What did the homestead show?

The Homestead Strike or the Homestead Steel Strike of 1892 was a major conflict in American history that occurred in Homestead, Pennsylvania, just outside Pittsburgh. The 141-day strike was a violent confrontation between the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers (AA) and the Carnegie Steel Company, primarily owned by industrialist Henry Frick, over control of the Homestead Steel Works, the largest steel mill in the world at the time. The strike ended in a victory for the company and a defeat for the union, effectively crippling unionism within the steel industry for decades.

The unionized workers at Homestead refused to accept a 22% wage reduction and resisted the company's attempt to replace them with non-union workers. The company responded by hiring 300 Pinkerton detectives to guard the steel mill and forcibly remove any workers who resisted. On the morning of July 6, 1892, the Pinkerton detectives arrived on barges at the Homestead Works and tried to land, but were met by armed union members and townspeople who began firing on them. The resulting battle, known as the Battle of Homestead, lasted for several hours and left seven Pinkerton detectives and two union members dead.

The state of Pennsylvania sent in the National Guard to restore order, and the strike ended on November 20, 1892, when the union agreed to accept the wage reduction and the company's right to hire non-union workers. The strike became a symbol of the conflict between labor and management during the late 19th century and the struggle of workers' rights.