Labor Arts News & Updates

Another Labor Night at Woody Guthrie’s American Song

If you missed Thursday’s Labor Night at Woody Guthrie's American Song, LHF is teaming up with Theatre Alliance and the Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor again tomorrow (Saturday) night! Theatre Alliance calls this show "a panoramic tribute to the legacy of activism in the arts, celebrating the spirit of what America looks and sounds like." Support the arts by securing your ticket (name your own price) now!

WEEKEND LABOR ARTS CALENDAR


Fri: Woody Guthrie's American Song (DC)

Sat: Made in Hamilton Walking Tour (ONT, Canada)

Sat: Echoes Of Rails And Threads Walking Tour (MD)

Sat: Harlan County USA (DC)

Sat: Queen Of The Night at Soup and Song (MD)

Sat: Dr. Lisa Fine on "Downriver Detroit" (MI & Online)

Sat: LABOR NIGHT: Woody Guthrie's American Song (DC)

Sun: The Miners' Hymns and Louisiana Story (DC)


Got a Labor event? Email us: info@laborheritage.org

Photographing American Mining and Energy (Closes 8/23)

Photography premiered in 1839, shortly before mining booms transformed the United States. And because making photographs requires extracted materials, the two histories have been intertwined ever since. Beneath the Surface: Mining and American Photography – at the National Gallery of Art through August 23 -- follows along in this story, from some of the first pictures taken underground to portraits of modern workers. See how photographers such as Timothy O’Sullivan, Margaret Bourke-White, and Mitch Epstein depict resource extraction. 

THIS WEEK'S LABOR HERITAGE POWER HOUR RADIO SHOW
Woody Guthrie’s American Song

On this week’s Labor Heritage Power Hour: DC’s Theatre Alliance brings Woody Guthrie’s songs into today’s struggles, and Richard Trumka explains how labor artists preserve workers’ stories, strengthen solidarity and build the movement.

LABOR ARTS NEWS BRIEFS


One Flag For Each Laid Off Dev: CWA workers staged an unmissable protest for Xbox boss Asha Sharma in Rockville, Maryland. Read more.

Media Workers Demand USA Today End Partnership with Palantir: Newsroom workers cited serious data privacy concerns because Palantir’s AI software has been connected to human rights abuses, widespread surveillance and immigration crackdowns. Read more.

TC Philharmonic Musicians Vote to Join AFM: Performers in the Traverse City Philharmonic worked with AFM so they can negotiate a contract to address workplace concerns and give workers a fair say in the institution’s future. Read more.

LABOR VIDEOS OF THE WEEK:

Harlan County USA (above): Barbara Kopple’s Oscar-winning film screens tomorrow at the National Gallery of Art (see Calendar, above).

Elise Bryant sings Solidarity Forever (below): Catch Elise live this Saturday as she performs her one-woman show Queen Of The Night at Soup and Song (MD). 
Got labor video? email us at info@laborheritage.org

PICKET SIGN OF THE WEEK
HCA Sunrise hospital workers protesting in Las Vegas, Nevada, on 6 August 2026. Photograph: Jason Karsh, SEIU Local 1107

Got a picket sign? Email us: info@laborheritage.org 

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LABOR SONG OF THE WEEK: Hard Travelin'

From the "Woody Guthrie's American Song" Cast Album; catch the live show at The Theater Alliance in Washington, DC this Saturday: LABOR NIGHT: Woody Guthrie's American Song.

Got a Labor song? Email us: info@laborheritage.org

LABOR QUOTE OF THE WEEK: Will Rogers


“Ten men in our country could buy the whole world and ten million can't buy enough to eat.”


— Populist social commentator Will Rogers was killed in a plane crash in Point Barrow, Alaska on August 15, 1935.

Got a favorite Labor quote? Email us: info@laborheritage.org

Labor Cartoon Of The Week

This cartoon is provided by our friends at Funny Times, America's Funniest Newspaper. Sign up for their free cartoon-of-the-week newsletter here.

LABOR LANDMARK OF THE WEEK: Italian Hall Memorial Park

Calumet, Michigan; This memorial marks the site of the 1913 Italian Hall disaster, where 73 people—most of them children—died after a false cry of “Fire!” caused panic at a Christmas Eve party for striking miners’ families. Woody Guthrie later memorialized the tragedy in “1913 Massacre.”
Details on the LHF Labor Landmarks Map.

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The People’s Historian

On this week’s Labor History Today: Dave Zirin discusses his new book, The People's Historian: The Outsized Life of Howard Zinn, exploring the historian's influence on generations of activists—and even on Hollywood. Then, marking the August 7 birthday of labor organizer Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, producer Anthony Dominiczak looks back at the life of the legendary "Rebel Girl" and the fight over her historical legacy.

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CLICK HERE for our complete labor arts calendar; look for our Labor Arts Calendar edition on Monday

TODAY'S LABOR HISTORY

1935: President Roosevelt signs the Social Security Act providing, for the first time ever, guaranteed income for retirees and creating a system of unemployment benefits.

1980: Members of the upstart Polish union Solidarity seize the Lenin shipyard in Gdansk. Sixteen days later the government officially recognizes the union. Many consider the event the beginning of the end for the Iron Curtain.

1999: Former AFL-CIO president Lane Kirkland dies at age 77.

Find more labor history in the LHF Labor Arts & Culture Database.

LAST WEEK’S QUIZ: On August 8, 1902, Charles James became the first African American elected president of the St. Paul Trades and Labor Assembly, and possibly the first Black leader of any labor council in the nation.

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The Labor History of Soccer (7/17)
Live from the 2026 Great Labor Arts Exchange Concert! (7/10)