Peter "Pete" Hanraty was an American politician, union leader, and Scottish immigrant who served as the first elected Oklahoma Chief Mine Inspector from 1907 to 1911.

Early life

Pete Hanraty was born in Scotland in 1864. At age nine, he began working in the Scottish coal mines. By eighteen, he immigrated to the United States and found work as a coal miner, but was

blacklisted Blacklisting is the action of a group or authority compiling a blacklist of people, countries or other entities to be avoided or distrusted as being deemed unacceptable to those making the list; if people are on a blacklist, then they are considere ...

from the coal industry in

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

and

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

for

union organizing A union organizer (or union organiser in English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth spelling) is a specific type of trade union member (often elected) or an appointed union official. In some unions, the organizer's role is to recruit ...

. After being blacklisted, he moved to

Indian Territory Indian Territory and the Indian Territories are terms that generally described an evolving land area set aside by the Federal government of the United States, United States government for the relocation of Native Americans in the United States, ...

to find work and unionize miners. At the time, Indian Territory was not regulated by any state or federal law making mining in the territory exceptionally dangerous. He led a successful strike in 1898. At some point in his life, he lost both legs in a mining accident. He was elected president of the

Twin-Territories Federation of Labor The Twin-Territories Federation of Labor was a labor union in the U.S. territories of Oklahoma Territory and Indian Territory between 1903 and 1906. History In March 1903 J. Harvey Lynch called for the organization of a larger labor union to better ...

in 1903, and served in the position until the organization merged into the

Oklahoma State Federation of Labor The Oklahoma State Federation of Labor was a labor union in the US state of Oklahoma formed just before statehood in 1906. The union merged into the Oklahoma State AFL-CIO in October 1957. History The Oklahoma State Federation of Labor was founded ...

in 1906.

Political career

Hanraty was elected to the

Oklahoma Constitutional Convention The Constitution of the State of Oklahoma is the governing document of the U.S. State of Oklahoma. Adopted in 1907, Oklahoma ratified the United States Constitution on November 16, 1907, as the 46th U.S. state. At its ratification, the Oklahoma ...

in 1907 and served as the vice-president of the convention. He contributed most of the sections related to

worker's rights Labor rights or workers' rights are both legal rights and human rights relating to labor relations between workers and employers. These rights are codified in national and international labor and employment law. In general, ...

. He successfully ran for Oklahoma Chief Mine Inspector in 1907, but lost his 1910 re-election campaign to a primary challenge by

Ed Boyle Ed Boyle was an American politician who served as the Oklahoma Chief Mine Inspector and in the Oklahoma House of Representatives representing Haskell County. Biography Ed Boyle was born in 1867 in Kentucky. He moved to Missouri in 1897 and worked ...

Death and legacy

He died in 1932 in

McAlester, Oklahoma McAlester is the county seat of Pittsburg County, Oklahoma. The population was 18,363 at the time of the 2010 census, a 3.4 percent increase from 17,783 at the 2000 census.Shuller, Thurman"McAlester" profile ''Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and ...

and was buried at Memorial Park Cemetery in

Oklahoma City Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Oklahoma, most populous city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat ...

. He was posthumously inducted into the Oklahoma Labor Hall of Fame.

Electoral history

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hanraty, Pete 1864 births 1932 deaths 20th-century American politicians People from Indian Territory Scottish emigrants to the United States Scottish trade unionists Trade unionists from Oklahoma Oklahoma Chief Mine Inspectors Candidates in the 1910 United States elections Members of the Oklahoma Constitutional Convention