Labor History Today

Sharecroppers’ struggles for rights and power

Patrick Dixon talks with James Benton about the emergence of sharecropping as a compromise between former slaves – freedmen – and landowners, and sharecroppers subsequent struggles for rights and power. Benton is the Director of the Race and Economic Empowerment Project at the The Kalmanovitz Initiative at Georgetown University. For our Labor History Object of the week, Ben Blake at the Meany Labor Archives pulls out a collection of buttons from the Solidarnosc union movement in Poland.
NOTE: This podcast originally aired on October 7, 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 Union City Radio and the Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor. Engineered by Chris Garlock.
Labor history sources include Today in Labor History, by David Prosten.
This week's music: Sharecropper's Blues, featuring Charlie Barnet with Kay Starr on vocals.

Socialist fairy tales

From the Working Class History podcast, acclaimed author, poet and Professor of Children’s Literature Michael Rosen talks about his anthology, Workers’ Tales: Socialist Fairy Tales, Fables, and Allegories from Great Britain, which gathers together short stories from the labor and socialist press between 1880 and 1920. The Working Class History podcast is put out by an international collective of worker-activists whose social media and podcast project uncovers our collective history of fighting for a better world and promotes it to educate and inspire a new generation of activists. On this week’s Labor History in Two: A shot of opportunity; the IWW organizes Starbucks.
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

Pueblo steelworkers’ historic strike

“Steel City: 1980-2004” is a new exhibit at the El Pueblo History Museum covering the historic steel strike in Pueblo, Colorado. From the Labor Exchange, a podcast put out by the Colorado AFL-CIO, host Robert Lindgren talks to History Colorado’s Zach Werkowitch about the exhibit, which chronicles a defining period in Pueblo’s history as steelworkers and their families fought for labor rights and held their community together during often desperate times. On this week’s Labor History in Two: A Large Pepperoni Pizza and a Union.
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 @AflBobby @ElPuebloMuseum @KGNU

It’s not working on the railroad

Labor historian Erik Loomis (A History of America in Ten Strikes) talks with The Rick Smith Show about how the issues that brought rail workers to the brink of a major strike this week trace back to a long history of abuse by railroad bosses, and a tradition of militance by the men and women who work on the nation’s railroads. Plus, historical perspective on the tentative rail agreement from The American Prospect Editor At Large Harold Meyerson.
On this week’s Labor History in Two: the 1934 textile strike and the 1947 Harvester strike.
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. Editing this week by Patrick Dixon.
#LaborRadioPod #History #WorkingClass #ClassStruggle @GeorgetownKILWP #LaborHistory @UMDMLA @ILLaborHistory @AFLCIO @StrikeHistory #LaborHistory @wrkclasshistory @ErikLoomis @HaroldMeyerson

A miasma of metals

On November 1, 1948, smog produced by the southwestern Pennsylvanian steel industry poisoned the air in the Monongahela Valley town of Donora, killing more than 22 people and sickening thousands more. On today’s show, Louise Milone a Ph.D. candidate in the University of Georgia Department of History explores the response of the US Steel Corporation, employees, and Donora residents; and she explains how the United Steelworkers of America pushed for an investigation and improved environmental and health and safety regulations following the disaster. The story comes to us from Tales from the Reuther Library, a podcast focusing on stories on labor history, Detroit, and Wayne State University.
Also on today’s show, from Labor History in 2:00: The Lattimer Massacre; Chicago Teachers Say, Enough!Got a 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. Hosted and produced by Chris Garlock. 
#LaborRadioPod #History #WorkingClass #ClassStruggle @GeorgetownKILWP #LaborHistory @UMDMLA @ILLaborHistory @AFLCIO @StrikeHistory @ReutherLibrary

NC Labor History Revealed!

North Carolina’s low union density today belies its rich history of worker organizing since the birth of the American labor movement in the 1800s, but this new podcast by North Carolina’s labor union federation aims to bring that history to light.
Also on today’s show, from Labor History in 2:00: Reconstruction Crumbles In Mississippi, and The Peekskill Riots. Got a 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. Hosted and produced by Chris Garlock. 
#LaborRadioPod #History #WorkingClass #ClassStruggle @GeorgetownKILWP #LaborHistory @UMDMLA @ILLaborHistory @AFLCIO @StrikeHistory #LaborHistory @NCStateAFLCIO #UnionStrong #1u #UnionsForAll

Mother Jones and Fannie Sellins

A month before the August 1919 steel strike in Homestead, Pennsylvania,Mother Jones was arrested for addressing a large crowd on Eighth Avenue. And on August 26, 1919, Mine Workers organizer Fannie Sellins and miner Joseph Starzeleski were murdered by coal company guards on a picket line in Brackenridge, Pennsylvania. You’ll hear their stories today from Charlie's Monday Marker, hosted by Dr. Charles McCollester and produced by the Battle of Homestead Foundation. Charlie’s Monday Marker delves into the fascinating stories behind the more than 60 historical markers listed in "Labor History Sites in the Pittsburgh Region", a book authored by Dr. McCollester and Howard Scott in 2016 and published by Allegheny County Labor Council.
Also on today’s show, from Labor History in 2:00: The 1934 Filipino Lettuce Workers Strike, and The Man You’ve Probably Never Heard Of, But Should Have.Got a 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. Hosted and produced by Chris Garlock. 
#LaborRadioPod #History #WorkingClass #ClassStruggle @GeorgetownKILWP #LaborHistory @UMDMLA @ILLaborHistory @AFLCIO @StrikeHistory #LaborHistory @HomesteadFdn

Scabby The Rat; Smoking at Work; Which Side Are You On? (Encore)

Today’s episode originally ran on August 4, 2019.Labor lawyer Matt Fusco on Scabby, the giant inflatable union protest rat, which faced extermination at the hands of the Trump labor board. Gregory Wood, author of “Clearing the Air: The Rise and Fall of Smoking in the Workplace,” and a special LHT remix of the labor classic “Which Side Are You On?”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. Produced & engineered by Chris Garlock and Patrick Dixon.