The Chicago Haymarket Affair

This history and guide presents the significant sites and events of the Haymarket Square riot, a major turning point in the fight for workers’ rights. On May 4th, 1886, a bomb exploded during a labor demonstration near Haymarket Square in Chicago. The ensuing gunfire and chaos brought a grisly end to what began as peaceful support for an eight-hour workday. With both officers and civilians dead, newspapers proclaimed an anarchist conspiracy. The investigation led to the trial and execution of ra