Conclusion
Throughout the 19th century, the United States saw a rapid influx of Eastern European immigrants. This created turmoil within the established White Anglo-Saxon Protestant (WASP) population that had emigrated from Western Europe over the previous four centuries. Consequently, the established WASP population increased discriminatory practices. An ethnic clash was particularly prevalent in the anthracite fields of Northeastern Pennsylvania. On September 10, 1897 the decades-long conflict reached its breaking point when Sheriff James Martin and a posse of quickly deputized men fired on a group of striking immigrant coal miners, killing 19 and wounding many more. The killings brought to light the travesties that were being imposed on the immigrant population, most of whom were simply seeking the American dream. During the following months, approximately 15,000 miners of varying ethnic descent joined the newly formed United Mine Workers of America, creating what would be one of the strongest labor unions in the twentieth century. In the years following the massacre, it became evident that the miners killed did not die in vain; they helped to ensure those that followed would not experience the same discrimination.