Early in 1892, streetcar conductors in New Orleans won a shorter workday and the preferential closed shop.

[1][2] On October 24, 1892, between 2,000 and 3,000 members of the Triple Alliance struck to win a 10-hour work day, overtime pay, and the preferential union shop.

[3] The New Orleans Board of Trade, representing financial and commercial interests, appointed a committee to make decisions for the employers.

[3] The four main railways that served the city and the large cotton, sugar and rice commodity exchanges pledged their support for the Board of Trade.

[citation needed] Employers utilized race-based appeals to try to divide the workers and turn the public against the strikers.

The newspapers ran lurid accounts of "mobs of brutal Negro strikers" rampaging through the streets, of African American unionists "beating up all who attempted to interfere with them," and repeated accounts of crowds of blacks assaulting lone white men and women.

[1] A number of meetings were held, during which sentiment proved so strong that a majority of the unions belonging to the Amalgamated Council voted in favor of a resolution calling for a general strike.

[citation needed] A tentative agreement collapsed and the Workingman's Council again called for a general strike, which began on November 8 after two postponements.

Recently organized utility workers, against the demands of the governor and the advice of the labor committee,[citation needed] joined the strike.

Violent incidents never occurred, and picket lines were so quiet that the Board of Trade sent men into the streets to try to find evidence of any physical intimidation whatsoever.

[citation needed] The mayor issued a proclamation forbidding public gatherings, essentially declaring martial law.

[citation needed] Although the city was quiet, the Board of Trade convinced the racist Democratic Governor, Murphy J.

[10][8] The strength of the strike was reflected in the decline of bank clearings in New Orleans to half their pre-strike levels.

[10][8] At the time, the 1892 general strike was considered a success, demonstrating that black and white workers could maintain solidarity in the Deep South.

Declared one historian, "The failure of the strikers to win a preferential union shop did not detract from the significance of the struggle.