Planning the Strike

The 1927-1928 Colorado Coal Strike marked an intense period in the state’s labor history. In August of 1927, leaders of the International Workers of the World prepared and submitted a strike petition to the Colorado Industrial Commission (CIC). Officially unveiled at a September 4th meeting, it largely focused on demands for better pay and working conditions. It also laid out the plan for a strike that would begin on October 8th. The petition deliberately omitted anything that referred to the International Workers of the World, also called the IWW or Wobblies, because they were not a legally recognized union in Colorado. Instead, they called themselves the All State Conference of Colorado Coal Miners. However, the CIC realized that they were a front for the IWW and rejected their petition on the grounds that it was submitted by an unrecognized union. This meant that regardless of how closely the Wobblies followed the CIC rules, their petition to strike would always be rejected.¹

Deeming any and all IWW strikes illegal backfired on the CIC; it encouraged previously hesitant workers to participate in the Wobbly strike, and the date was pushed back from October 8th to October 18th in order to properly organize the northern and southern coal fields of Colorado.²

On October 17th, coalminers gathered in Lafayette, Colorado to vote on the strike. So many workers were present that they had to move from a local meeting hall to a baseball field. The workers unanimously voted to strike. Afterwards, a few men from each mine were called to a closed door meeting to begin planning the protests.³ Miners began to walk off the job the very next day, officially beginning the 1927-1928 Coal Strike on October 18th.⁴

Government Response

On October 19th, Thomas Annear, the state industrial commissioner and representative of the CIC, stated that the strike was illegal on the grounds that the picketers had not provided 30 days notice. The petition that they had submitted as the All State Conference of Colorado Coal Miners remained, in his eyes, illegal.⁵

On October 26th, Governor William H. Adams issued his first official statement on the strike:

The government’s immediately hostile response to the strike was just the beginning; tensions would only increase for the duration of the strike, and they would eventually lead to bloodshed in Colorado.

Columbine Mine Keeps Running

Columbine Mine was run by the Rocky Mountain Fuel Company, or RMFC. It was the newest and largest mine run by the company and was surrounded by the company town of Serene. It was also the only large coalmine that remained in operation after the strike began. Picketers were very active at Columbine Mine because it was so close to many other towns, including Lafayette and Erie. It allowed protesters to walk or drive to Columbine while scabs were preparing for work and try to dissuade them from working or convince them to join them in the strike.⁷

Columbine, like other northern Colorado coalmines, operated seasonally. The kind of coal that was rich there could not be stored well, but if it was left out too long it would not burn but could, potentially, spontaneously combust. Normally, coal miners only worked from October to March. The strike coincided with the opportune mining season as well as the time when people needed coal most; they needed it to heat their homes and businesses and provide them with electricity.⁸ The timing of the strike placed more pressure on coal companies, including the RMFC and its lone operating mine at Columbine.

Columbine Mine Workers Negotiate

On October 27th, the workers that had been manning Columbine Mine throughout the strike filed a petition with the CIC to raise their pay and impose better working conditions. The CIC considered this document legal, unlike the petition sent in to get permission for the state-wide strike. This was because the petition was filed separately from the strike by miners that worked while others were protesting. Crucially, the petition, and the miners that filed it, had no affiliation with the unrecognized IWW.⁹

This legal recognition scared mine owners, who believed a CIC decision favoring the miners could encourage strikers to keep pushing for wage increases. Simultaneously, owners feared that a decision against the petition could lead to yet more workers walking off of the job.¹⁰ M. D. Vincent, the Vice-President of the RMFC, penned a response to the petition. He acknowledged that the workers had “causes for just complaint” and stated that the company would be willing to increase wages, however he also claimed that the company was not turning a large profit. He said that if miners considered the difficulties the company faced, it would “consider their complaints, and it will be possible, not all at once, but gradually, to improve the conditions of both miners and operators.”¹¹

Two days after receiving the petition, the CIC announced that the basic wage at the Columbine Mine would be increased from $6.27 to $6.77 per 8 hour day. The decision was to be applicable at all six of the mines owned by RMFC, and many officials hoped it would spark the end of the strike in the northern Colorado coal fields.¹² Many Columbine miners were disappointed with the CIC decision, as they had hoped to earn at least $7.25 per day.¹³ Nonetheless, representatives of the Columbine Mine workers accepted the fifty-cent wage increase on October 30th, and by November 2nd more workers began returning to the job. However, this limited win was not enough to quell the strike in the rest of the state. The IWW encouraged protesters to hold out for the higher wage that they wanted, and the demonstrations continued throughout Colorado.¹⁴

The Strike Continues

During the first two weeks of the strike, meetings, rallies, and parades continued to grow stronger and more impactful throughout Colorado. Many picketers were able to convince scabs to join the strike, impacting coal mine production. On November 4th, as they grew more desperate, Colorado Fuel & Iron, or CF&I, told strikers that they would do anything to protect their property. Up to that point, the company had publicly claimed that production had actually increased during the strike, but the day before they had to lay off half of their steel workers because there was insufficient coal to run the plant. In response to this development, Governor Adams decided to intervene.¹⁵

The Colorado State Strike Police

On November 4th, the same day CF&I laid out their willingness to protect their coal mines, Governor Adams revived the controversial prohibition force used by his predecessor, Governor Clarence Morely. Adams had actually campaigned against the force but brought it back as the state strike police, possibly to avoid calling in the more expensive National Guard.¹⁶ 

The new police force was under the direction of Louis Scherf. He and his men raised tensions with the protesters almost immediately. On November 6th, Scherf and seventeen strike officers arrested seven speakers who were about to address a crowd of protesters in Berwind, Colorado. They beat the speakers and, despite being under orders not to open fire, were all armed with pistols. That same day, roughly one thousand strikers gathered in Lafayette for a rally; two hundred of them then marched into Columbine Mine.¹⁷

On November 7th, Adams further expanded the strike police and sent them to the southern fields. When three thousand people rallied at a monument to the Ludlow Massacre, a 1914 slaughter of coal strikers, four airplanes controlled by the strike police flew overhead. One of them was armed with bombs. Meanwhile, in the north, protesters blocked the road leading to Serene and for the first time were able to halt production at Columbine Mine.¹⁸

Tensions at Columbine Mine

On November 8th, a large parade marched through Serene and the Columbine camp. County sheriffs tried and failed to arrest some protesters, who were defended by swarms of picketers that prevented police from getting close enough to arrest their targets. The picketers also convinced some scabs to join their movement, and the number of people working at the Columbine Mine fell to just 75.¹⁹

The arrests the strike police made in the southern fields may have angered and motivated protesters, as roughly one thousand men, women, and children all demonstrated at Columbine Mine at 4 o’clock on the morning of November 12. Another mass rally was held on November 14th. When it marched through Columbine, Weld County sheriffs were once again unable to arrest anyone due to the sheer size of the crowd. That seems to have been a turning point, as strike policemen then told newspaper reporters that the state strike police officers were going to begin enforcing the law in Weld County.²⁰

Columbine Mine closed for fortification on November 15th. Governor Adams sent twelve strike police officers to the northern coal mine, and when it reopened the next day, it was guarded by thirty-fix armed men and two machine guns. Notably, the state legislature only allocated $18,600 for emergency state police funding. Since November 4th, $16,000 of that money had been spent. By November 17th, only a few hundred dollars remained.²¹ It was crucial for Adams to end the strike before the funding for the state police ran out.

The Columbine Mine Massacre

As the sun rose on November 21st, roughly 500 people arrived to parade through Columbine and Serene as they had for the past few weeks. For the first time, however, they found the gates locked. They were met with local sheriffs, RMFC officials, and at least twenty armed state police. Louis Scherf was among the strike police, and he told the crowd they would not be allowed to protest that day. They insisted on their right to march through the company town, and Scherf demanded to talk to their leaders. The strikers responded by saying they were all leaders.²²

The stories of what happened next conflict. Scherf testified that the crowd stormed through the gate unprovoked and attacked the police with knives and rocks. He claimed he gave them verbal warnings to stop, then fired an ineffective warning shot. Left with no other options, he gave his men the order to fire into the crowd.²³

The protesters that witnessed the massacre were not called to testify but showed up at the Weld County Coroner’s office regardless, insisting on telling their story. They argued that after telling Scherf they were all leaders, he began yelling and threatening them. One of the protesters, Adam Bell, began to argue with one of the police officers, and both men tried to climb the fence. Picketers testified that Bell was pulled over the fence by the policeman and beaten. They claimed that they had no choice but to push the fence down in order to save Bell. They stated that, per strike instructions, they carried no weapons with them. However, they admitted to fighting back when the police began to attack them. In the midst of the violence, the police knocked down the picketing flag bearer and trampled the American flag. One eyewitness claimed a woman named Elizabeth Veranek tried to shield the flag with her own body, after which it was picked up and someone tried to continue marching with it.²⁴

It did not take long for shots to be fired, and World War I veterans that participated in the protests testified that the bullets came so fast that they had to have come from machine guns. People began to flee from the mine and soon returned with cars draped in white flags in order to collect the injured.²⁵

Two men, John Eastenes and Nick Spanandakis, were killed immediately. Jerry Davis, Rene Jacques, and George Kovovitch, died by sunset. Although doctors amputated both of his legs in an attempt to save his life, Mike Vidovich died of gangrene by the end of the week. He was the last to die as a result of the Columbine Massacre.²⁶

Aftermath of the Massacre

In spite of the testimony protesters gave, the County Coroner ultimately ruled that the strikers that had been killed were “assembled and invading the mine property after having been properly and legally warned not to enter,” meaning that the deaths were “not felonious.” ²⁷ No one would be charged for any of the six deaths. Following the Massacre, the IWW largely lost control over the strikes, as many protesters refused to risk their lives.²⁸

The day after the Massacre, Governor Adams ordered 325 men to occupy the area surrounding the mine and declared martial law in the northern fields. He also decided to finally mobilize the National Guard, however he never sent them to the Columbine Mine. Instead, they remained in Denver, ninety miles north east of the site of the Massacre. Despite his activation of the Guard, Adams still trusted the state police, allowing them to deal with any unrest for the remainder of the strike.²⁹ As a result of the martial law in the northern fields, the largest protests shifted to the south. There, demonstrators were often arrested or attacked by the strike police. This went on for for the remainder of the strike, until workers finally voted to end it at a meeting near Walsenburg on February 19th, 1928.³⁰

Significance

Governmental Anti-Reform Sentiment

The Columbine Mine Massacre demonstrates the strong push against reform in the 1920s. Part of this was caused by “the political and economic climate that strangled union and worker initiative.”³¹ Indeed, the Colorado state government’s direct involvement in suppressing the strikes was an effort to protect the interests of large corporations. By refusing to legally recognize the strikes, arresting IWW leaders and protesters, and of course firing upon demonstrators at Columbine Mine, the Colorado government demonstrated its willingness to intervene on behalf of coal companies at the expense of workers. The government’s defense of its actions also demonstrates its anti-labor stance, as Governor Adams blamed victims of the shooting by claiming that Scherf had only “ordered his men to fire only when it appeared that his own life and those of his deputies where in jeopardy.” ³²

Public Anti-Reform Sentiment

The public reaction to the Massacre also demonstrates America’s hostility towards the reform movement in the 1920s. During the First Red Scare, when the workers’ rights movement was tainted with the threat of communism, most Americans were afraid of or unsympathetic towards workers and unions. ³³ Newspaper articles from the wake of the Massacre show the animosity many people held towards striking works. For example, one headline refers to the protesters as a mob and writes that the strike officers were “protecting the Columbine Mine.” ³⁴ The antagonistic manner in which the strikers are discussed, combined with the heroic characterization of the state strike police, exhibits the strong anti-reform sentiment seen during the 1920s. Recognizing the push against reform allows for a deeper understanding of what led to the 1927 Columbine Mine Massacre.

Citations

Bibliography

• “1,000 Coal Miners Are Affected by Columbine Award.” Rocky Mountain News. (Denver, CO), October 29, 1927. Accessed May 5, 2026. https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=RMD19271029-01. 
• “2 Miners Die, 3 Hurt As Police Fire on Mob.” Brooklyn Daily Times. (New York, NY), November 21, 1927.
• “Campbell-Hale, Leigh. Remembering Ludlow but Forgetting the Columbine: The 1927-1928 Colorado Coal Strike. Boulder, CO: University Press of Colorado, 2023.
• “Columbine Miners Not Satisfied with Wage Increase Given Them.” Daily Times. (Longmont, CO), October 29, 1927. Accessed May 5, 2026. https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=TDT19271029-01. 
• “Company Makes Reply to Columbine Miners.” Daily Times. (Longmount, CO), October 28, 1927. https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=TDT19271028-01. 
• “Coroner’s Jury Blames Strikers for Deaths Columbine Mine Battle.” Fort Collins Coloradoan. (Fort Collins, CO), November 25, 1927.
• Dumenil, Lynn. The Modern Temper: American Culture and Society in the 1920s. New York: Hill and Wang. 1995.
• “Four Strikers Killed in Riot in Coal Fields.” Buffalo Evening News. (Buffalo, NY), November 21, 1927. 
• “Gov. Adams Meets Striking Miners Not Affiliated With the I. W. W.” Boulder Daily Camera. (Boulder, CO), October 27, 1927. Accessed May 5, 2026. https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=BDC19271027-01. 
• “Industrial Commission Investigates Demand of Weld County Miners.” Daily Times. (Longmont, CO), October 27, 1927. Accessed May 5, 2026. https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=TDT19271027-01.
• “Miners In North Field Accept Pay Increase.” Rocky Mountain News, (Denver, CO), October 30, 1927. Accessed May 5, 2026. https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=RMD19271030-01. 
• “Miners Returning to Work at Columbine Mine, Force Gains 60 Since First Day of Strike.” Longmont Daily Call. (Longmont, CO), November 2, 1927. Accessed May 5, 2026. https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=LDC19271102-01. 
• “Thousands of Colorado Coal Miners Strike Under Orders of I. W. W.” Boulder Daily Camera. (Boulder, CO), October 18, 1927. Accessed May 5, 2026. https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=BDC19271018-01.2.9.

Suggested Resources

• “Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection.” Colorado State Library. Accessed May 5, 2026. https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=p&p=home&e=——-en-20–1-byDA-img-txIN%7CtxCO%7CtxTA-columbine+mine——-0——.
• “Columbine Mine Incident Collection.” University of Colorado Boulder Libraries, Rare and Distinctive Collections, https://archives.colorado.edu/repositories/2/resources/518.
• Kerwin, Hugh L. “Industrial Disputes: Strikes and Lockouts in the United States in November, 1927.” Monthly Labor Review 26, no. 1, (1928): 111-120, https://www.jstor.org/stable/41860658.

Grace Martinez

Grace Martinez is a Ramapo college history major with a minor in museum & exhibition studies.

www.linkedin.com/in/%20grace-martinezz

The aftermath of the strikes also reflects the anti-reform sentiment of the time. Dumenil argues that part of the reason for this aggression was “the political and economic climate that strangled union and worker initiative. The considerable power of corporations…gave employers a sympathetic government and public.” ⁴ The state’s involvement in suppressing the strike clearly demonstrates its partnership with corporate powers. The two were so entwined that the government was willing to intervene in order to protect the interests of large companies. Furthermore, Colorado Governor William H. Adams later said that the state police chief had “ordered his men to fire only when it appeared that his own life and those of his deputies where in jeopardy.” ⁵ This demonstrates the anti-labor stance taken up by the government during this time.

Additionally, the lack of any convictions for the killings shows how the public responded to the Massacre. Just four days after the shooting, a coroner’s jury in Colorado ruled that the strikers that were killed had been “assembled and invading the mine property after having been properly and legally warned not to enter,” meaning that the deaths were “not felonious.” ⁶ The verdict of this jury, which was made up of regular Colorado citizens, was a demonstration of how public opinion had turned against labor power in the 1920s. These anti-reform beliefs are also evident in newspaper articles published in the wake of the Massacre. One of these, written and distributed by the United Press, characterized the strike as an attack on police that were “protecting the Columbine Mine.” ⁷ This negative depiction of the strikers and the heroic terms used to describe the police exhibit the widespread anti-labor beliefs discussed by Dumenil.

The 1920s were a time of strong anti-reform sentiment in America. Included in these beliefs were suspicion of and hostility towards unions and pro-labor movements. The Columbine Mine Massacre is one example of a violent reaction to worker strikes. It demonstrates how state governments stepped in to protect large companies and their capital, and also shows the strong anti-labor beliefs held by individual politicians. Additionally, the Massacre’s aftermath, including the lack of a conviction for the killing and the response in the press, illustrates the anti-reform attitude that had taken hold in much of the American populace. Overall, analyzing the Columbine Mine Massacre itself as well as the public and governmental responses to it allows for a deeper understanding of anti-labor beliefs in the 1920s.

Grace Martinez

Grace Martinez is a Ramapo college history major with a minor in museum & exhibition studies.

www.linkedin.com/in/%20grace-martinezz

Discovery of Radium

Radium, the 88th element on the periodic table, was discovered by Marie and Paul Curie in 1898. The couple noticed that their samples glowed blue in dark or limited light, due to the element’s radioactivity, which sparked a broader interest in the element. From the start of the discovery of radium, there was an interest in the luminescence of the chemical, but there was also a concern over the health and safety of people interacting with the element on a daily basis. Strict limits were almost immediately put in place for scientists and doctors who interacted with radioactive substances on a daily basis, but the same protections were not put in place for factory workers such as the radium girls. Marie Curie herself said that she was “surprised that the U.S. Government would permit the handling of such dangerous substances as radium in such a careless manner.” ¹ She even claimed that the ingesting of radium in the way that dial painters did was “criminal.”

Despite Marie and many other health professionals’ knowledge of the dangers of repeated exposure to radium, it was very quickly advertised to the public as “a wondrous and powerful element: a cure for cancer, and a source of beauty and vitality.”² Radium was advertised for any issue beauty or health related. Starting in the 1920s, working with radium was seen as a respectable, covetable job by many women looking to work outside the home, even though the dangers were already known to many scientists. 

United States Radium Corporation

The establishment of the United States Radium Corporation (USRC) factory in Orange, New Jersey in 1917 increased daily interaction with radium, specifically in groups of young girls aged 15-30. At the factory, girls were employed and paid approximately a penny and a half per watch dial that they completed. In an effort to make dials quicker and earn a higher daily wage, girls were instructed to do the “lip, dip, paint” technique to make the paint brushes have a finer tip, which in turn would make the lines on the watch dial more precise. By doing this, they could produce more watches per day. But, this also meant that they were ingesting more radium on a daily basis, as they pointed the tips of the paintbrushes in between their lips between every few dials they made.

During the height of World War I, the factory reached its peak production as watches were sent overseas to help men see the time in darkness. Over 300 girls were employed and painting watch dials during that time, and by 1924, approximately 50 had died and their deaths were attributed to radium-related ailments. While USRC did not take responsibility for the deaths yet, women who had been healthy five years prior contracted extreme diseases, like radium necrosis, also known as “radium jaw,” (as seen in the picture on the right) loose teeth, mouth ulcers, severe anemia, bone shrinkage and fractures. One of the sisters of the five girls who went on trial, Molly Maggia, died in 1922, and her death was attributed to syphilis, like many of the other radium girls dying in the early 20s. Dr. Martland, a New Jersey investigative surgeon, later attributed her death to radium poisoning, as he was studying the deaths of other radium girls.

Many of the girls who died in the early years before the trial had their reputations tarnished with accusations of syphilis, and they did not receive proper respect or diagnoses until years after they died. Similar to this is the case of Miss Eckert, a radium girl whose death was attributed to “shock from operation” and later re-diagnosed as radium poisoning. As the radium girl’s trial began, an autopsy was performed, which “showed that she was so full of radium that her bones fairly glistened in the dark.”³ Before the official start of the trial, and even as the girls were awaiting their decisions from the jury as the USRC continued to ask for a continuance, they continued to get sicker. In a sad interview with the Courier-Post, Quinta Maggia McDonald, sister of the now deceased Mollie Maggia, laments: “No, I no longer have any hope. I face the inevitable unflinchingly. What else can I do? I don’t know when I will die.” ⁴The map below details just a few key points in the history of Radium, from its discovery, to the deaths of many girls involved in the trial.

Five Girls and Their Fight for Justice

In January 1928, Grace Fryer, Edna Hussman, Katherine Schaub, Quinta Maggia Mcdonald and Albina Maggia Larice began their lawsuit against the USRC. Grace, the leader of the five girls suing USRC, tried to find a lawyer for many years before the trial officially began, as she noticed the frequent and irregular deaths of her friends and coworkers. She wanted to sue for compensation of medical bills, business malpractice and misinformation for the hazards of radium that they were ingesting daily. But, because of the strength and influence of the USRC, it took Grace over 2 years to find a lawyer willing to represent the girls. By the time that they found Raymond Berry, an attorney willing to take on the case, two of the girls were bedridden, and none of them could even raise their hands to take an oath. All of the girls already knew they were dying, like Edna Hussman admits in her interview with the Evening Courier, and they just wanted to win “because with the money us girls could have some of the comforts and joys of life before we go” rather than struggling to pay their increasing hospital bills.⁵ So the trial was less about getting the girls justice – they already knew they were doomed – and more about holding the USRC financially responsible for them, and potentially for future illnesses as well.

One of the biggest struggles of the radium girls trial was obviously ensuring that the USRC admitted their knowledge of the dangers of radium, and took responsibility for the death and illnesses of dial painters. One of the other more practical struggles of the trial was ensuring the girls could even attend. As they were all sick and dying, they needed many doctors appointments which took precedence during their days. Additionally, the USRC kept asking for a continuance, and trying to force the trial back, in hopes that the girls would just die, and the trial would die down. While many people argued that a trial or settlement needed to occur quickly before the girl’s deaths, the date kept being pushed back. Finally, evidence was pulled from a  judgement of medical statistics by Dr. Frederick Hoffman done in 1925 showed that out of the 12 dying dial painters studied, 10 of them had necrotic lesions on the jaw bones directly connected to radium intake.⁶ USRC, unable to deny the obvious radiation poisoning of the girls who ingested radium, offered a settlement. The girls decided not to proceed with the trial, and to take the money.  

The USRC offered the girls each $10,000 as well as $600 per year, for the rest of their lives, however short those were. They also agreed to pay the full medical and dental bills of the girls, which laid the precedent for the case of the Radium Girls from the Ottawa, Illinois plant in 1937. Even though the girls won their case, they were not the winners in the end, as they died before they, often poor, severely sick, and just ‘awaiting the inevitable.’ Many people saw these girls’ deaths as a repercussion for them working outside of the home. An Evening Courier article says that the girls’ struggle for representation and for payout from the trial was “just one more little illustration of some of the cons of this “career outside of the home” business.” ⁷ Even on their deathbeds, the girls were being criticized for working outside of the home, and this article makes it seem as if they had just stayed home, they would never have gotten radium poisoning in the first place. This trial brought to light just a few of the misogynistic ideals girls faced in the 1920s, whether it was their struggle to find a job in the first place, their struggle to find a lawyer, or the criticism that if they had not taken this job, they would not be dying of radium poisoning in the first place.

Significance — The 1920’s and Beyond

New Women in the 1920’s

The Radium Girls connection to other radium based deaths like those in Ottawa were not the only important aspect of their case. They also related to many broader cultural themes of the 1920s, like the New Woman. The New Woman was an idealized woman in the 1920s who worked outside of the house, typically only until she had a husband, at which point she would be expected to give up her job. The most widely depicted new women were middle class white women, who worked in “feminized” jobs, like dial painting, education, secretary work, or retail. The Radium Girls, with their non-unionized work, “feminized” pay, and gendered job opportunity are a prime example of the New Woman that became so popular in the 1920s.

As Radium grew into an important part of the consumer culture of the 1920s, it was a desirable job for women to work with the new glowing substance. As seen in the advertisement on the right, Radium was originally advertised as a panacea for any beauty or health issue: health tonics, tooth paste, hair creams and many more items fell victim to the radium craze. Radium girls would frequently use the radium to paint their nails or other parts of their body in order to create a glow in the dark look. These women were not informed of the negative effects of Radium, even though many officials in the company already knew about the effects by the time that Radium was being widely consumed. But due to US Radium Company’s greed and want for success in the growing consumerism market, specifically dominated by the “new women” who now had “pin money” from their jobs, they continued to push the poisonous radium on the public.

Consumerism was another growing issue from the 1920s specifically as women had more money to spend, they wanted to follow the trends of higher-status women, thus leading to a growing consumerist market that focused more on advertising to a larger audience of women. While the New Woman was dominated by middle and upper class women who had the freedom to do what she wanted, lower class women aspired to be like them and follow the trends they laid out. So, when women like the one in the advertisement said that they used radium for their hair or nails, lower class women purchase more radium based beauty products in order to follow the culture outlined by other women.

In the end, despite the appearance of a “better work” and “better life” for the Radium Girls, they ended up suffering just as much as the minority women who worked in brutal factory jobs and “encountered harsh conditions and discrimination” for low pay.⁸ These women were continuously ingesting Radium in small doses, and over the years, ended up dying tragic and often gruesome deaths due to radium poisoning. Despite their tragic deaths, the Radium Girls, like other New Women, had a lasting effect on consumer culture in the 1920s, and on women’s rights in general. 

Overall, the Radium Girls were a real life example of the 1920s idea of a “New Woman.” They worked outside of the home, in a feminized field, and received a ‘woman’s pay.’ They spent the majority of the money they earned in the budding consumerist market, and they even used the radium to decorate their bodies in order to appear more good looking or intriguing. At the end of the day, working as a radium girl gave the girls “an individual public existence, a public identity of her own, and a sense of her own worth.”⁹ Even though they all died from their exposure and ingestion of radium, they became a household name—especially in New Jersey. 

Worker’s Protections

The radium girls connect to so many different lasting themes of the 1920s, like consumer culture and women’s rights, but also worker’s health and safety regulations. Although the Occupational Safety and Health Administration was not made for another 50 years after the Radium Girls trial, they did have an effect on women workers rights. Women were typically not protected by the workers rights unions of the times, as unions did not extend membership to women workers in factories. For women who did not work in factories, typical women’s jobs, such as dial painting, secretarial work, or teachers, were not yet unionized. 

For instance, there were many safeguards for medical professionals working with radiation as early as 1903, long before the US Radium Corporation built their New Jersey factory.¹⁰ While there had been minor cases of radiation burns or poisoning in the early 20th century, more serious examples of burns from exposure to X-rays and radiation in doctors were found, reported, and handled by 1911.¹¹ In response to this health risk to medical professionals, there were increased health and safety regulations for physicians and medical professionals. In order to protect the professionals from the harmful effects of radiation, medical professionals had a strict limited exposure to X-rays and protection via medical shielding when handling radioactive substances. These medical professionals, after a few deaths in the early 20th century, were now effectively protected in order to limit future radiation-based illnesses.

While the harmful effects of radium were known and protected in doctors, women working in dial painting did not have the same protections while they worked with radium. For example, after the Radium Girls court case, “the New Jersey workers’ compensation laws were changed slightly, but not enough to help those who developed cancer and became disabled many years after their exposure.”¹² While there were many issues brought up after their death, like this article written by the The Courier News which charges US Radium with murder of the girls, very few actual changes were made in the direct years after the trial.¹³  It was only after the deaths of many girls that doctors like Dr. Martland or Dr. Hoffman attributed their deaths to radium. The protections laid out for women working in radium were often bare bones, and usually did not financially support the women in the years after their employment for the illnesses they contracted.  

It was not until the 1950s, when working on the Manhattan Project, that the radium girls got their justice and finally created protections for people working with radium. Through a study of the dead and alive radium girls during the 1950s, doctors established “the level of radioactivity associated with cancer and other changes in the skeleton and soft tissues.¹⁴ When realizing that the girls still had radioactive substances present in their bodies as long as ten, twenty, or thirty years after their death, the girls played a key part in establishing “maximum permissible standards for all workers exposed to radiation.”¹⁵ People argued, in some cases thirty years after the girls had died, that their increased exposure and consumption to radium was not only inhumane, but was also the cause for their extreme diseases and sicknesses. So, even though the radium girls did not get the justice they deserved in their lifetime, the study of their bodies and their illnesses in the 1950s established the expectations for radiation exposure.

Conclusion

Overall, the story of the radium girls is a tragic tale of a group of women who, in a struggle for freedom, self-sufficiency, and success in the 1920s, ended up dying gruesome deaths. These women left their home in an effort to make money in a recently “womanized” field painting watch dials. These watch dials were often painted with radium, in order to make them glow in the dark, so they could be more useful to men off at war in the dark or at night. Dial painters were instructed to “lip, dip, paint” for a finer line on the watches they painted, even though the negative health effects of radium were already known. The girls struggled to get legal representation or medical protections when they realized the harmful effects of radium on their bodies, and many of them died with their names tainted by accusations of syphilis.

The effects of the radium girls trial connect to broader trends of the 1920s, and beyond. While they related to the “new woman,” they also showcased how the lives of these working women often weren’t as free or as glamorous as the idealized perception of them was. They worked in poor conditions, for an unequal pay to male counterparts, and in the case of the radium girls, they died with their reputations tainted and in gruesome or painful ways. The consumption and advertisement of radium despite the known negative effects of the substance shows the poor morals of maybe people who just wanted to profit off of the easily consumable glowing substance. Finally, even though it was years after their trial occurred, the radium girls’ suffering helped regulate radiation exposure and bring awareness to women’s rights in the workplace. The radium girls, even though they struggled significantly during their lives, are remembered and given the attention they deserve in their death as they are credited with bringing to the public eye the harmful effects of radium.

Suggested Further Reading

Coursey, Bert M. “The National Bureau of Standards and the Radium Dial Painters.” Journal of Research of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, 14 Feb. 2022, nvlpubs.nist.gov/nistpubs/jres/126/jres.126.051.pdf. 

Warren, Christian. “Toxic Purity: The Progressive Era Origins of America’s Lead Paint Poisoning Epidemic.” The Business History Review 73, no. 4 (1999): 705–36. https://doi.org/10.2307/3116131.

Bibliography

“Amelia Malia ‘Mollie’ Maggia (1896-1922).” Find a Grave, www.findagrave.com/memorial/99916653/amelia_malia-maggia. Accessed 12 Mar. 2025. 

Balkansky, Arlene. “Radium Girls: Living Dead Women: Headlines & Heroes.” The Library of Congress, March 19, 2019. Accessed February 18, 2025. https://blogs.loc.gov/headlinesandheroes/2019/03/radium-girls-living-dead-women/. 

Cowen, Ron. “New Jersey’s ‘Radium Girls’ and the NIST-Trained Scientist Who Came to Their Aid.” NIST, Ron Cowen, 24 Jan. 2025, www.nist.gov/blogs/taking-measure/new-jerseys-radium-girls-and-nist-trained-scientist-who-came-their-aid. 

Dumenil, Lynn. The Modern Temper: American Culture and Society in the 1920s. United States: Hill and Wang, 2024. 

Elgert, Patrick. “Radium: A Medical Treatment of the Early 20th Century.” Historical Medical Library. Accessed February 18, 2025. https://histmed.collegeofphysicians.org/for-students/radium/. 

Fry, Shirley A. “Studies of U.S. Radium Dial Workers: An Epidemiological Classic.” Radiation Research 150, no. 5 (1998), S23. https://doi.org/10.2307/3579805.

“Government Moves To Protect Women in Radium Work” The Courier News, (Bridgewater, NJ), December 24, 1928, p. 15.

Hunt, Vilma R. “A Brief History of Women Workers and Hazards in the Workplace.” Feminist Studies 5, no. 2 (1979). https://doi.org/10.2307/3177594.

Moore, Kate. The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America’s Shining Women. Naperville, ILL: Sourcebooks, Inc, 2016.

“Once Beautiful Blonde Aged By Radium Poison: Edna Hussman, DOOMED” Evening Courier, (Camden, NJ), May 23, 1928.

“Radium Victim’s Bones Glistened Says Physician” The Bayonne Times, (Bayonne, NJ), May 25, 1928, p. 2. 

“Radium Victim Tells How She Awaits Doom” Courier-Post, (Camden, NJ), May 22, 1928, p. 2. 

“Try ‘n Get It” Evening Courier, (Camden, NJ), May 3, 1928, p. 8. 

1. Vilma R. Hunt. “A Brief History of Women Workers and Hazards in the Workplace.” Feminist Studies 5, no. 2 (1979), 281. ︎
2. Arlene Balkansky. “Radium Girls: Living Dead Women: Headlines & Heroes.” The Library of Congress, March 19, 2019. Accessed February 18, 2025.
   
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3. “Radium Victim’s Bones Glistened Says Physician” The Bayonne Times, (Bayonne, NJ), May  25, 1928, p. 2.
   
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4. “Radium Victim Tells How She Awaits Doom” Courier-Post, (Camden, NJ), May 22, 1928, p. 2. 
   
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5. “Once Beautiful Blonde Aged By Radium Poison: Edna Hussman, DOOMED” Evening Courier, (Camden, NJ), May 23, 1928.
   
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6. Shirley A. Fry “Studies of U.S. Radium Dial Workers: An Epidemiological Classic.” Radiation Research 150, no. 5 (1998), S23.
   
   ︎
7. “Try ‘n Get It” Evening Courier, (Camden, NJ), May 3, 1928, p. 8. 
   
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8. Lynn Dumenil. The Modern Temper: American Culture and Society in the 1920s. United States: Hill and Wang, 2024, 117. 
   
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9. Dumenil, 126. ︎
10. Hunt, 280. ︎
11. Hunt, 280. ︎
12. Hunt, 281. ︎
13. “Government Moves To Protect Women in Radium Work” The Courier News, (Bridgewater, NJ), December 24, 1928, p. 15.
    
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14. Hunt, 282. ︎
15. Hunt, 282. ︎

hannahsteinlauf

Hannah Steinlauf is a senior history major with a minor in museum and exhibition studies at Ramapo College. She is a student research aide for the Jane Addams Papers Project. She is a member of the Ramapo College Dance Company and Tri Sigma. Hannah is going to attend Trinity College Dublin for a masters degree in Public History after graduation.