1 00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:02,600 Speaker 1: Hey y'all, Eve's here. We're doubling up today with two 2 00:00:02,640 --> 00:00:05,440 Speaker 1: events in history, one from me and one from former 3 00:00:05,480 --> 00:00:09,960 Speaker 1: host Tracy V. Wilson. On with the show. Welcome to 4 00:00:09,960 --> 00:00:12,479 Speaker 1: this day in History Class from how Stuff Works dot 5 00:00:12,480 --> 00:00:14,480 Speaker 1: com and from the desk of Stuff You Missed in 6 00:00:14,520 --> 00:00:17,040 Speaker 1: History Class. It's the show where we explore the past 7 00:00:17,160 --> 00:00:19,240 Speaker 1: one day at a time with a quick look at 8 00:00:19,280 --> 00:00:26,680 Speaker 1: what happened today in history. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. 9 00:00:26,800 --> 00:00:31,520 Speaker 1: I'm Tracy V. Wilson, and it's November eight. Wilhelm Runkin 10 00:00:31,840 --> 00:00:35,280 Speaker 1: first observed X rays on the state in and he 11 00:00:35,320 --> 00:00:39,280 Speaker 1: did it completely by accident. Runkin had his notes destroyed 12 00:00:39,320 --> 00:00:42,040 Speaker 1: after he died, so we don't a hundred percent know 13 00:00:42,200 --> 00:00:44,600 Speaker 1: the process that led him to this discovery, but people 14 00:00:44,640 --> 00:00:47,440 Speaker 1: have tried to sort of piece it together based on 15 00:00:47,479 --> 00:00:49,640 Speaker 1: what he discovered and what we know he was working with. 16 00:00:50,280 --> 00:00:52,159 Speaker 1: So here's how most people think it went down. He 17 00:00:52,240 --> 00:00:54,960 Speaker 1: was working in a dark room and he was experimenting 18 00:00:55,000 --> 00:00:58,280 Speaker 1: by running a current through a glass bulb that's known 19 00:00:58,320 --> 00:01:00,560 Speaker 1: as a Crooks tube or a Cathoe bowl, but it's 20 00:01:00,560 --> 00:01:03,600 Speaker 1: basically a glass tube that has a partial vacuum inside 21 00:01:03,600 --> 00:01:07,200 Speaker 1: of it. He had this tube encased in cardboard or 22 00:01:07,240 --> 00:01:09,880 Speaker 1: a black carton to try to block the light that 23 00:01:10,040 --> 00:01:12,240 Speaker 1: was emanating out of it when he exposed it to 24 00:01:12,280 --> 00:01:15,759 Speaker 1: this current. But then he realized that even though there 25 00:01:15,800 --> 00:01:18,840 Speaker 1: was this black carton that was blocking all the visible light, 26 00:01:19,280 --> 00:01:22,600 Speaker 1: something was causing a plate that was coated in barium 27 00:01:22,800 --> 00:01:25,959 Speaker 1: platinum cyanide to glow whenever he did this, and that 28 00:01:26,080 --> 00:01:29,840 Speaker 1: was weird that cardboard barrier was blocking all the physical light, 29 00:01:29,920 --> 00:01:33,279 Speaker 1: and yet something was happening that was causing this plate 30 00:01:33,360 --> 00:01:36,520 Speaker 1: to glow. It glowed even if it was a couple 31 00:01:36,560 --> 00:01:40,520 Speaker 1: of meters away from the tube, So he's really curious 32 00:01:40,560 --> 00:01:44,200 Speaker 1: about this. He started experimenting with photographic plates, and he 33 00:01:44,240 --> 00:01:49,560 Speaker 1: discovered that objects of different thicknesses and densities were recorded 34 00:01:49,600 --> 00:01:52,600 Speaker 1: differently on this plate when he placed them in between 35 00:01:52,640 --> 00:01:56,320 Speaker 1: the tube and the plate. Later on, he put his 36 00:01:56,360 --> 00:01:59,720 Speaker 1: wife's hand wearing her wedding ring, in front of this 37 00:02:00,000 --> 00:02:02,880 Speaker 1: atographic plate, and the result was an image of her 38 00:02:02,920 --> 00:02:06,720 Speaker 1: bones with a visible wedding ring on her ring finger. 39 00:02:07,320 --> 00:02:09,680 Speaker 1: This is very dramatic. No one had ever seen a 40 00:02:09,720 --> 00:02:13,440 Speaker 1: picture of the inside of someone's body this way before. 41 00:02:14,160 --> 00:02:17,400 Speaker 1: She reportedly said, I have seen my death. He called 42 00:02:17,440 --> 00:02:22,320 Speaker 1: this image a rundkinogram, and because he didn't know exactly 43 00:02:22,360 --> 00:02:25,040 Speaker 1: what it was that was causing the image to appear 44 00:02:25,080 --> 00:02:27,760 Speaker 1: in this way, he said that the phenomenon was called 45 00:02:27,919 --> 00:02:31,000 Speaker 1: X rays. He didn't know that these were part of 46 00:02:31,040 --> 00:02:34,480 Speaker 1: the same spectrum as visible light, but with a much 47 00:02:34,560 --> 00:02:37,360 Speaker 1: shorter wavelength than visible light, and today we do know 48 00:02:37,600 --> 00:02:40,520 Speaker 1: that they're part of the electromagnetic spectrum. That is something 49 00:02:40,560 --> 00:02:45,040 Speaker 1: that people suspected. Pretty quickly after this first discovery, Runkin 50 00:02:45,440 --> 00:02:49,280 Speaker 1: published a paper about his findings, which immediately revolutionized the 51 00:02:49,320 --> 00:02:52,280 Speaker 1: world of medical diagnostics. For the first time ever, you 52 00:02:52,280 --> 00:02:56,200 Speaker 1: could actually see things like broken bones and foreign objects 53 00:02:56,240 --> 00:02:59,799 Speaker 1: inside of a person's body. Within a year, there was 54 00:02:59,840 --> 00:03:02,240 Speaker 1: a whole new field of medicine, and that was the 55 00:03:02,280 --> 00:03:06,079 Speaker 1: field of radiology. Wren Can won the first Nobel Prize 56 00:03:06,120 --> 00:03:09,280 Speaker 1: for Physics for this discovery in nineteen o one. These 57 00:03:09,360 --> 00:03:13,160 Speaker 1: early X rays, though they were pretty dangerous. People experienced 58 00:03:13,200 --> 00:03:17,000 Speaker 1: burns and cancers after being exposed to too much radiation. 59 00:03:17,639 --> 00:03:20,280 Speaker 1: Today's X rays, of course, are a lot more controlled, 60 00:03:20,320 --> 00:03:24,560 Speaker 1: the doses are much smaller, and it's also a lot faster. 61 00:03:24,960 --> 00:03:30,320 Speaker 1: Today's X ray imaging happens almost instantaneously, but early X 62 00:03:30,400 --> 00:03:34,000 Speaker 1: ray machines often required patients to hold still for several 63 00:03:34,040 --> 00:03:38,560 Speaker 1: minutes as this exposure was taking place. Thanks very much 64 00:03:38,560 --> 00:03:41,800 Speaker 1: to Christopher Hasiotis for his research work on this episode, 65 00:03:41,840 --> 00:03:44,640 Speaker 1: and to Casey Pigraham and Chandler Maye for their audio 66 00:03:44,680 --> 00:03:47,080 Speaker 1: work on this show. You can subscribe to the Stay 67 00:03:47,080 --> 00:03:50,360 Speaker 1: in History Class on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, and wherever 68 00:03:50,440 --> 00:03:53,280 Speaker 1: else you get your podcasts. Tune in tomorrow when we 69 00:03:53,320 --> 00:04:04,760 Speaker 1: will look at an event from Nazi Germany. Hello again, 70 00:04:05,080 --> 00:04:08,480 Speaker 1: I'm Eves and you're listening to This Day in History Class, 71 00:04:08,840 --> 00:04:17,440 Speaker 1: a show where we dropped history knowledge every single day. 72 00:04:19,279 --> 00:04:23,960 Speaker 1: The day was November eight A general strike began in 73 00:04:24,000 --> 00:04:28,560 Speaker 1: New Orleans, Louisiana, after it had been postponed twice. The 74 00:04:28,600 --> 00:04:31,800 Speaker 1: strike ended four days later, with workers winning many of 75 00:04:31,800 --> 00:04:35,680 Speaker 1: the demands they called for. In May of eighteen, two 76 00:04:36,120 --> 00:04:39,719 Speaker 1: street car operators in New Orleans one shorter hours, moving 77 00:04:39,760 --> 00:04:43,040 Speaker 1: from sixteen hour days to twelve hour days, and they 78 00:04:43,080 --> 00:04:45,920 Speaker 1: won a closed shop, which is when an employer only 79 00:04:46,000 --> 00:04:50,640 Speaker 1: hires union members. That summer, black and white workers organized 80 00:04:50,720 --> 00:04:54,120 Speaker 1: many new labor unions, so that forty nine local unions 81 00:04:54,200 --> 00:04:57,360 Speaker 1: were soon part of the American Federation of Labor or 82 00:04:57,560 --> 00:05:01,840 Speaker 1: a f L. The union organized a local labor federation 83 00:05:01,960 --> 00:05:06,320 Speaker 1: called the working Men's Amalgamate Council, which met in integrated sessions. 84 00:05:07,080 --> 00:05:11,560 Speaker 1: The late nineteenth century was a time characterized by racial violence, segregation, 85 00:05:11,920 --> 00:05:15,640 Speaker 1: convict leasing, and the restriction of jobs for black workers, 86 00:05:16,720 --> 00:05:21,720 Speaker 1: but there were integrated jobs and labor demonstrations. Three racially 87 00:05:21,760 --> 00:05:25,839 Speaker 1: integrated unions, the Round Freight Teamsters and Loaders Union, the 88 00:05:25,880 --> 00:05:30,400 Speaker 1: Scalesman's Union, and the Warehousemen and Packers Protective Union made 89 00:05:30,440 --> 00:05:34,400 Speaker 1: up the so called Triple Alliance. The Triple Alliance went 90 00:05:34,440 --> 00:05:37,920 Speaker 1: to the Board of Trade the employer's organization, demanding a 91 00:05:38,000 --> 00:05:41,680 Speaker 1: preferential union's shop, ten hour day and over time pay, 92 00:05:42,800 --> 00:05:45,680 Speaker 1: but the Board of Trade announced that it refused to 93 00:05:45,839 --> 00:05:50,640 Speaker 1: enter into agreements with black people. On October, members of 94 00:05:50,640 --> 00:05:53,400 Speaker 1: the Triple Alliance went on strike, and the president of 95 00:05:53,400 --> 00:05:57,279 Speaker 1: the Workingmen's Amalgamated Council said that it's unions would strike 96 00:05:57,320 --> 00:06:01,159 Speaker 1: if a settlement wasn't reached, but the Board said that 97 00:06:01,240 --> 00:06:04,440 Speaker 1: it would work with the scalesman Impackers, who were mostly white, 98 00:06:04,720 --> 00:06:08,760 Speaker 1: but not with the teamsters, as most black workers were teamsters, 99 00:06:09,520 --> 00:06:12,520 Speaker 1: and it went even further to stoke racial fears, saying 100 00:06:12,520 --> 00:06:15,280 Speaker 1: that the Triple Alliance was threatening to put employers and 101 00:06:15,400 --> 00:06:18,640 Speaker 1: control of the docks under a quote big black negro. 102 00:06:19,720 --> 00:06:23,640 Speaker 1: The press even attempted to inflame tensions, accusing white unionists 103 00:06:23,720 --> 00:06:27,080 Speaker 1: of being sympathetic to or controlled by, black people, and 104 00:06:27,120 --> 00:06:30,960 Speaker 1: claiming that black strikers were beating people up. But the 105 00:06:31,000 --> 00:06:33,920 Speaker 1: Triple Alliance and the Council did not fold, and the 106 00:06:34,000 --> 00:06:38,680 Speaker 1: general strikes seemed imminent. Under increasing union pressure, the board 107 00:06:38,760 --> 00:06:42,719 Speaker 1: was compelled to negotiate a contract, but the bargaining collapsed 108 00:06:42,760 --> 00:06:45,839 Speaker 1: when the board would not budge on discussing the preferential union, 109 00:06:46,760 --> 00:06:50,440 Speaker 1: so a general strike began on November eight. About half 110 00:06:50,480 --> 00:06:54,159 Speaker 1: of the city's workforce, or around twenty five thousand union members, 111 00:06:54,200 --> 00:06:58,560 Speaker 1: participated in the general strike. Street cars stopped running, the 112 00:06:58,600 --> 00:07:05,480 Speaker 1: electrical grid stopped working, and the natural gas supply went empty. Firefighting, construction, printing, 113 00:07:05,600 --> 00:07:10,440 Speaker 1: and street cleaning services were also disrupted. Governor Murphy Foster 114 00:07:10,640 --> 00:07:14,000 Speaker 1: ordered five thousand state militia troops to New Orleans, but 115 00:07:14,160 --> 00:07:17,400 Speaker 1: the troops were withdrawn because the reports of chaos and 116 00:07:17,560 --> 00:07:22,160 Speaker 1: violence were exaggerated. The press continued to claim that black 117 00:07:22,200 --> 00:07:26,240 Speaker 1: strikers were violent and threats to white supremacy, but unionists 118 00:07:26,280 --> 00:07:30,240 Speaker 1: did not react to the appeals. Just days after the 119 00:07:30,280 --> 00:07:33,040 Speaker 1: strike began, the council called off the strike due to 120 00:07:33,080 --> 00:07:36,760 Speaker 1: the presence of the state militia, which remained outside the city, 121 00:07:36,960 --> 00:07:40,760 Speaker 1: and the Board of Trade agreed to negotiate. The union 122 00:07:40,800 --> 00:07:43,480 Speaker 1: went away to increase over time pay and a ten 123 00:07:43,520 --> 00:07:46,680 Speaker 1: hour day, but the agreement did not include a preferential 124 00:07:46,760 --> 00:07:49,720 Speaker 1: union shop, and it did not grant recognition to the 125 00:07:49,800 --> 00:07:54,720 Speaker 1: unions of the Triple Alliance street car workers union recognition ended. 126 00:07:55,720 --> 00:07:58,600 Speaker 1: The strike has been deemed a success by some contemporary 127 00:07:58,600 --> 00:08:01,880 Speaker 1: and current assessments, since the strikers won many of their 128 00:08:01,920 --> 00:08:06,560 Speaker 1: demands and demonstrated racial solidarity. Critics have said that the 129 00:08:06,600 --> 00:08:09,400 Speaker 1: strike failed since it did not win the union shop. 130 00:08:09,920 --> 00:08:12,760 Speaker 1: But in the years following the general strike, riots broke 131 00:08:12,760 --> 00:08:15,840 Speaker 1: out between white and black workers on the New Orleans Docks. 132 00:08:17,120 --> 00:08:19,360 Speaker 1: I'm Eve step Code and hopefully you know a little 133 00:08:19,400 --> 00:08:23,320 Speaker 1: more about history today than you do yesterday. If there's 134 00:08:23,360 --> 00:08:25,440 Speaker 1: something I missed in the show today, you can let 135 00:08:25,520 --> 00:08:31,920 Speaker 1: us know at T D i h C podcast, on Twitter, Facebook, 136 00:08:32,200 --> 00:08:37,480 Speaker 1: or Instagram. We also accept electronic letters at this day 137 00:08:37,559 --> 00:08:41,600 Speaker 1: at I heeart media dot com. Thanks for listening, and 138 00:08:41,640 --> 00:08:48,080 Speaker 1: we'll see you again tomorrow. For more podcasts from my 139 00:08:48,120 --> 00:08:50,800 Speaker 1: Heart Radio, visit the I heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, 140 00:08:50,840 --> 00:08:52,600 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.