louis.

The Botanical Garden has started a blog entitled "Travels with Henry Shaw," where you can read his diary inserts. To access the blog, go to: http://www.mobot.org/blog/travelswithhenry/2009/03/may-31-1841-pentelicus.html.

For more bio info on Shaw, see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Shaw_(botanist).

Explorer de Soto reaches Mississippi River

Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto reportedly reached the Mississippi River on May 8, 1541. That would make him the first European to see this vital waterway that bisects the United States.

At least, his expedition is the first to be documented in official reports as seeing the river.

But, for de Soto, the Mississippi was more of an obstacle. He was on an exploration from Florida west and the big river meant he had to transport 400 men and their equipment and supplies across the river.

He wasn't looking for a big river. His exploration was for gold and to find a new route to China.

He died on the banks of the Mississippi at the present-day Lake Village, AK.

For a complete history of de Soto, visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hernando_de_Soto_(explorer).