This Day in History

July 11, 1892: Coeur d’Alene Idaho Miners Strike

Time Periods: 1877
Themes: Labor, Organizing, Racism & Racial Identity
Print

On July 11, 1892, union miners in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho used dynamite to explode the barracks housing agents from the Pinkerton National Detective Agency who had infiltrated the union and were providing union information to the mine owners.

Learn about the story from the powerful young adult historical fiction novel Fire in the Hole! by Mary Cronk Farrell. Readers learn just how desperate the conditions were for mining families, how the company unfairly detained citizens for very long periods of time (a miners’ Guantanamo), and how African American troops were sent by the federal government to restore order.

Coeur d'Alene Mining District Idaho

Coeur d’Alene Mining District Idaho. Federal troop encampment in Wallace, Idaho in 1892.

Related Resources
Teaching Activities (Free)

The Homestead Strike

Teaching Activity. By Bill Bigelow and Norm Diamond. 11 pages.
This role play activity on the famous 1892 Homestead Strike, explores the possibility of solidarity among workers of very different backgrounds and at different levels in the workplace hierarchy.

Teaching Activities (Free)

It’s a Mystery — White Workers Against Black Workers

Teaching Activity. By Bill Bigelow and Norm Diamond. 8 pages.
In this “mystery” activity, students receive clues and discuss some of the factors that contributed to the intensification of racism in the 1920s in the United States.

Organic Goodie cartoon | Zinn Education Project
Teaching Activities (Free)

Organic Goodie Simulation

Teaching Activity. By Bill Bigelow and Norm Diamond. 8 pages.
Lesson engages students in a lively simulation that helps them experience some of the pressures that lead workers to organize.

Southern Tenant Farmers’ Union: Black and White Unite? (Teaching Activity) | Zinn Education Project: Teaching People's History
Teaching Activities (Free)

Southern Tenant Farmers’ Union: Black and White Unite?

Teaching Activity. By Bill Bigelow and Norm Diamond. 12 pages.
Role play on farm labor organizing in the 1930s shows how racism had to be challenged to create effective worker alliances.

Teaching Guides

The Power in Our Hands: A Curriculum on the History of Work and Workers in the United States

Teaching Guide. By Bill Bigelow and Norm Diamond. 1988. 184 pages.
Role plays and writing activities project high school students into real-life situations to explore the history and contemporary reality of employment (and unemployment) in the U.S.