William H. Sylvis
Indiana, Indiana County, Pennsylvania
Marker Inscription
American labor pioneer. Born in Indiana County, 1828. Founder, National Union of Iron Molders, 1859. President, National Labor Union, 1868-1869. Sylvis strove for unity among working men and women regardless of race or nationality. He died, "labor's champion," 1869.
Erected by Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
The Story
William Sylvis came out of Indiana County in 1828 and rose to become one of the most important figures in America's early labor movement. In 1859 he founded the National Union of Iron Molders, then in 1868 became president of the National Labor Union, an ambitious attempt to knit together the country's scattered trade unions into a single national voice. Remarkable for his era, he pressed for solidarity across lines of race and nationality, and when he died in 1869 the movement mourned him as "labor's champion."
Why it matters
Sylvis helped invent the very idea of a national labor federation in the industrializing decades after the Civil War, laying groundwork for the organized-labor tradition that reshaped American work and politics.
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Related people
- · William H. Sylvis
Related events
- · Founding of the National Union of Iron Molders
- · National Labor Union
Themes & tags
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