In the years following the bloody and destructive civil war, the United States experienced an unparalleled period of economic growth.

While the South tried to rebuild under the controversial

reconstruction acts, the rest of the country flourished. Manufacturing in textiles and steel boomed,

while oil production skyrocketed. Railroads united the country, which sent floods of settlers

into the western territories. But as the economy boomed,

a dividing line quickly formed in urban society. Throughout the 1870s and early 1880s, wealth

became concentrated in the hands of a few. Andrew Carnegie dominated steel, John D. Rockefeller

controlled oil, and J.P. Morgan lorded over Wall Street.

Those Titans of Industry created monopolies that lined their pockets with millions of dollars.

But to those who worked for the Titans, the Titans earned another nickname, robber barons.

By the mid-1880s, as wealth grew for the bosses, laborers demanded wage increases and better

working conditions. Before long, a labor movement arose, as strikes and protests hit major

cities, and it was only a matter of time before blood was spilled.

On May 1, 1886, tens of thousands of laborers across Chicago put down their tools for a general strike.

Their demand was simple. They wanted an eight-hour workday. And Chicago wasn't the only city affected.

New York, Detroit, Cincinnati, and Milwaukee all saw men walk off the job.

In Chicago, on the third day of the strike, unarmed workers gathered in front of the McCormick Reaper Works for a rally.

August Spears, a German immigrant and anarchist,

bellowed to the crowd to stand strong and to not give in.

Only if they remained with the union would they win their call for an eight-hour workday.

Later that afternoon, the doors to the factory opened, and the strikers watched as temporary workers, nicknamed scabs, and strikebreakers spilled out. Anger ran through many of the

strikers. Someone grabbed a rock and threw it, which led to an all-out brawl. Police officers

...