Beer History Storyline
Beer, Labor, and Workers
Trace brewery and agricultural workers through union organizing, mechanization, strikes, beer-hall protests, and broad consumer boycotts.
Chronological milestones
Sources and further references are available on each individual event page.
April 21, 1855
Chicago’s Lager Beer Riot Challenges Nativist Liquor Enforcement
August 29, 1886
Brewery Workers Form a National Union in Baltimore
June 1929
African Workers Boycott Durban’s Municipal Beer Halls
1941
Mechanical Hop Pickers Rapidly Replace Hand Labor in Yakima
May 14, 1953
Milwaukee Brewery Workers Begin a Citywide Strike
June 17, 1959
Women at Cato Manor Lead a Municipal Beer-Hall Boycott
1971
Farmworkers Organize Strikes in Yakima Valley Hop Fields
April 1977
Coors Brewery Workers Strike as a Broad Boycott Coalition Grows