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EDITOR’S NOTE — Found Something Worth Sharing?
One of my favorite things about poking around in our databases is finding something I wasn’t looking for: a labor song I’ve never heard, a film I want to see, or a landmark I’ve walked past without knowing its story. My next thought is usually, “Who do I know who’d love this?”
Now it’s easier to send it to them. We’ve added a Copy Link button to every entry in both the Labor Arts and Culture Database and the Labor Landmarks Database. Just click it and paste the link into a social post, a text, or an email.
I’d love to see what you turn up! Send me a link to a favorite find, or tell me what you’d like us to add or improve. You can reach me at info@laborheritage.org.
— Chris
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WEEKEND LABOR ARTS CALENDAR
Ongoing Events, including
Beneath the Surface: Mining and American Photography (WI)
Waiting For Lefty (NY)
Who Moves America (Screening at multiple locations)
Got a labor arts or history event? Email us: info@laborheritage.org
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Save the Date:
Raise a Little Trouble, Then Raise Your Voice
Two reasons to circle Saturday, December 5 in Washington, DC. Spend the day swapping workplace organizing strategies, then cap it off with the DC Labor Chorus.
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9 a.m.–4 p.m. | DMV Troublemakers School at McKinley Technology High School, 151 T St. NE. Join fellow workers and union activists for hands-on organizing workshops. Details and registration
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7–9 p.m. | DC Labor Chorus Favorite & Sacred Songs Concert at the Washington Ethical Society, 7750 16th St. NW. Bring a friend for the chorus’s annual concert. Concert details
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THIS WEEK’S LABOR HERITAGE POWER HOUR
Why Miami Artists Are Boycotting Art Basel
Miami artists build the tents, unpack the art, and assemble the sculptures at Art Basel. Where do they get to show their own work? On this week’s Labor Heritage Power Hour, Prism reporter Alexandra Martinez tells Harold Phillips why Artists 4 Artists Miami is boycotting the fair and pointing people toward independent galleries and local events during Miami Art Week.
Plus, Shaun Slifer traces a path from grassroots markers for the Great Railroad Strike in Pittsburgh to the West Virginia Mine Wars Museum in Matewan. Rick Smith revisits the railroad strike and the Haymarket executions, and Harold rounds up the latest labor arts news.
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LABOR ARTS NEWS BRIEFS
Schneps Union Accuses Bosses Of Retaliation In Firing Of Staffer
Renee DeLorenzo was dismissed the same day Schneps Media acquired a competing Queens paper. Read more.
Washingtonian Guild Unanimously Votes To Strike
The workers have spent over five years negotiating a contract with management. Read more.
Major League Baseball Content Producers Join WGA
The American Arbitration Assn. administered an election after a majority of the group signed union cards. Read more.
Enliven Planters Workers In Philadelphia Join IATSE
“USA 829 has always represented the artists and craftspeople who shape the spaces people live in, whether that’s a theater, a film set, or a city street…” Read more.
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LABOR VIDEOS OF THE WEEK
Silkwood: Today, Friday, November 13th is the anniversary of the mysterious death of Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers Union member and whistleblower Karen Silkwood. Find out more about the film in LHF’s Labor Arts and Culture Database.
The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald: The ship Edmund Fitzgerald – the biggest carrier on the Great Lakes – and crew of 29 were lost in a storm on November 10, 1975 on Lake Superior while carrying ore from Superior, WI to Detroit. The cause of the sinking was never established.
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PICKET SIGN OF THE WEEK
Staff from The Warehouse on the picket line in Auckland.
Photo credit: RNZ / Matthew Theunissen
Got a creative picket sign to share? email us at info@laborheritage.org
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LABOR SONG OF THE WEEK
We Have Fed You All for a Thousand Years – Willi Carlisle (Live in DC)
LHF was proud to be the official community partner at Willi Carlisle's show at DC’s Union Stage last night, earning an enthusiastic shoutout from the popular singer, signing up dozens of newsletter readers, and distributing movement buttons and LHF stickers. Thanks to Erin Murphy for setting this up! (video by Chris Garlock)
Got a Labor song? Email us: info@laborheritage.org
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LABOR ART OF THE WEEK
Calling all IBEW photographers! The union’s annual Photo Contest deadline has been extended to November 30. If you’re a member—or know one—“Give us your best shot!” says the IBEW. Enter here.
photo: The 2025 contest winner, taken by Natalie Anaya of Los Angeles Local 11.
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LABOR QUOTE OF THE WEEK
"They're the ones building the tents. They're the ones handling the art. They're the ones assembling the works, the massive sculptures that you see on the sand. They're getting paid to be laborers, as opposed to be artists.”
Alexandra Martinez, Senior News Reporter, Prism. Hear her talk about why Miami artists are boycotting Art Basel on this week’s Labor Heritage Power Hour.
Check out LHF’s Labor Arts and Culture Database for more labor quotes like this!
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LABOR LANDMARK OF THE WEEK
The Abraham Lincoln Brigade Monument
San Francisco, California
Union members and working-class activists formed a core component of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, bringing organizing experience to the fight against fascism in Spain and carrying that labor commitment into their post-war activism. In San Francisco, the Abraham Lincoln Brigade Monument along the Embarcadero honors these volunteers, featuring forty-five translucent onyx panels designed by Ann Chamberlain and Walter Hood. This installation highlights the veterans' lifelong dedication to domestic labor and civil rights causes through archival photographs alongside anti-fascist quotes from figures like Pablo Neruda, Ernest Hemingway, and Dolores Ibárruri.
ALSO SEE: Keep Anti-Fascist History on San Francisco’s Waterfront (11/10)
Read more on the LHF Labor Landmarks Map.
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THIS WEEK'S LABOR HISTORY TODAY
Building a People’s Museum from Below
On this week's Labor History Today: Who gets to tell workers’ history? Artist and “community-taught historian” Shaun Slifer shares how the West Virginia Mine Wars Museum grew from a grassroots vision into a community institution in Matewan.
From installing homemade historical markers in Pittsburgh to preserving a red bandana carried toward the Battle of Blair Mountain, Slifer explores how working people reclaim their stories. Along the way, he reflects on listening to coalfield communities, collaborating with union miners, and building trust through the everyday objects families choose to share.
Listen to the podcast above, and/or watch the talk below.
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TODAY'S LABOR HISTORY
1909: 259 miners die in the underground Cherry Mine fire. As a result of the disaster, Illinois establishes stricter safety regulations and the basis for the state’s Workers Compensation Act.
1927: The Holland Tunnel opens, running under the Hudson River for 1.6 miles and connecting the island of Manhattan in New York City with Jersey City, NJ. Thirteen workers died over its seven-year-long construction.
1972: Striking typesetters at the Green Bay, WI Press Gazette start a competing newspaper, The Green Bay Daily News. The union ran the paper for four years before being sold to another publisher.
1974: Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers Union activist Karen Silkwood is killed in a suspicious car crash on her way to deliver documents to a newspaper reporter.
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| What labor federation did John L. Lewis help found in Pittsburgh in 1938? | | | | LAST WEEK’S QUIZ: On November 7, 1917, some 1,300 building trades workers in eastern Massachusetts participated in a general strike on all military work in the area to protest the use of open-shop (a worksite in which union membership is not required as a condition of employment) builders. The strike held on for a week in the face of threats from the U.S. War Department. | | |
SUPPORT LABOR ARTS!
Please CLICK HERE NOW to pledge your financial support to our upcoming 2027 program, which includes our annual Solidarity Forever Award, the Great Labor Arts Exchange, the DC Labor FilmFest and much more (check out our website for details!).
Donations are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law.
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