Terence Powderly-Knights of Labor

Powderly from the age of thirteen to seventeen worked as a railroad worker. From there we worked as a machinist apprentice, and then a blacksmiths apprentice. Afterwards he went on to join the machinist, and blacksmith union, and steadily rose in the ranks. In 1874, he joined the Knights of labor where he went on to rise in the ranks(1). In 1879, Powderly was elected president of the KOL, where like his predecessor, he saw the union as a vehicle for leading American workers out of the bondage of wage labor(1). From there he began to integrate a system that consisted of eight hour day shifts, and a ban on child labor, but also equal pay along with equal labor(1). Unlike many other Union leaders, Powderly didn’t look to strikes to reach economic goals, but instead strikes that which occurred not under his control began to bring in more members of the union(2). Within a year, the union began to decline after public blame on the Haymarket riot.