TRADING CENTER / 1873–1918

Workers and Farmers

A significant labor movement formed in Dallas at the beginning of the twentieth century. It included local trade unionists as well as members of the Knights of Labor union organization. In the early 1890s they joined with unhappy farmers who earlier had organized the Dallas County Farmers Alliance, protesting a business system that kept agricultural prices low. Together, they made Dallas the center of the fight for equal economic opportunity in all of Texas and the Southwest. They joined the national movement known as Populism to seek wage increases and shorter workdays, using strikes and boycotts.