SE 7th St & Belmont looks like any other intersection but the invisible history that lies there is an important one. The location was once witness to a “free speech fight”, a term used when the free speech of the people is under attack. In July of 1913, the women of the now defunct Oregon Packing Company went on strike to protest low wages and dangerous work environments. Working 12 hour days, the women were forced to work in temperatures of up to 100 degrees, with their bosses sometimes locking the doors to the building with chains. To call attention to the conditions, the Internation Workers of the World organization would march across the Morrison Bridge at rush hour. To get the strike under control, the Mayor of Portland, Henry Albee, declared street speaking illegal, with the exception of religious speech. Mayor Albee was hoping to quell the public speeches being given by the Industrial Workers of the World in support of the strikes. “July 1913 saw bloody street battles as speaker after speaker was dragged from the soapbox, beaten and arrested. The events of that summer are credited with radicalizing two of Portland’s most important political activists: Dr. Marie Equi and Tom Burns.”
