Randa Abdel-Fattah

This is America in Pursuit, a limited-run series from ThruLine and NPR.

I'm Randa Abdel-Fattah.

Each week, we bring you stories about life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness in the U.S.

that began 250 years ago.

In the U.S.

in the mid-1800s, rapid industrialization was transforming cities across the U.S.

and as businesses were getting bigger and bigger.

People were struggling all across the United States.

In Indiana, a teenager watched his father get caught up in this system, unable to keep up with a demanding job.

So he jumped into action to help his father.

At 14, he started working, first in the grocery business and then in the growing world of railroads, where abuses were rampant.

What he saw on the railroads transformed him and what he believed the people actually building the U.S.

deserved.

His name was Eugene Debs, and he didn't know it then, but he was about to alter the course of labor rights in the U.S.

Today on the show, the life and times of Eugene Debs and the birth of American socialism.

That's coming up after a quick break.

One day in 1874, while Eugene Debs was working on the railroad tracks, he saw something terrible happen.

This wasn't a freak accident.

On-the-job injuries happened a lot.

Just consider part of the occupation.