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WEEKEND LABOR ARTS CALENDAR
Sun: 134th Commemoration of the 1892 Battle of Homestead (PA)
Ongoing Events:
Deadly Deception: The Asbestos Tragedy in McLean County(Bloomington, IL)
Ting Tong Chang The Hidden Shift (Pittsburgh, PA)
Made in America: The Industrial Photography of Christopher Payne (New York City, NY)
Work in Progress (Hamilton, Ontario, Canada)
Memorias de la Mujer Lotina: Arperillas, Women, and Coal in Chile (Champaign, IL)
Pullman Porters & Maids: Invisible Labor, Visible Legacies (Chicago, IL)
Got a Labor event? Email us: info@laborheritage.org
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READERS WRITE: Seeking Elaine Purkey album
“Do any of your readers happen to have ideas on where to find a copy of this Elaine Purkey album? It seems like it might be out of print. It could definitely use a reissue, if so!”
—Dan Taylor, Winston-Salem, NC
Email us at info@laborheritage.org
| | THIS WEEK'S LABOR HERITAGE POWER HOUR RADIO SHOW
We Love Boosters
On this week’s Labor Heritage Power Hour: As America celebrates Independence Day, we ask whose stories of freedom get told. This week: the People's 250 campaign reclaims working-class history, historian Carrie Rael revisits the largest strike in Disneyland history, Kathleen Newman joins us to unpack Boots Riley's wildly original new film I Love Boosters, Patrick Dixon explores a historic Philadelphia labor landmark, and Labor History in 2:00 traces the origins of New Orleans' iconic po'boy sandwich—all framed by the enduring words of Frederick Douglass. | | |
LABOR ARTS NEWS BRIEFS
Dust-Up on Broadway: Workers who clean theaters on Broadway chanted “Share the wealth” while holding up signs expressing support for the strike vote. Read more
Guggenheim Workers Draw the Line: “Workers took the brunt of the cuts while museum leadership did not give up a penny in their salaries.” Read more
Experimenting with Union Busting? WGA East members at Scientific American rallied following Springer Nature’s decision to sell the publication and immediately lay off staff. Read more
Extra! Extra! Workers Win: Contract wins include raises and language on artificial intelligence the Washington and Idaho NewsGuilds have characterized as some of the strongest in the news industry. Read more
Broadcasting a Win: After months of bargaining, staff of WLRN Public Radio in Miami have reached their first labor union contract with South Florida Public Media Group. Read more
That's a Wrap! Ohio Theater Workers OK First Contract: After a unanimous vote, workers at Gateway Film Center in Columbus, Ohio ratified their first union contract this month. Read more
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LABOR VIDEO OF THE WEEK: The Picket Line
Sharp-eyed readers will remember that this was a featured video a year ago. “In the past year and a half,” reports songwriter Don Santina, a member of American Federation of Musicians Local 6, who adds that his song “has been used in strikes by Amazon NYC, Colorado meat packers, California Nurses, Starbucks midwest, and Harvard grad students. Solidarity forever!”
Got labor video? email us at info@laborheritage.org
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PICKET SIGN OF THE WEEK
In Tinley Park, Illinois, this inflatable picket line by a couple of Scabby the Rats and a Fat Cat was so effective that earlier this week the dealership tried to get one of their own inflatables saying “We’re Open” but Big Sky Balloons – which used to make Scabby and other union inflatables – refused to cross the line, reports Inflatable Images’ Dave Scherba, which makes the union inflatables. Photo courtesy Ed Maher, The Workers Mic.
Got a picket sign? Email us: info@laborheritage.org
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LABOR SONG OF THE WEEK: The Devil You Know
by the R.J. Phillips Band, “inspired by the award winning film, Sinners,” says Joe DeFilippo. “There ain’t no justice in the land of Jim Crow.”
Got a Labor song? Email us: info@laborheritage.org
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LABOR ART OF THE WEEK: Phillip Tipperman
Tipperman sketch recently discovered in Nova Scotia—set to be donated by the Tipperman family to Brooklyn College in 2027, joining the five works already in the series. Read more here.
Got Labor art? Email us: info@laborheritage.org
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LABOR LANDMARK OF THE WEEK
Pullman National Historical Park
Pullman National Historical Park honors the unique labor history of the Pullman Company and the pivotal events that unfolded in this community. Established in the 1880s, Pullman was designed as a model town for workers, reflecting the ideals of its founder, George Pullman. However, the Pullman Company became infamous for its labor practices, which included low wages, high rents, and poor working conditions.The park serves as a reminder of the 1894 Pullman Strike, a significant labor uprising that arose when the Pullman Company cut wages while maintaining rents in company-owned housing.
Details on the LHF Labor Landmarks Map.
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LABOR QUOTE OF THE WEEK
"You have no right to enjoy a child's share in the labor of your fathers, unless your children are to be blest by your labors…while we are ploughing, planting and reaping... we are called upon to prove that we are men!...You discourse eloquently on the dignity of labor; yet, you sustain a system which, in its very essence, casts a stigma upon labor."
Frederick Douglass, from his "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?" speech on July 5, 1852, in Rochester, New York. You can also hear an excerpt of that speech – performed by James Earl Jones in this week’s Labor Heritage Power Hour.
Got a favorite Labor quote? Email us: info@laborheritage.org
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| | Forward the LHF newsletter to friends, family, colleagues and help us reach our goal of 10,000 readers! 👉 Subscribe free | | | The Martyr of Kensington: Carl Mackley and the Aberle Strike
This week on Labor History Today: Silk stockings were all the rage in the 1920s, but the workers who made them paid the price. When the H.C. Aberle Hosiery Company in Philadelphia imposed wage cuts and harsher working conditions in 1930, more than a thousand workers walked out, setting off one of the city's most dramatic labor struggles.
As tensions escalated between strikers, strikebreakers, police, and company management, 22-year-old Carl Mackley was killed in a confrontation that galvanized Philadelphia's labor movement. Labor Jawn’s Sam James and Gabe Christy trace the origins of the strike, the violence that engulfed Kensington, the fight for arbitration, and how one young worker's death became a lasting symbol of labor solidarity.
| | Like this newsletter? Help us spread labor art by passing it along! | | CLICK HERE for our complete labor arts calendar; look for our Labor Arts Calendar edition on Monday | | |
TODAY'S LABOR HISTORY
1835: Children employed in the silk mills in Paterson, N.J. went on strike for 11-hour day and 6-day week. A compromise settlement resulted in a 69-hour work work week.
1860: Feminist and labor activist Charlotte Perkins Gilman is born in Hartford, Connecticut.
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| What happened on this date in labor history—July 4, 1916? | | | | LAST WEEK'S QUIZ: Emma Goldman, women's rights activist and radical, was born in Lithuania on June 27, 1869. She came to the U.S. at age 17. | | |
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