The United Mine Workers of America, founded in Columbus, Ohio, on January 22, 1890, emerged from the merger of the Knights of Labor with the National Progressive Union of Miners and Mine Laborers and accepted all mine workers regardless of race, religion, or national origin. It fought for workers rights at home and abroad and provided leadership to the American labor movement through renowned leaders including John L. Lewis, Phil Murray, Bill Green, William B. Wilson, and John Mitchell. Mother Jones joined with the union in a rally and strike in the southern coalfields of Colorado in 1903, and notable labor struggles associated with its history include Matewan in West Virginia and the Ludlow Massacre. John L. Lewis became president in 1920 and remained in that role for 40 years, building the union into a formidable organization that raised mine workers' living standards throughout North America, transformed health care in Appalachia, and helped create the Congress of Industrial Organizations in the 1930s, bringing millions of organized industrial workers into unions and increasing living standards for millions of American families. Despite threats of physical harm and economic ruin, miners struggled for better working conditions, and accomplishments over the years included an 1898 law defining an eight-hour work day, collective bargaining rights in 1933, the 1946 Welfare and Retirement Fund that built eight hospitals in Appalachia, established numerous clinics, and recruited young doctors to rural coal field areas, and the 1969 Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act, which protected miners' safety and provided compensation for black lung disease. The union continues to work nationally and internationally, speaking for American coal miners, denouncing apartheid in South Africa, promoting democratic labor unions abroad, and organizing workers in industries from automobile manufacturing and data entry to hospitals and steel mills, including hospital and county workers in Trinidad.