News & Updates

fire work: A Fierce New Labor Fable

When the system sparks a fight, who dares to light the fuse? The new play fire work, by Mary Glen Fredrick and directed by Shanara Gabrielle at the Theater Alliance in Washington, DC, follows Eleanor and Bartholomew—glass-factory workers by day, secret fireworks makers by night—as they confront sweeping reforms that threaten their lives. Eleanor emerges as an unlikely revolutionary leader in this sharp, funny, and haunting anti-capitalist fable, bringing urgency, humor, and heart to today’s struggles for dignity and justice. Part heist, part satire, fire work explores survival, solidarity, and the explosive costs of complacency in a system built to burn us out.

Labor Night Special! Join us Saturday, September 6 (5:00 & 8:00pm shows) for discounted $25 tickets with code “labor”, plus a special post-show panel hosted by the Labor Heritage Foundation and the Kalmanovitz Initiative.

“Chips & Salsa” by Lily Martina Lee (l) and “No Parking”, Sam Guccione, two other artists in the exhibit. 

WEEKEND LABOR ARTS CALENDAR

Ongoing:

Power & Light: Russell Lee's Coal Survey (DC)

Don't Stand Alone: Black Labor Organizing in New Orleans (LA)

At the Air Canada Flight Attendants strike earlier this week.

Pullman Porters - Ordinary Men, Extraordinary History

The Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters was founded at a meeting in New York City 100 years ago, on August 25, 1925. A. Philip Randolph became the union's first organizer.

The Workers Song

The Ramstampits

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

1945: Five flight attendants form the Air Line Stewardesses Association, the first labor union representing flight attendants. They were reacting to an industry in which women were forced to retire at the age of 32, remain single, and adhere to strict weight, height and appearance requirements. The association later became the Association of Flight Attendants, now a division of the Communications Workers of America.

“Salvation for a race, nation or class must come from within. Freedom is never granted; it is won. Justice is never given; it is exacted.”

A. Philip Randolph

The white army of winter spreads across the city. Boilers and radiators

die in their sleep, their skin cold to the touch in the morning. The city

wears a coat to bed. The city watches the wraith of breath rise in the kitchen.

Martín Espada; excerpted from The City Wears a Coat to Bed. Hear him read it on this week’s Labor Heritage Power Hour radio show.

How We Get Free: Worker Solidarity in Racine

On this week’s Labor History Today, scholar Shana L. Redmond talks with Naomi R. Williams about her new book A Blueprint for Worker Solidarity. Williams explores how Racine, Wisconsin workers in the 1970s–80s forged cross-racial and cross-movement alliances that reshaped their community and offer lessons for today’s struggles. Plus, we feature the new Charlie King song John Lewis Says Freedom.

LAST WEEK’S QUIZ: It was Eugene V. Debs, not George Meany, who said “No strike has ever been lost.”

Dropkick Murphys Rock Cleveland for Union Rights (8/15)
Songs, Strikes, and Solidarity (8/8)

From Meow Wolf to Matewan: This Week in Labor Art & History (8/1)

Still Hot, Still Fighting: Labor Art Heats Up the Summer (7/25)

'Saturday Night Live’ VFX Artists Ratify Historic First Union Contract (7/18)

Sing, Strike, Remember (7/12)