Mother Jones Online Museum and More Highlights at AFL-CIO Cool Tools
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The real life working-class hero Mary “Mother” Jones now has her own virtual museum that documents the struggles, victories and history of the woman once dubbed “America’s Most Dangerous Woman.”
The online Mother Jones Museum is the featured item in our newest collection of Cool Tools—the latest selection of books, DVDs, websites and other media with a working-class bent. Cool Tools also highlights three books and a DVD on Latina sweatshop workers’ struggles and victories.
The Mother Jones Museum describes itself as a “virtual museum and curricula about the amazing labor agitator.” It includes links to her entire autobiography and other documents about militant labor history. As the site states:
We believe that she still has something to teach us after all these years.
One page features my favorite Mother Jones quote:
I asked a man in prison once, how he happened to be there, and he said he had stolen loaf of bread. I told him if he had stolen a railroad, he’d be a U.S. senator.
Labor Leader Slain in 1907 Honored in Massachusetts
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The staff of the Massachusetts AFL-CIO sent us this great report.
In 1907, Edward Cohen, the president of the Massachusetts American Federation of Labor (AFL) and crusader for strong child labor laws, workers’ rights and workplace safety, was shot and killed by a man attempting to assassinate Gov. Curtis Guild Jr.
This week, a huge bronze plaque honoring Cohen’s achievements and labor’s contributions to Bay State workers was unveiled at the Massachusetts State House. Massachusetts AFL-CIO President Robert Haynes says the dedication of the plaque “is one of the greatest moments in our history.”
Where else is there a plaque that is dedicated to a slain labor leader and which captures all the amazing contributions of the labor movement in such a prominent location as between the offices of the governor and the speaker in our esteemed State House?”
Ludlow Massacre Site Dedicated as National Landmark
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Today, Mine Workers (UMWA) leaders, union activists, lawmakers and historians will dedicate the site of the 1914 Ludlow Massacre—one of the bloodiest chapters in the nation’s labor history—as a National Historic Landmark.
On April 20, 1914, in Ludlow, Colo., thugs hired by several coal companies and the Colorado militia attacked a peaceful encampment of striking miners and their families. By the end of the day, 20 were shot or burned to death, including 14 women and children.
More than 90 years ago, UMWA erected a monument there. But since 1918, despite the efforts of family survivors, historians and labor activists, there was no state or national commemoration of the site.
Earlier this year, the U.S. Department of the Interior designated Ludlow a National Historic Landmark. UMWA President Cecil Roberts says the designation will “preserve the memory of this brutal attack on workers and their families.”
The tragic lessons from Ludlow still echo through our nation, and they must never be forgotten by Americans who truly care about workplace fairness and equality. With this designation, the story of what happened at Ludlow will remain part of our nation’s history. That is as it should be.
Work Songs, Bargaining for Work and Family and More from Cool Tools
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Our latest edition of Cool Tools includes a look at successful Blue-Green coalitions, working songs from labor’s long musical history and educational resources to help you put vital family life issues on the bargaining table. The AFL-CIO’s Cool Tools assembles the latest hot picks for union activists and allies. (If you can’t locate the items at The Union Shop Online,TM try Powell’s Books, the nation’s largest union bookstore, or get a list of union stores at The Union Shop Online.TM)
Union and environmental activists are finding new power and success in the growing Blue-Green movement. University of Florida sociologist Brian Mayer’s new book, Blue-Green Coalitions: Fighting for Safe Workplaces and Healthy Communities, finds that
attempts to build blue-green coalitions are likely to succeed when [workplace and environmental] health is the starting point for finding a common ground.
94 Years After Ludlow Massacre, Site Now National Historic Landmark
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On April 20, 1914, in Ludlow, Colo., one of the bloodiest chapters in the nation’s labor history was written. Thugs hired by several coal companies and the Colorado militia attacked a peaceful encampment of striking miners and their families. By the end of the day, 20 were shot or burned to death, including 14 women and children.
It has long been a hallowed site: In 1918, the Mine Workers (UMWA) erected a monument there. Yet for decades, despite the efforts of historians and labor activists, there was no state or national commemoration of the site.
But last month, the U.S. Department of the Interior designated Ludlow a National Historic Landmark. Says UMWA President Cecil Roberts:
This is the culmination of years of work by UMWA members, retirees and staff, as well as many hundreds of ordinary citizens who recognize and have fought to preserve the memory of this brutal attack on workers and their families.
The tragic lessons from Ludlow still echo through our nation, and they must never be forgotten by Americans who truly care about workplace fairness and equality. With this designation, the story of what happened at Ludlow will remain part of our nation’s history. That is as it should be.
In 1913, southern Colorado miners and their families walked out of the mines and mining camps striking for adequate wages, enforcement of state mining laws and union recognition. For more than a year, they lived in tent colonies near the mines. According to UMWA history of the Ludlow Massacre:
Upon striking, the miners and their families had been evicted from their company-owned houses and had set up a tent colony on public property. The massacre occurred in a carefully planned attack on the tent colony by Colorado militiamen, coal company guards, and thugs hired as private detectives and strike breakers.
Back to School to Learn Labor History
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As children begin returning to school after the holidays, AFT is providing tools for educators to teach them things they ought to know about America’s labor history. A special section in the winter edition of American Educator, the union’s quarterly journal, focuses on the importance of including labor history in our classrooms.
With the key protections for workers unions have gained under attack, there is a greater need for the next generation to understand the real role of working men and women in building the nation and making it a better place, contributors to the journal say.
James Green, a professor at the University of Massachusetts-Boston, explains that learning about the role of working men and women shows students “the contributions that generations of union activists have made to building a nation and to democratizing and humanizing its often brutal workplaces.”
While their predecessors successfully fought for monumental changes that benefited all Americans (not just union members), such as passing the Social Security Act of 1935 and ending child labor, today’s union veterans can take pride in their own accomplishments. For example, they pushed for mine safety laws and workers’ compensation laws. They fought for the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, the Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978, the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, and the Family and Medical Leave Act.
Putting Labor on D.C.’s Map
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Forget a tip of the hat. A huge round of applause is in order for Chris Garlock, editor of the Metropolitan Washington Council’s Union City, for launching an interactive labor map.
The just-launched D.C. Labor Map lets users find current and historic labor sites in Washington, D.C., along with union hotels, restaurants, international and local union organizations and labor art.
Whether you are using it for a virtual tour of labor in the nation’s capital or planning a real-life walking tour, the map offers a bunch of great information.
Click on the legend prompt to view and choose a category from a list that includes labor art, union struggles, union restaurants and historic makers. Selecting “labor art” will pop up 11 sites around town where you can take in murals, sculptures and other artwork dedicated to workers and their jobs.
