1877
The Readjuster Party is founded, campaigning on working to reduce the grand debts owed by the state of Virginia (Lause 2015). Supported by much of the Virginian working class, the Readjuster Party was one of the first semblances of a specifically working class affiliated political entity post-Civil War (Lause 2015). Investing greatly in education in places where its candidates managed to get elected, it raised funds for both Virginia Tech and Virginia State University, the latter of which was a black institution at the time (Rachleff 1989). Also abolishing the poll tax and public whipping post, the party lost unprecedented electoral holds in 1883, and would fold in 1885 (Lause 2015).

1884
The Knights of Labor come to Richmond
Founded in Philadelphia in 1869, following a slow growth, the Knights of Labor suddenly exploded into a national working class operation (Fink, 2008). In Richmond, it began as a white labor institution, but soon began to incorporate black workers (Fink, 2008). As there were no clear foundational lines concerning racial integration within the organization, the allowance of black workers into the Knights of Labor was a widely debated topic in Virginia (Fink, 2008). The 1886 national convention of the Knights of Labor, in Richmond, would prove vital in determining the role of black workers within the organization, but all progress made for the inclusion of black workers in the Knights of Labor began to dwindle away as the organization saw new leadership in the late 1880s (Gerteis 2007). As the proportion of membership and vital roles within the organization had become so prominently black, in moving to make the Knights of Labor an institution for white workers, white leadership of the organization would prove to handicap their own labor efforts as the tactics used to expel black workers played a large role in dismantling the entire organization (Gerteis 2007). By the mid-1890s, the Knights of Labor played only negligible at best importance in any part of the United States in which they had once held prominence (Rachleff 1989).

1886
The Richmond Typographical Union, allied with the Knights of Labor, unionizes the last remaining non-unionized print office in all of Richmond, and goes on to focus its efforts in Alexandria and Petersburg (Fink 2008).

1890
Following its founding in 1888, the International Association of Machinists is headquartered in Richmond (Lause 2015). Still around today, the organization now goes by the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, is headquartered in Maryland, and has over 500,000 workers within its ranks (Lause 2015).

1933
The National Industrial Recovery Act is passed in congress, granting workers’ rights to organize and participate in collective bargaining, and guarantees protection against discrimination practiced by employers against employees who join unions (Love, 2007). This is a major win for labor efforts across the nation, including within Richmond.

1937
Several hundred striking workers at the Carrington and Michaux tobacco plant in Richmond win eight-hour days, pay increases, and the recognition of their rights to collective bargaining (Love, 2007). This is the beginning of a series of successful black labor movements in Richmond as just a month later, hundreds more black workers at the predominantly female I.N. Vaughan tobacco plant go on strike and win reduced hours as well as increased pay (Love, 2007). Later that year, several hundred more black workers at Tobacco By-Product and Chemical Corporation go on a prolonged strike that results in paid time off, increased wages, reduced hours, and guaranteed overtime pay (Love, 2007).