Amelia "Mildred" Milka Sablich (born 11 Jun 1908 in
Trinidad
Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands of Trinidad and Tobago. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is often referred to as the southernmos ...
,
Colorado
Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...
, died October 7, 1994, in
Helper, Utah
Helper is a city in Carbon County, Utah, United States, approximately southeast of Salt Lake City and northwest of the city of Price. The population was 2,201 at the 2010 census.
The city is located along the Price River and U.S. Route 6/U.S ...
) also known as Flaming Milka, was 19 years old when she became a leader in the 1927
coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen.
Coal is formed when dea ...
strike
Strike may refer to:
People
*Strike (surname)
Physical confrontation or removal
*Strike (attack), attack with an inanimate object or a part of the human body intended to cause harm
*Airstrike, military strike by air forces on either a suspected ...
in that state. Her family emigrated to Trinidad from
Volosko
Volosko (Italian: ''Volosco, Volosca'') is a part of the city of Opatija, located in the Kvarner Gulf in western Croatia. It is located in the north of Opatija, on the road towards Kastav and Rijeka. The toponym ''Volosko'' drives from the nam ...
, Croatia, (then part of the
Austro-Hungarian Empire
Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...
) in 1907. Her father, Anton Sablich, worked as a coal miner in Colorado.
Life
Sablich became a familiar personality throughout the United States during the months of November and December 1927. The strike in Colorado was conducted by the
Industrial Workers of the World
The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), members of which are commonly termed "Wobblies", is an international labor union that was founded in Chicago in 1905. The origin of the nickname "Wobblies" is uncertain. IWW ideology combines genera ...
; she took an active part in it, speaking out for the cause of the miners. She wore bright red and engaged in physical fights with men (including a mine guard). Her older sister, Santa Benash, was also heavily involved in the strike.
Union organizers were locked up and/or
deported
Deportation is the expulsion of a person or group of people from a place or country. The term ''expulsion'' is often used as a synonym for deportation, though expulsion is more often used in the context of international law, while deportation ...
whenever they could be identified; thus Sablich and other women took over the responsibility for organizing the strike.
Milka spent approximately five weeks in jail spread over at least two occasions. According to the ''Denver Morning Post'', at one point Milka was offered her freedom if she promised not to attend any more meetings of the strikers. She refused to accept such a requirement, and she was kept in jail.
The 1927 coal strike in Colorado is best remembered as the strike in which the "
first Columbine Massacre" occurred.
After the massacre and Milka's release, she toured the country giving speeches to raise money for the miners. When the strike was concluded, she enrolled in
Work People's College
Work People's College ( fi, Työväen Opisto) was a radical labor college (a type of a folk high school governed by the worker's movement) established in Smithville (Duluth), then a suburb of Duluth, Minnesota, in 1907 by the Finnish Socialist Fed ...
in
Duluth, Minnesota
, settlement_type = City
, nicknames = Twin Ports (with Superior), Zenith City
, motto =
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top: urban Duluth skyline; Minnesota ...
.
See also
*
Anti-union violence
Anti-union violence is physical force intended to harm union officials, union organizers, union members, union sympathizers, or their families. It is most commonly used either during union organizing efforts, or during strikes. The aim most often ...
References
* "Girl Injured by Mine Guard in Rioting". ''Waukesha Freeman''. October 28, 1927.
* Flaming' Milka, Girl Strike Leader, Enters Duluth School". ''
Duluth News-Tribune
The ''Duluth News Tribune'' (known locally as ''The Tribune'' or ''DNT'') is a newspaper based in Duluth, Minnesota. While circulation is heaviest in the Twin Ports metropolitan area, delivery extends into northeastern Minnesota, northwestern Wisc ...
'' February 22, 1928.
"1907 Immigration Record for Sablich Family" from Ellis Island ship manifests.
External links
Rebel Graphics.
Rebel Graphics.
''
Time
Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...
'' magazine, December 5, 1927.
Further reading
* ''Slaughter in Serene: the Columbine Coal Strike Reader'' by Eric Margolis, Joanna Sampson, Phil Goodstein, and Richard Myers (Published by the Industrial Workers of the World)
* ''Break Their Haughty Power, Joe Murphy in the Heyday of the Wobblies'' a non-fiction novel by Eugene Nelson, chapters 33-34 (Published (c) 1993 by "ism press, inc")
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sablich, Amelia
1908 births
1994 deaths
People from Trinidad, Colorado
Industrial Workers of the World members
American people of Croatian descent