Frank Little

Frank Little.  Undated photograph.  Buried in Butte, Montana's Mountain View Cemetery, his grave marker reads, "Slain by capitalist interests for organizing and inspiring his fellow men."  Little was a union organizer and activist.  He pioneered nonviolent resistance tactics and once spent thirty days in jail in Spokane, Washington for reading the Declaration of Independence aloud.  He had arrived in Butte to help organize the copper miners' union and lead the miners' strike against Anaconda Mining Company for better safety conditions and higher wages.  On August 1, 1917 he was lynched and brutally murdered.  An estimated 10,000 workers lined the route of his funeral procession, which was followed by 3,500 more. The funeral remains the largest in Butte history, and his assassination is an unfortunate example of feudal tyranny by private interest.  His life is an example of courageous action and resilience during a period of suppressive social control.