Anthony DeStefanis and Rosemary Feurer wrote blogs simultaneously in response to a central question raised at the Ludlow Commemoration this weekend: Was Ludlow a Massacre? We present these here separately, and invite commentary. UPDATE: We now have a response from Scott Martelle, who initiated the question.
Read more →The Chicago Teachers Union’s (CTU) recent decision to boycott Illinois Standards Achievement Tests, its efforts to fight privatization of education and school closures, and its attempt to break free from business-as-usual politics harkens back to a rich and largely hidden history.
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In the aftermath of the UAW loss in the Volkswagen union election in Tennessee, declarations of “A Titanic Defeat” echo across the blogosphere. The glum analysis reinforces the notion that labor is chronically a victim of conservative workers views and Republican machinations.
Read more →I often hear from trade unionists who stop at Mother Jones’ gravesite and monument in Mount Olive, Ill., (just off Highway 55, about an hour north of St. Louis) and are moved by the experience. For example, during the struggle of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers (BCTGM) union against Hostess Brands in late 2012, someone left a Twinkie on Mother Jones’ grave with a note, “Mother Jones, we need you now!”
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My husband keeps expressing a hankering to go up to Calumet, Michigan on Christmas eve to commemorate the 73 people, mostly children, who lost their lives in the Italian Hall Christmas Eve 1913 tragedy during the militant strike against the copper bosses.
Read more →University professors in Ireland are leading a campaign that links concerns for their work with a concern for education as a public good.
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Labor and New Deal Art: the Commemoration of the Little Steel Strike of 1937 is a wonderful resource for labor historians and teachers, especially those who like to use visuals to generate discussions in their classrooms. I’m teaching a course on the mid- twentieth century this semester, and plan to use this along with some other resources discussed below in the class.
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A remarkable commemoration occurred recently in Winston-Salem, North Carolina–a tribute to the connections forged between civil rights and unionism 70 years ago.
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On May 6, Bob Korstad joined civil rights activists, 2 former presidents of the Organization of American Historians and other concerned citizens to protest the North Carolina legislature moves including denial of and restrictions on health care access, curtailing of uenmployment benefits; restrictions on the right to vote; tax reductions for the rich.
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As I write this it’s Workers’ Memorial Day, an event that barely gets a blip on the media screens. But it brought to my mind one of the first union demonstrations I ever participated in, one that protested the decline in OSHA standards.
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