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Matewan (DC Labor FilmFest)
Monday, May 20, 2024, 6:45 PM; AFI Silver Theatre, 8633 Colesville Rd, Silver Spring, MD 20910
This American labor classic is based on the 1920 showdown between West Virginia coal miners and coal company agents hired to prevent them from unionizing. As organizer Joe Kenehan (Chris Cooper, in his film debut) explains, "They got you fightin' white against colored, native against foreign, hollow against hollow, when you know there ain't but two sides in this world — them that work and them that don't. You work, they don't. That's all you got to know about the enemy." The cast includes James Earl Jones, Mary McDonnell, David Strathairn and Will Oldham; with Oscar®-nominated cinematography by Haskell Wexler. (Note courtesy of Rochester Labor Film Series.) DIR/SCR John Sayles; PROD Peggy Rajski, Maggie Renzi. U.S., 1987, color, 135 min. RATED PG-13
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Office Space (DC Labor FilmFest)
Wednesday, May 22, 2024, 7:00 PM until 9:00 PM; AFI Silver Theatre, 8633 Colesville Rd, Silver Spring, MD 20910
"I could burn this place down." The perennial DC Labor FilmFest favorite OFFICE SPACE returns for its 25th anniversary! Ron Livingston, Ajay Naidu and David Herman star as three disgruntled workers at the dreary, fluorescent-lit office of Initech who learn of impending layoffs at the company and hatch a scheme to embezzle from their greedy bosses; co-starring Jennifer Aniston, Stephen Root, Gary Cole, John C. McGinley and Diedrich Bader. Director Mike Judge's theatrical debut was largely ignored upon release but has become a veritable ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW for cube-farmers everywhere. DIR/SCR/PROD Mike Judge; PROD Daniel Rappaport, Michael Rotenberg. U.S., 1999, color, 89 min. RATED R
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Chopped Liver and Unions
Wednesday, May 22, through Friday, June 7
59 East 59 Street Theaters, New York City, NY
One-person show about Sara Wesker, ardent trade unionist & needle-trades organizer in the East End of London in the 1920s & 1930. Wesker galvanized a traditionally compliant workforce. She marched in 1936, sang on the picket lines, and took part in the Battle of Cable Street against Oswald Mosley's Fascist Blackshirts. Featuring protest songs sung by the “Singing Strikers of 1928.” $32. 59 East 59 Street Theaters. Sat. & Sun. matinees at 2:30 pm. INFO/TICKETS
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Labor Heritage Power Hour
Thursday, May 23, 2024, 1:00 PM until 2:00 PM
A weekly radio show
celebrating the cultural heritage of the American worker. Hosted by Chris Garlock and Elise Bryant and produced by the Labor Heritage Foundation;
broadcast on WPFW 89.3FM; Podcast version available
at 2p
THIS WEEK: Audio postcard from the May 18 dedication of the new Ben Fletcher mural
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Philoine Fried Awards/Book Talk: A Power among Them
Thursday, May 23, 7:00 PM until 8:00 PM ET
Join the NY Labor History Association in celebrating cellist Daryl Goldberg, 2024 winner of the Philoine Fried Award & proud member of American Federation of Musicians Local 802. The Philoine Fried Award is given annually to a rank-and-file union member who makes outstanding, heretofore under-appreciated efforts to support her union.
RSVP HERE
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Opening Reception; Saturday, May 25, 2024, 7 PM ; Hair and Nails Gallery, 2222
1/2 E. 35th St., Minneapolis, MN 55407
INFO/DETAILS HERE Brooks Turner and the gallery timed this show to coincide with the 90th Anniversary of the 1934 Truck Drivers Strike in Minneapolis. The artist’s process began with deep research into this historic event and reflection on its reverberations in our present moment. This body of work continues in the thread of Turner’s research into the history of fascism in Minnesota seen in recent exhibitions at Weisman Art Museum and Perlman Teaching Museum.
In Voters in Revolt, Turner deploys a different medium in each room of the gallery. The visitor enters to see four large machine-woven tapestries depicting critical moments from the 1934 strike through collages of photographs placed within imagined floral and forest landscapes. Strike Scenes, a series of pen and ink drawings on handmade paper, offers a more intimate view of the strike through small scale reimaginings of historical photographs and paintings of the Minnesota landscape. The final work, Path Through the Wilderness, is an audio installation exploring the power and potency of labor organizing in Minnesota through the voice of Meridel LeSueur.
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We Are One – Honoring Immigrant Garment Workers
Through August 24, 2024; Wed-Sat, 1-4 pm & by appointment.
American Labor Museum/Botto House National Landmark, Haledon, NJ
20,000 members of Local 23-25 of the International Ladies Garment Workers Union – most of them Chinese immigrant women – walked off the job in protest in 1982, staging a brief, successful strike. Historic photographs and artifacts salute the extraordinary outpouring of energy of women.
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Collective Action: Labor Activism in 21st Century Baltimore
Through December 31, 2024; Baltimore Museum of Industry, Baltimore, MD
A bold new exhibition at the Baltimore Museum of Industry exploring the historic and contemporary organized labor movement.
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NOTE: There are dozens of labor arts events across the country on our updated website; check them out, let us know what you think, and send details on any events we should know about to info@laborheritage.org | |
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9,000 rubber workers strike in Akron, Ohio – 1933
This week’s Labor History Today podcast: The new Ben Fletcher mural (to be posted later today!)
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"The worker must have bread, but she must have roses, too."
Please CLICK HERE NOW to pledge your financial support to our 2024 program, which includes our annual Solidarity Forever Award, the Great Labor Arts Exchange, the DC Labor FilmFest and much more (check out our website for details!).
Donations are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law.
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