News & Updates

May Day 2025: Remembering Mother Jones, the Haymarket Martyrs, and Lilly Ledbetter

Snapshots from some of the labor history and arts events on International Workers’ Day yesterday. Clockwise from left:

In Chicago, the Haymarket Memorial Plaque Dedication honored the legacy of the labor movement and recognized the Illinois AFL-CIO.

In the DC area, the DC Labor FilmFest Opening Night featured a screening of Lilly -- the powerful story of Lilly Ledbetter and her landmark fight for equal pay -- at AFI Silver, with a Q&A with producer Simone Pero.

And in Silver Spring, Maryland, the Labor Heritage Foundation’s Saul Schniderman and Union Plus’ Keith Anderko celebrated the birthday of labor icon Mother Jones with a special Teleflora tribute at her Maryland highway marker.

Got more May Day 2025 labor art or history photos? Email us at info@laborheritage.org

From a Dairy Farmers of America Teamsters practice picket.

Sent in by Alexandra (Al) Bradbury, Labor Notes Editor. 

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Union Maid - Max and River Brown

We Did Not Come This Far – DC Labor Chorus

Catch the Chorus live at their Spring Concert tomorrow (Saturday) at 3p ET; click here for tickets (in-person or online).

by Mircy Coca Soriano

On the second floor of the Smithsonian National Museum of American History is an inspiring exhibit titled The Nation We Build Together. The part that captivated me most was located at the end of the gallery: a powerful display of protest signs, each representing a unique movement or moment in American history. Read more here.

"I walked away with an attitude that, if our country is screwed up, don't give up. Unscrew it, but don't give up."                   

—Joe McNeill, one of the "Greensboro Four," the original protestors in the Woolworth lunch counter sit-in on February 1, 1960. Quoted in the National Museum of American History’s exhibit "The Nation We Build Together."  photo by Mircy Coca Soriano

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

WEEKEND LABOR ARTS CALENDAR

SATURDAY, May 3

Free May Day Concert at the New Farm (CA)

Labor's Martyr: The Story of Joe Hill (Showcase) (PA)

DC Labor Chorus Spring Concert (DC)

Sing Out for Pete's Sake! (Reel Work Labor Film Festival) (CA)

Calamity [Kalamita] (DC Labor FilmFest) (DC/MD)

New York City Labor Chorus Concert for Peace and Justice (NY)

SUNDAY, May 4

4th Annual International Mother Jones Festival (IL)

2025 Bay View Massacre Commemoration (WI)

Coal Mining History (IL)

Hard Hitting Songs for Hard Hit People (Online)

International Workers' Day in Spoken Word and Song (Online)

Calamity [Kalamita] (DC Labor FilmFest) (DC/MD)

May 2, 1933

In Germany, Adolph Hitler issues an edict abolishing all labor unions, part of his effort to ban any political opposition. Read more here.

This week’s Labor History Today podcast: 50 years of “Strike!” (Encore)

Sara Nelson’s inspirational keynote at the April 6, 2021 symposium celebrating the 50th anniversary of Jeremy Brecher’s classic labor history book “Strike!”

LAST WEEK’S QUIZ: On April 25, 1886, the New York Times declared the struggle for an eight-hour workday to be “un-American” and called public demonstrations for the shorter hours “labor disturbances brought about by foreigners.” Other publications declared that an eight-hour workday day would bring about “loafing and gambling, rioting, debauchery and drunkenness.”

Strike Wins, Labor Songs, Rosie Reimagined + More (4/25)

Workshops Announced for 2025 Great Labor Arts Exchange (4/18)

AFSCME to Trump: Don’t Close the Book on Libraries (4/11)

“Now is the time to mobilize” (4/4)

Trump's EO “The very definition of union-busting” (3/28)

Celebrating Mother Jones’ Irish heritage (3/21)

Jeff Bezos has a Rocketship Called: New Shepard (3/14)