Labor History Today

LHT Archives: Painters join Black Lives Matter protests; the history of black police in America; Race and Rebellion

NOTE: This show was originally released on June 14, 2020.“We're sick and tired of being left out. We're sick and tired of not being heard. And we're sick and tired of our communities, where we live and work, are not being heard.”That’s Ken Rigmaiden, president of the Painters union. Our Cool Things at the Meany Archive team caught up with him last Monday when the Painters joined the Black Lives Matters protests in downtown Washington, DC…
“I'll be frank with you, I've watched police behavior and reform and policies over time. It's been sort of a surprising, shocking that many of the police departments have sort of reverted to tactics, you know, that mirrored or that represented how police operated before African American mayors and before African-Americans became police chiefs and police commissioners.”W. Marvin Dulaney, emeritus professor of history at the University of Texas Arlington and the author of Black Police in America talks with LHT’s Patrick Dixon about the history of black police in America.            “Just the fact that they've devoted so much space to trying to explain how we got here I think sort of validates the idea that you really need to understand the past to understand what's happening in the present.”Archivist Megan Courtney talks about the 1968 Kerner Commission Report with Dan Golodner and Troy Eller English in their podcast Tales from the Reuther Archive…
That’s all on this week’s Labor History Today, along with a song from the R.J. Phillips Band recorded three years ago for the families who have lost loved ones as a result of police brutality. And, on Labor History in 2, we hear about a miner shot dead trying to organize.
Produced by Chris Garlock. Patrick Dixon produced and edited the W. Marvin Dulaney interview; Alan Wierdak produces Cool Things from the Meany Archives. To contribute a labor history item, email laborhistorytoday@gmail.com
Labor History Today is produced by the Metro Washington Council’s Union City Radio and the Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor at Georgetown University. We're a proud founding member of the Labor Radio Podcast Network, more than 100 shows focusing on working people’s issues and concerns. 
#LaborRadioPod #History #WorkingClass #ClassStruggle @ILLaborHistory @RickSmithShow @GeorgetownKILWP #LaborHistory @UMDMLA @GoIUPAT
Links:Tales from the Reuther Archive
Labor History in 2

The 1913 Dublin Lock-out

Irish historian John Dorney discussed the 1913 Dublin Lock-out at a recent meeting of the NoVA Labor Book Club. The Dublin lock-out was a major industrial dispute between approximately 20,000 workers and 300 employers which took place in Ireland's capital city of Dublin. Often viewed as the most significant industrial dispute in Irish history, the dispute lasted from August 26, 1913 to January 18, 1914. The central issue was the workers' right to unionize.Dorney – whose father led the Irish Teachers' Union for 25 years -- is the author of "The Civil War in Dublin" and "Peace After the Final Battle - The Story of the Irish Revolution."Music: 1913 Lockout by musicians Don Baker & Gerry Hendrick On today’s Labor History in 2: The year was 1937. That was the day known as among the darkest days for Labor, the Memorial Day Massacre.To contribute a labor history item, email laborhistorytoday@gmail.com
Labor History Today is produced by the Metro Washington Council’s Union City Radio and the Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor at Georgetown University. We're a proud founding member of the Labor Radio Podcast Network, more than 100 shows focusing on working people’s issues and concerns. #LaborRadioPod
#LaborRadioPod #History #WorkingClass #ClassStruggle @ILLaborHistory @RickSmithShow @GeorgetownKILWP #LaborHistory @va_labor Edited/produced by Chris Garlock and Patrick Dixon; social media guru: Harold Phillips

Shootout in Matewan; General strike in KC

On May 19, 1920, a deadly shootout took place in Matewan, West Virginia between striking union miners and coal company agents; Record West Virginia launched their show last year with a retelling of this famous battle. And just two years earlier, a general strike took place in Kansas City, sparked by solidarity between black and white women workers. The Heartland Labor Forum’s Judy Ancel brings us the story of this important but little-known moment in labor history.On today’s Labor History in 2: The year was 1934. That was the day the Lucas County Sheriff ordered an attack on thousands of Electric Auto-Lite strikers and Unemployed League supporters, touching off the six-day Battle of Toledo.To contribute a labor history item, email laborhistorytoday@gmail.com
Labor History Today is produced by the Metro Washington Council’s Union City Radio and the Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor at Georgetown University. We're a proud founding member of the Labor Radio Podcast Network, more than 100 shows focusing on working people’s issues and concerns. #LaborRadioPod
#LaborRadioPod #History #WorkingClass #ClassStruggle @ILLaborHistory @RickSmithShow @GeorgetownKILWP #LaborHistory @RecordWV @Heartland_Labor Edited/produced by Chris Garlock and Patrick Dixon; social media guru: Harold Phillips

Passaic textile strike & LAWCHA preview

This year marks the 95th anniversary of the 1926 textile strike in Passaic,  New Jersey, when some 15,000 unskilled wool workers -- mostly immigrants and half of them women -- struck for more than a year for higher wages and better conditions. We talk about the strike and its relevance to today’s struggles with Jacob Zumoff, author of The Red Thread, the first comprehensive study of this historic strike.This Friday, the biennial conference of LAWCHA – The Labor And Working Class History Association – kicks off. It’s being held online, making it available to labor history fans around the world. The theme this year is “Workers on the Front Lines”; LHT’s Patrick Dixon gets a preview from conference co-chair Peter Cole.
On today’s Labor History in 2: The year was 1934. That was the day Minneapolis Teamsters walked off the job.To contribute a labor history item, email laborhistorytoday@gmail.com
Labor History Today is produced by the Metro Washington Council’s Union City Radio and the Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor at Georgetown University. We're a proud founding member of the Labor Radio Podcast Network, more than 100 shows focusing on working people’s issues and concerns. #LaborRadioPod
#LaborRadioPod #History #WorkingClass #ClassStruggle @ILLaborHistory @RickSmithShow @GeorgetownKILWP #LaborHistory @LAWCHA_ORG #LAWCHA2021 @LaborOnline @RutgersUPress @ProfPeterColeEdited/produced by Chris Garlock and Patrick Dixon; social media guru: Harold Phillips

Sea Shanties and the Pleasure of Work

Kathy Newman tries to figure out why this 200-year-old genre is suddenly so popular, and Drunk History’s version of the 1886 Haymarket Riot. On today’s Labor History in 2: The Historic ‘34 West Coast Maritime Strike Begins. Thanks to the Working Class Perspectives blog, Comedy Central’s Drunk History show and The Haymarket Squares.
To contribute a labor history item, email laborhistorytoday@gmail.com
Labor History Today is produced by the Metro Washington Council’s Union City Radio and the Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor at Georgetown University. We're a proud founding member of the Labor Radio Podcast Network, more than 100 shows focusing on working people’s issues and concerns. #LaborRadioPod
#LaborRadioPod #History #WorkingClass #ClassStruggle @ILLaborHistory @RickSmithShow #LaborHistory @_kathymnewmanEdited/produced by Chris Garlock and Patrick Dixon; social media guru: Harold Phillips

50 years of “Strike!”

"So many people have been unwilling to say the word strike, but say it with me: Strike, strike, strike!" AFA president Sara Nelson’s inspirational keynote at the April 6 symposium celebrating the 50th anniversary of Jeremy Brecher’s classic labor history book “Strike!” On today’s Labor History in 2: Our Thing is DRUM!
To contribute a labor history item, email laborhistorytoday@gmail.com
Labor History Today is produced by the Metro Washington Council’s Union City Radio and the Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor at Georgetown University. We're a proud founding member of the Labor Radio Podcast Network, more than 100 shows focusing on working people’s issues and concerns. #LaborRadioPod
#LaborRadioPod #History #WorkingClass #ClassStruggle @ILLaborHistory @RickSmithShow #LaborHistory @PMPressOrg @FlyingWithSara @labornotes @LN4SEdited/produced by Chris Garlock and Patrick Dixon; social media guru: Harold Phillips

Mourn for the dead, fight like hell for the living!

April 28 is a National Day of Mourning, or Workers Memorial Day, observed in over 100 countries around the world. From the On the Line: Stories of BC Workers podcast, we bring you the story of Bea Zucco, a third generation pioneer from Grand Forks, British Columbia and a miner's wife. Ordinary in so many ways, and yet absolutely extraordinary in her determination to see justice prevail and secure a pension for her silicosis-stricken husband. On today’s Labor History in 2: UAW Mobilizes Against Taft-Hartley
To contribute a labor history item, email laborhistorytoday@gmail.com
Labor History Today is produced by the Metro Washington Council’s Union City Radio and the Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor at Georgetown University. We're a proud founding member of the Labor Radio Podcast Network, more than 100 shows focusing on working people’s issues and concerns. #LaborRadioPod
#LaborRadioPod #History #WorkingClass #ClassStruggle @ILLaborHistory @RickSmithShow #LaborHistory @BC_LHCEdited/produced by Chris Garlock and Patrick Dixon; social media guru: Harold Phillips

Ludlow: My name is Louis Tikas

Brockman Sewell’s original dramatic performance based on the 1914 Ludlow Massacre in Colorado, which occurred 117 years ago on April 20. Labor History Today contributor Saul Schniderman with his tribute to labor and protest singer Anne Feeney.On today’s Labor History in 2: We Have Fed You All A Thousand Years
To contribute a labor history item, email laborhistorytoday@gmail.com
Labor History Today is produced by the Metro Washington Council’s Union City Radio and the Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor at Georgetown University. We're a proud founding member of the Labor Radio Podcast Network, more than 100 shows focusing on working people’s issues and concerns. #LaborRadioPod #History #WorkingClass #ClassStruggle @ILLaborHistory @RickSmithShow #LaborHistory Edited/produced by Chris Garlock and Patrick Dixon; social media guru: Harold Phillips