Labor History Today

Trouble! at Coal Creek

On this week’s Labor History Today: Activist and artist Austin Sauerbrei talks about his debut graphic novel Trouble! at Coal Creek, which brings to life the 1890s miners’ uprising in Tennessee, where striking workers and Black prisoners found common cause against exploitation. It’s a moving call for solidarity, told in powerful words and images. Austin talked with our colleague Robert Lindgren, who hosts and produces Labor Exchange, the excellent radio show that airs weekly on KGNU Community Radio in Boulder, Colorado.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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Patriotism, Paranoia, and Labor on Trial

On this week’s Labor History Today: Historian Dr. Jeffrey Johnson tells the story of the 1916 San Francisco Preparedness Day bombing and the infamous frame-up of labor leader Tom Mooney, who spent more than two decades behind bars before his eventual release and pardon. Recorded live at the 9th Annual Reuther-Pollock Labor History Symposium, Johnson explores how xenophobia, anti-labor fervor, and miscarriages of justice from a century ago still echo loudly today.Plus, on Labor History in 2:00: The Battle of Blair Mountain.
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 @wrkclasshistory  

Resisting Trump’s Rewrite: Black Slave Labor’s Secret Strategies

This week on Labor History Today: the Solidarity Forever podcast explores how enslaved Black laborers resisted and strategized before the Civil War. At a time when the President attacks the Smithsonian for “focusing too much on slavery,” we’re keeping the people’s history—our history—alive.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. Music: I Be So Glad... When The Sun Goes Down (Ed Lewis) & Oh Freedom! (The Golden Gospel Singers)
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How We Get Free: Worker Solidarity in Racine

On this week’s Labor History Today, scholar and creator Shana L. Redmond sits down with Naomi R Williams, Assistant Professor of Labor Studies and Employment Relations at Rutgers University, to discuss Williams' new book A Blueprint for Worker Solidarity: Class Politics and Community in Wisconsin.
Williams takes us into the history of Racine, Wisconsin — a small industrial city where, in the 1970s and 80s, workers built cross-racial, cross-sector alliances that transformed their community. From “total person unionism” to coalitions linking labor, civil rights, and women’s movements, Racine’s story offers a powerful blueprint for building democracy and justice today. NOTE: This conversation is excerpted from a longer version on the Labor Heritage Power Hour, available on all podcast platforms.
This episode also features John Lewis Says Freedom, a brand-new song from musical storyteller and political satirist Charlie King. And, on Labor History in Two: A Little Security for Workers.
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 @wrkclasshistory  

Hard Hats, Grapes, and Garbage

This week on Labor History Today: From Nixon’s “hard hat” protest to reform battles inside the Steelworkers, from Philly’s once-every-40-years sanitation strikes to the enduring call of the Delano grape boycott — we explore how workers have fought, organized, and reshaped history. Today’s show features excerpts from America’s Workforce Radio, Tales from the Reuther Library, The Labor Jawn, Solidarity Works, and The Rick Smith Show’s Labor History in 2:00. Plus: a 1922 railroad walkout that rattled the steel industry.

The Worthy Wages Movement for Childcare Workers

On this week’s Labor History Today, we feature the Tales from the Ruther Library podcast, where Dan Golodner talks with historian Dr. Justine Modica about the history of childcare labor in the U.S. and the “Worthy Wage” movement that emerged in Seattle in the 1990s. Plus: in labor history, striking Teamsters in 1934 Minneapolis defy martial law. Hosted by Patrick Dixon.
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 @wrkclasshistory  

If Wages Aren’t Increasing, How Do We Expect This to Work?

On today’s Labor Radio Podcast Daily: The Worker Power Hour tackles the housing crisis and wage stagnation in Southern California.In labor history, on this date in 1970, Delano grape growers signed their first union contracts with the United Farm Workers.Quote of the day: Cesar Chavez.
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Proud founding member of the Labor Radio Podcast Network

The Raging Erie: Life, Labor, and the Canal That Changed America

This week on Labor History Today: author Mark S. Ferrara joins labor educator Linda Donahue to explore the hidden history of the workers who built and lived along the Erie Canal. Based on Ferrara’s book The Raging Erie, the conversation uncovers the stories of Native Americans whose land was taken, immigrant laborers who carved the canal by hand, orphan children who worked as mule drivers, and the canallers who helped shape America’s expansion westward.
As the Erie Canal celebrates its 200th anniversary, this episode shines a light on the hardship, solidarity, and resistance that defined life along its banks—and the enduring legacy of labor beneath the surface of this iconic public project.Click here to enter the Unions Power America sweepstakes; Grand Prize is $40K + a dream holiday trip to NYC, plus, they’ve got some life-changing cash for First, Second and Third Prizes!
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 @wrkclasshistory