"I came looking for history. Instead, it began asking something of me. Not remembrance—that was easy—but response."
Masha Hamilton traces her great-grandfather's escape from the 1917 Bisbee Deportation: https://longreads.com/2026/02/19/bisbee-deportation-vigilantes-miners/?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social
#Longreads #Essay #History #Deportation #Bisbee #Arizona #Strike #Miners
Old Bisbee jail: 2 story brick building with iron bars on the window.
Local IWW headquarters used to be next door (now an empty lot). I asked local historian, and IWW fellow worker, Mike Anderson about it. He said yeh, the location was weird, but the town was incredibly dense (20,000 people squeezed into a few city blocks), and you rented where you could.
During the 1917 strike and deportation, many Wobblies (IWW members) were arrested and jailed here. During more recent restorations, after removing old plaster, they discovered IWW graffiti on the walls.
Many of the men who were kidnapped and deported were taken to Columbus, New Mexico, where Pancho Villa had invaded just the year before (in one of the only times a foreign army invaded US mainland since the War of 1812). They no doubt were hoping that the US army, which was still there, would brutralize the men.
Photo of me in Lowell, Arizona, outside a hat shop, with antique cars on the side of the road, and an old Indian Motorcycles shop.
Now aghost town, Lowell was incorporated into Bisbee, AZ, in 2908. It was settled by Copper miners from Serbia, Finland Montenegro.
July 12, 1917, 1,300 striking IWW copper miners and their supporters were kidnapped from Bisbee, by vigilantes to crush the union. They were forced into cattle cars and illegally deported 200 miles into New Mexico, through desert, without any food or water.
#workingclass #LaborHistory #IWW #strike #union #bisbee #mining
Bisbee, Arizona.
My husband is in Palm Springs with Jamie and other friends this weekend for a big gay extravaganza. Based on our conversations, he is having a really good time and that is a wonderful thing.
I do miss him, though, just as he misses me when I’m out storm chasing.
Last night I went for a drive across the darkened desert to Bisbee, about 90 minutes to the southeast of us. The Storm Prediction Center hinted at a very, very slight chance there might a lightning flash or two down in that part of the state and I was in the mood to chase anything that resembled a storm.
Alas, no storms. Mother Nature is keeping it on the Mexican side of the border for a couple of days.
Bisbee is one of my favorite little towns here in Arizona. The vibe is relaxed, with a little bit of a hippy thing going on, along with typical remnants of mining activities in the area. Last week was Bisbee pride, and there were still pride flags everywhere. As I recall from previous visit, this is not uncommon in Bisbee. As I said, I like the vibe.
I stopped at The Bisbee Table for dinner and a drink, and then wandered around Old Bisbee for a bit. There were others out on the street, but most of the activity seemed to involve live music and drinks in various establishments, some of which were in a basement level along the business district. Again, a very cool vibe.
Since I was driving back to Tucson that night, I didn’t drink any more than I could remotely handle, and instead for contentment just walking around.
After my little exploration, I jumped back in the car and made my way back to Tucson amongst the darkened, star filled skies of the desert.
Bisbee is situated along what used to be U.S. Route 80, which is now State Route 80. ADOT (Arizona Department of Transportation) keeps U.S. 80’s memory alive, much in the same way as memorializing the more famous Route 66.
As I got closer to Tucson, former U.S. 80 is overlaid by Interstate 10 for about 10 miles. That was all fine and good, but as soon as I could, I jumped off the interstate and onto Marsh Station Road, which is the former U.S. 80 but without any state route designation. I think it’s maintained by Cochise and Pima Counties, but I’m not sure about that. This section of roadway still very much has its mid 20th century vibe going on, with it being fairly narrow and some of the bridges still boasting the designs of those times. It was nearly midnight by the time I got to this part, but I still felt the need to get a picture.
As I always say, the Interstates are fine and dandy if you have to get somewhere quick, but if you want to actually see something, stick to the U.S., state, and other local routes.
They’re much more fun.
Monument dedicated to the copper miners of Arizona. Work of a local sculptor sponsored by Work Projects Administration. Bisbee, Arizona
Inscription on monument dedicated to the copper miners of Arizona. Bisbee, Arizona
Vice President Kamala Harris is highlighting endorsements from mayors of border towns in swing-state Arizona. The endorsements on Monday come as she looks to blunt the impact of Republican attacks on her handling of illegal border crossings. Harris’ campaign says she was backed by the mayors of Bisbee, Nogales, Somerton, and San Luis, as well as two Yuma County supervisors. It remains to be seen whether the border will become a political liability for Harris as it was for Biden. But Republicans say Harris did not do enough to clamp down on illegal immigration in a role they characterized as “border czar.”
Today in Labor History June 18, 1923: A nationwide General Strike took place in Argentina in protest of the assassination of the anarchist Kurt Wilckens in his prison cell. Two workers were killed in the strike as police tried to raid the offices of the anarchist union FORA.
Wilckens was born in Germany. He moved to the U.S. in the 1910s, where he joined the IWW and was exposed to anarchist ideas. He worked as a copper miner in Arizona and was one of hundreds arrested and expelled from the region during the Bisbee Deportation, July 12, 1917. During the Bisbee strike, authorities sealed off the county and seized the local Western Union telegraph office to cut off outside communication, while several thousand armed vigilantes rounded up 1,186 members of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). The workers were herded into manure-laden boxcars and dumped in the New Mexico desert. After that, Wilckens was arrested for making antiwar statements and deported to Germany in 1920 under the Espionage Act.
However, Wilckens moved to Argentina that same year, at the height of the Libertarian Workers’ Movement. Workers in Patagonia rebelled in 1920-1922 and were violently suppressed by the military, led by Lieutenant Colonel Héctor Benigno Varela. They slaughtered 1,500 workers. While the British landowners cheered Varela with rounds of “He’s a jolly good fellow,” the local prostitutes all shouted “Assassins! Pigs! We won’t go with killers” when any soldiers entered their brothels. Many of the sex workers were jailed for “insulting men in uniform.” To avenge the workers massacred by the military, Wilckens, who was a Tolstoyan pacifist, bombed and shot Varela. At his trial, Wilckens stated that he had shot Varela so that he could never kill again.
Hector Olivera’s film about these events, “La Patagonia Rebelde,” came out in 1974. “Bisbee ‘17,” (1999) by Robert Houston, is a historical novel based on the Bisbee deportations. There was also a really interesting film of the same name that came out in 2018. In the film, the town’s inhabitants reenact the events 100 years later. It also includes interviews with current residents.
#workingclass #LaborHistory #anarchism #IWW #bisbee #deportation #argentina #massacre #prison #sexwork #generalstrike #kurtwilckens #germany #antiwar #espionage #police #books #novel #film #author #writer @bookstadon
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