Come on out! Tomorrow at noon, join with others in our community to recognize and honor a historic event in Garrett County – the 50th anniversary of the Garrett County (Md.) Road Workers Strike of 1970.
Gather at the roads department office on Maryland Highway/Route 135, 2008 Maryland Highway east of Mountain Lake Park, where a roadside marker will be dedicated commemorating the event.
Part of the mission of the NAACP is to work to “ensure the economic equality and rights of all persons”. Tomorrow’s event honors the men and women who worked to secure economic justice for the county’s roads department employees in 1970, culminating in the longest public worker strike in U.S. history.
During the strike, hundreds of union members from Maryland, including African-American AFSCME members from Baltimore, traveled to Oakland to aid the striking workers, bringing with them food and clothing.
In the next county election all three county commissioners who fought the union lost their seats and three new Democratic commissioners were elected.
