Samuel Gompers was a famous man in the United States because of his work in promoting unionization. He was the founder and president American Federation of Labor which encompassed unions from various different crafts and was important in establishing things like collective bargaining and reduction of working hours.
The Knights of Labor was a labor organizations that fought for worker's rights. This mostly revolved around things like the 8 hours work day, increasing wages, and similar things. At their peak they had almost a million members but soon were left at a smaller number of around a hundred thousand members.
The ILGWU or the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union was a union with predominantly female membership which was formed to protect women in the textile industry. They also fought for various workers' rights and had almost half a million members at one point in time. The organization changed over time and now exists with a different name and organization type.
