Originally released February 27, 2022 On July 17, 1944, a group of sailors and civilians were loading ships with ammunition and bombs at Port Chicago, a naval magazine and barracks in the San Francisco Bay Area. Tragically, the ships blew up in a massive explosion that instantly killed 320 workers and injured hundreds more. Most of the dead were African Americans, since racial segregation consigned Black soldiers and sailors to manual labor and service, including the dangerous work of transporting munitions. When the surviving workers were ordered back on the job without any additional safety measures or training, 50 refused to return. The resisters, dubbed the “Port Chicago 50,” were found guilty of disobedience of a lawful order and mutiny and received lengthy sentences and dishonorable discharges. Today, the disaster and its aftermath are memorialized at the Port Chicago Naval Magazine National Memorial, one of a small number of National Park sites that commemorate death and dying on the job. Last October, as part of "Monumental Labor," a three-part online series that explored the memory of work and working peoples in National Parks and National Historic Landmarks, a distinguished panel discussed “Tragedy and Resistance at Port Chicago Naval Magazine.” Dr. Albert Broussard, Professor of History at Texas A&M University, Tom Leatherman, former Superintendent at the Port Chicago Naval Magazine National Memorial, and Dr. Erika Doss, Professor of American Studies at the University of Notre Dame, discussed African American labor in the West, the memorial’s role in shaping the memory of the Port Chicago disaster, and how the event should inform commonly-told histories of “America’s Greatest War.” The "Monumental Labor" series was organized by Dr. Eleanor Mahoney and Dr. Emma Silverman. Dr. Mahoney has contributed to Labor History Today before, and we appreciate her help bringing this discussion to the podcast as Black History Month wraps up. Thanks also to the National Park Service, and to the National Park and Andrew W. Mellon Foundations, which helped make the series possible. On this week’sLabor History in Two: The 1937 Woolworth Sit-Down (1937), and Criminalization of the Sit-Down (1939). Questions, comments or suggestions welcome, and to find out how you can be a part of Labor History Today, email us atLaborHistoryToday@gmail.com Labor History Today is produced byUnion City Radioand theKalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor. Editing this week by Patrick Dixon. #LaborRadioPod #History #WorkingClass #ClassStruggle @GeorgetownKILWP #LaborHistory @UMDMLA @ILLaborHistory @AFLCIO @StrikeHistory #LaborHistory @NatlParkService @elbertscube
This week, labor history takes a deep dive into "True Crime" territory. Billy Gohl was called "The Ghoul of Grays Harbor" in the early 20th Century when he was accused of being the murderer who dumped several bodies into the canals around Aberdeen in Washington State. Was he one of America's first serial killers? Or was he just another in a long line of labor activists framed by the bosses? Find out when Working to Live in Southwest Washington podcast hosts Shannon and Harold talk with Aaron Goings, author of “The Port of Missing Men: Billy Gohl, Labor & Brutal Times in the Pacific Northwest”. Music for today's show: Hellbound Glory Streets of Aberdeen the ballad of Billy Gohl, by Leon Virgil Bowers. On Labor History in 2:00: the year was 1918. That was the day machinist John Connolly was fired from General Electric’s sprawling River Works in West Lynn, Massachusetts. Got a questions, comments or suggestions welcome, and to find out how you can be a part of Labor History Today, e...
On June 24, the Supreme Court overturned the historic 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that legalized abortion in the United States nearly 50 years ago. The decision sent shock waves across the country and through the American labor movement, which recognizes that reproductive rights are a worker issue, affecting millions of working women and their families. Labor historian Joe McCartin argues that “for most of its history, the court's just been a disaster for workers” and on today’s show, McCartin explores that history, warning that “We're not going to see a better Supreme Court…without a movement, without something happening in the streets, without a struggle.” On Labor History in 2:00: the day that American folklorist Archie Green was born in Winnipeg, Canada, and the day known as the East St. Louis Race Riot. Got a questions, comments or suggestions welcome, and to find out how you can be a part of Labor History Today, email us atLaborHistoryToday@gmail.com Labor History Today is p...
Dr. Lane Windham moderates a discussion with Dr. Rosemary Feurer and Josephine Ong, M.A. examining the ongoing struggle to create new memorials to labor organizer Mother Jones and the history of worker organizing that led to the construction of memorials to Filipino Revolutionary leader Apolinario Mabini within War in the Pacific National Historical Park. They also explore connections between marking labor's past and contemporary organizing campaigns. Co-sponsored with the Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor at Georgetown University and Women Innovating Labor Leadership (WILL) Empower. Excerpted from a longer program presented in December 2021 as part of the Monumental Labor series exploring the memory of work and working peoples in National Parks and affiliated sites through their representation in monuments and memorials. The series was organized byNPS Mellon Humanities FellowsDr. Eleanor Mahoney and Dr. Emma Silverman, and was made possible by the National Park ...
This week we find labor history at the recent AFL-CIO convention and the Labor Notes conference. LHT host Chris Garlock and producer Patrick Dixon were at both events and were thrilled to meet so many Labor History Today listeners; please be sure to share Labor History Today with someone you think would enjoy it; that’s how we keep this history alive and how we build the audience for the show. Thank you! At the AFL-CIO convention in Philadelphia last week, producers Patrick Dixon and Mel Smith caught up with the Meany Archives’ Ben Blake and Alan Wierdak who were there with a special exhibit about Philadelphia’s labor history. Then, at the Labor Notes conference in Chicago last weekend, host Chris Garlock talked to Julia Berkowitz, from the Illinois Labor History Society, a name many of you will have heard in the credits for Rick Smith’s Labor History in 2:00 segments, here on Labor History Today. On Labor History in 2:00: Juneteenth (1865) and The Women’s Day Massacre (1937). ...
Highlights from the June 11 tribute at the AFL-CIO Convention to Richard L. Trumka, the fiery Mine Workers president who led his union to victory in the historic 1989 Pittston strike, and went on to lead the AFL-CIO, serving as president from 2009 until his untimely death on August 5, 2021. On Labor History in 2:00: “Team Owners Attack Free Agency”. Got a questions, comments or suggestions welcome, and to find out how you can be a part of Labor History Today, email us atLaborHistoryToday@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 #AFLCIOConv
From the Tales from the Reuther Library podcast, Dr. Krysta Ryzewski explains how historical archaeology digs at famous Detroit locales – including the Little Harry speakeasy, the Blue Bird Inn, and the Grande Ballroom – have clarified how underrepresented communities of Detroit experienced and responded to the Great Migration, changing economic forces, and a shifting political and social landscape in the 20th century. Ryzweski is an associate professor and chair of the Anthropology Department at Wayne State University, and author ofDetroit Remains: Archaeology and Community Histories of Six Legendary Places. On Labor History in 2:00: “The Big One”; GM workers in Flint, Michigan walk off the job in 1998. Got a questions, comments or suggestions welcome, and to find out how you can be a part of Labor History Today, email us atLaborHistoryToday@gmail.com Labor History Today is produced by Union City Radio and the Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor. Hosted and pr...
(Originally released May 27, 2018) Labor historians Joe McCartin, Ben Blake and Julie Greene remember the 1937 Memorial Day Massacre, when police opened fire on striking steelworkers at Republic Steel in South Chicago, killing ten and wounding more than 160. Patrick Dixon interviews Tom Sito on the 1941 strike by animators against Walt Disney. Sito, a well-known American animator (Who Framed Roger Rabbit, The Lion King, Shrek and many more), animation historian and teacher, is the author of “Drawing the Line: The Untold Story of the Animation Unions from Bosko to Bart Simpson.” And in this week’s Labor History Object of the Week we take a look at a United Farm Worker banner commemorating the 1965 strike against grape growers in California. The banner is part of the exhibit “For Liberty, Justice, And Equality: Unions Making History In America” at the George Meany Labor Archives at the University of Maryland College Park campus. Plus we’ve got music by Joe Glazer, the Eureka's, ...
Featuring archival audio interviews and labour songs of the time, our show this week examines the forced labour relief camps the Federal Government of Canada set upin response to the so-called "Dirty Thirties" or "Great Depression." The show comes from On the Line: Stories of BC Workers, a terrific labor history podcast put out by the BC Labour Heritage Centre. On Labor History in 2:00: The 1934 “Battle of Deputies’ Run,” and Chicago’s first teachers’ strike, in 1969. Got a questions, comments or suggestions welcome, and to find out how you can be a part of Labor History Today, email us atLaborHistoryToday@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 @BC_LHC
On the brand-new Ironworkers Rising podcast, hosts Anna Woodbury and Ron Gray talk with Rich Rowe and Charlie McCollester, iron workers who got bitten by the labor history bug. Drawing on Rich and Charlie’s extensive experience and knowledge as educators, historians and activists, they discuss historical events such as the Haymarket Square Massacre, the Homestead Strike and more. On Labor History in 2:00: The year was 1942.The labor movement lost one of its prolific voices.T Bone Slim was born Matti Valentinpoika Huhta in Ashtabula Ohio. Questions, comments or suggestions welcome, and to find out how you can be a part of Labor History Today, email us atLaborHistoryToday@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 @IWOrgani...