LAWCHA Member Paul Ortiz wrote a stunning article on the nearly uncelebrated Emancipation Day, May 20, in Florida. He writes, “Today, May 20, is Emancipation Day in Florida. In order to commemorate this magnificent event–which is all but forgotten in the Sunshine State–the Coalition of Immokalee Workers asked me to write a short essay on the significance of Emancipation Day in a state where slavery is still a fact of life for thousands of workers in our agricultural industry.

On the hundredth anniversary of the Bread and Roses textile strike, over 300 labor activists, researchers and community members gathered on April 28 in Lawrence, Massachusetts. The strike, which began on January 11, 1912, was one of the transformative labor victories of the twentieth century.