November 22, 1909
Clara Lemlich, who had been listening for four hours to men speak about the disadvantages of the (mostly female) shirtwaist workers going on a general strike, rose and declared (in Yiddish) that the shirtwaist workers would go on a general strike. Her declaration received a standing ovation. In what came to be called “The Uprising of the 20,000,” 15,000 shirtwaist workers walked out of the factories, with 5,000 more joining the strike the following day. The strike lasted until February 1910 and ended in a “protocol of peace” which allowed the strikers to go back to work and met the demands of the workers, which included better pay, shorter hours, and equal treatment of workers who were in the union and workers who were not.
