Depression Era: 1930s: “Bloody Thursday” & Other Labor Strikes
Click image to zoom in.Or view larger version. Untitled. July 6, 1934. Unknown photographer. Gelatin silver print. Collection of Oakland Museum of California. The Oakland Tribune Collection. Gift of Alameda Newspaper Group.
This photograph depicts the San Francisco Embarcadero on July 6, 1934 as police released tear gas in order to halt a rush of angry strikers. Labor union unrest during the Great Depression affected San Francisco in the spring and early summer of 1934. Wages were falling across the country and California employers took advantage of the national trend by slashing wages, extending work hours and attempting to break unionization.