Its the year 1910; the Industrial Revolution is in full swing, the empires of Europe are at their height, and the twentieth century is shaping up to be very eventful. In the cities of the United States you’ll find everyday people, from the young to the old out working to support themselves or their families, praying and hoping that today is another day they can escape injury.

The world of the early twentieth century was a time of change in more ways than one. What began in the mid 1800s had grown into a global movement for workers rights. The conditions of factories and mines often left people with damaged lungs or missing pieces, and it was a constant uphill struggle over years to see simply minor gains in workplace safety.

As a worker I would be concerned whether or not I can fired on the spot simply because the boss is looking to exploit migrants for less pay, or potentially getting the snot beaten out of me for simply forming a union to protect me and my compatriots from abusive bosses. I’d live in fear of being asked repair a machine that with one stroke of its internal mechanisms could sever my arm or leg. Yet in the midst of this fear my colleagues and I have been given reason to hope. The previous president Teddy Roosevelt managed to stand up to some of the most powerful men in the nation, nay the world, and bring them to heel or forced them to compromise. If there are even a hundred people such as him in positions of power throughout our vast nation, then surely we the workers can, through dogged persistence, win.