Labor History Today

The labor “Parade” that flopped (Encore)

Two years before the pro-labor musical revue “Pins & Needles” became a big Broadway hit in 1937, “Parade”, another musical featuring pro-labor songs flopped after just 40 performances and the Theatre Guild -- which did so well with “Pins & Needles” just a few years later -- lost $100,000 dollars.  In today’s edition of Labor History Today, we bring you the fascinating prelude to the success of “Pins & Needles”, starting with workers social clubs in Europe and in the United States, and the Worker’s Theatre Movement. Michigan State University College of Music Professor Maria Cristina Fava’s talk, originally given in October 2012, was part of the "Our Daily Work/Our Daily Lives" Brown Bag series sponsored by the Michigan State University School of Human Resources and Labor Relations and the MSU Museum. The series is organized by MSU professor John Beck. For Fava’s in-depth discussion of “Pins & Needles”, check out this edition of Labor History Today.
This week’s show originally aired on Nov. 30, 2022. Questions, comments, or suggestions are welcome, and to find out how you can be a part of Labor History Today, email us at LaborHistoryToday@gmail.com
Labor History Today is produced by the Labor Heritage Foundation and the Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor.
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The Irish Immigrant Miners’ Memorial (Encore)

Irish immigrants, who toiled in the silver mines of Leadville, Colorado, in the late 1800s are largely forgotten. Many died penniless, buried in paupers’ graves.  But now a Colorado professor has dug up their stories and their struggles. The Heartland Labor Forum brings us a report on the Irish Immigrant Miners’ Memorial.*** Then, Remember our Struggle with Ariana Blockmon, who covers the 1916 Springfield (MO) Streetcar Strike. ***UPDATE: On Sept. 16th, 2023, at 10:00 am, the Leadville Irish Memorial will be unveiled in Leadville's Evergreen Cemetery. Details here.
On this week’s Labor History in Two: Rufino Contreras (1979).
Questions, comments or suggestions welcome, and to find out how you can be a part of Labor History Today, email us at LaborHistoryToday@gmail.com
Labor History Today is produced by Union City Radio and the Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor.
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This week's music: Working Man by The Dubliners; Sprinkle Coal Dust On My Grave by Orville J. Jenks (UMWA); Working Man by The Men Of The Deeps.

Colorado’s lost strike song

The story of how a popular labor song was lost, and then found. From The Labor Exchange, Colorado's only labor focused radio show, airing on KGNU Community Radio, Mondays at 6:00 PM Mountain Time.Questions, comments, and suggestions welcome, and to find out how you can be a part of Labor History Today, email us at LaborHistoryToday@gmail.com
Labor History Today is produced by Union City Radio and the Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor.
#LaborRadioPod #History #WorkingClass #ClassStruggle @GeorgetownKILWP #LaborHistory @UMDMLA @ILLaborHistory @AFLCIO @StrikeHistory #LaborHistory @wrkclasshistory  

Brecher’s “Strike!”

Part 1 of our 2018 interview with Jeremy Brecher, the historian, documentary filmmaker, activist, and author of books on labor and social movements, including the classic book Strike!Plus: Patrick Dixon talks with history professor Sarah Rose about the Americans with Disabilities Act and the complex history of disability and work. Jordan Biscardo, communications director at the Seafarers Union, tells us about the 1946 general strike that shut down the U.S. maritime industry.And our labor history Object of the Week is the cover of the September 1949 edition of The American Federationist, depicting the first Labor Day march.Originally posted 9/3/2018.Questions, comments or suggestions welcome, and to find out how you can be a part of Labor History Today, email us at LaborHistoryToday@gmail.com
Labor History Today is produced by the Labor Heritage Foudnation and the Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor. Engineered by Chris Garlock.Labor history sources include Today in Labor History, from Union Communication Services https://unionist.com/
This week's music: There is Power in a Union by The Street Dogs 

“The waterfront is my life”

The story of Cleophas Williams, the first African American president of Local 10 of the ILWU, the International Longshore and Warehouse Union. Thanks to WBAI’s Building Bridges radio show, where a longer version of this originally appeared. On this week’s Labor History in Two: The Packers.
Questions, comments, or suggestions are welcome, and to find out how you can be a part of Labor History Today, email us at LaborHistoryToday@gmail.com
Labor History Today is produced by Union City Radio and the Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor.
#LaborRadioPod #History #WorkingClass #ClassStruggle @GeorgetownKILWP #LaborHistory @UMDMLA @ILLaborHistory @AFLCIO @StrikeHistory #LaborHistory @wrkclasshistory  @bbridgesradio @ilwulongshore

Debs’ radio station

Filmmaker Yale Strom ("American Socialist: The Life and Times of Eugene Victor Debs") remembers WEVD, the Chicago radio station named for labor leader Eugene Victor Debs; Dan Duncan celebrates the founding of the AFL-CIO’s Maritime Trades Department; Saul Schniderman marks the anniversary of the publication of the IWW’s "Little Red Song Book," and Ben Blake’s labor history Object of the Week.This show was originally released August 12, 2018.Questions, comments, or suggestions are welcome, and to find out how you can be a part of Labor History Today, email us at LaborHistoryToday@gmail.com
Labor History Today is produced by the Labor Heritage Foundation and the Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor.
#LaborRadioPod #History #WorkingClass #ClassStruggle @GeorgetownKILWP #LaborHistory @UMDMLA @ILLaborHistory @AFLCIO @StrikeHistory #LaborHistory

The union archive that almost didn’t make it

The story of how the International Woodworkers of America Archive began, was almost lost, and continues to preserve the records of what was once British Columbia's largest and most powerful union. Today’s report comes from On the Line: Stories of BC Workers. On this week’s Labor History in Two:  Singing a union tune.
Questions, comments, or suggestions are welcome, and to find out how you can be a part of Labor History Today, email us at LaborHistoryToday@gmail.com
Labor History Today is produced by Union City Radio and the Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor.
#LaborRadioPod #History #WorkingClass #ClassStruggle @GeorgetownKILWP #LaborHistory @UMDMLA @ILLaborHistory @AFLCIO @StrikeHistory #LaborHistory @wrkclasshistory @BC_LHC

Coit Tower’s New Deal Murals

From 1935 to 1943 the Federal Art Project -- a project of the Works Progress Administration, or WPA-- employed some 10,000 artists and craft workers, helping them survive the Great Depression. The artists created hundreds of thousands of visual arts: paintings, murals, prints, posters, and renderings. Many of them survive to this day, but you have to know where to look for them. That’s why LHT host Chris Garlock found himself on Telegraph Hill yesterday, during a visit to San Francisco, meeting up with Harvey Smith, who leads tours of local WPA sites. Find out more at LivingNewDeal.orgCoit Tower is home to a stunning collection of murals that have recently been restored; Chris had seen them many years ago and had been struck by the depictions of workers and bosses that managed to be simultaneously beautiful and politically powerful and arranged to meet up with Harvey so he could shed some light on their creation and meaning.
Harvey does a terrific job describing the art, but we’ve also got a great album of photos of the murals posted on the Labor Heritage Foundation’s Facebook page.On this week’s Labor History in Two: The year was 1917; that was the day IWW leader Frank Little was buried in Butte, Montana.
Questions, comments, or suggestions are welcome, and to find out how you can be a part of Labor History Today, email us at LaborHistoryToday@gmail.com
Labor History Today is produced by Chris Garlock for the Labor Heritage Foundation and the Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor. Coit Tower mural photos by Lisa Garlock.
#LaborRadioPod #History #WorkingClass #ClassStruggle @GeorgetownKILWP #LaborHistory @UMDMLA @ILLaborHistory @AFLCIO @StrikeHistory #LaborHistory @wrkclasshistory @LivingNewDeal