WELCOME: News and Events
Mark Your Calendar:
Labor History Events 2012
Annual MLHS Meeting:
The annual meeting of the Michigan Labor History Society is scheduled for Saturday, June 9, from 10 a.m. to 12 noon at the UFCW Local 876 Hall, 876 Horace Brown Drive, Madison Heights MI 48071. A panel will discuss the history of collective bargaining in Michigan and the benefits that union contracts have brought to Michigan workers. The event will be held during the “Renew America Expo” being held at the hall from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. under the auspices of the Michigan AFL-CIO Union Label and Trades Dept. There will be educational events, vendor displays, and more, and food and beverages will be available.
Labor Day Mobilization Luncheon:
This annual event, designed to gear up support for Michigan’s Labor Day Parade, will be held starting at 11:30 a.m. on Wednesday, August 22, 2012 at UAW Region 1A, 9650 South Telegraph, Taylor, Michigan. Senator Debbie Stabenow has been invited to give the keynote address. For tickets and information, please contact Leigh Kegerreis, 313-291-2750.
Labor Day Parade:
As always, the Michigan Labor Day parade will take place on Labor Day, this year on Monday, Sept. 3. Times and routes are in development and information will be posted when details are completed.
North American Labor History Conference and Film Showing:
This annual event will take place October 18-20 at Wayne State University in Detroit. The conference will begin with the premiere of a new film, 1913 Massacre, that tells the story of the disaster at Calumet’s Italian Hall in 1913 when 73 people, most of them children, were crushed to death while fleeing a union miners’ holiday party. The event, hosted by the striking miners’ union, ended in tragedy after someone yelled “fire” when there wasn’t one. The film will be shown at 7 p.m. on Thursday, October 18, at the WSU Law School auditorium, and will be open to the public. A labor history tour is tentatively planned for Saturday afternoon, October 20.
Steel Strike Anniversary:
On May 15, the 75th anniversary of the Newton Steel Strike in Monroe, Michigan will be observed at the River Raisin battlefield, and on June 1, the same event will be marked at the Monroe County Labor History Museum in Monroe. For information and directions, please visit http://www.monroelabor.org where you can also earn about ongoing exhibits at Michigan’s only labor history museum.
Take a Walk Down Woodward
Woodward Avenue in downtown Detroit offers visitors an opportunity to learn about major labor history events.
Starting at Grand Circus Park at Woodward and Adams, and continuing for about a mile south to the riverfront, visitors will walk past historic Central United Methodist Church; the statue of the “idol of the people,” Mayor Hazen Pingree; the site of the 1937 sit-down strike at the old Woolworth’s 5-and-dime; Cadillac Square, which has been the scene of many demonstrations and rallies over the years; and Hart Plaza, at the riverfront, home to the Labor Legacy landmark, “Transcending,” and the Underground Railroad monument.
You can take a self-guided tour in about an hour, starting at Grand Circus Park, and then catch a bus to take you back to your starting point. Download the tour from this website by going to the “Labor History” section. Under “Newsletter, Papers, Talks,” you’ll see the Summer 2011 edition of the MLHS newsletter, “Looking Back, Moving Forward,” where you’ll find an annotated description of major sites along Woodward. Enjoy your walk!
New Labor Legacy Signs
Ever since it was installed in 2003, the Labor Legacy Landmark, or “Transcending,” on West Jefferson Ave. just west of Woodward Ave. in downtown Detroit has been seen by thousands of visitors from all over the world. A 62-foot-high pair of stainless-steel arcs is surrounded by bronze bas-relief sculptures that tell stories of local labor and social history and that honor working men and women in many different occupations. A raised dais incorporates dozens of quotations from many men and women — including the classic statement by former hotel workers’ president Myra Wolfgang: “Women were in Labor Before Men Were Born.”
Now, two new signs calling attention to the landmark have been erected, so that pedestrians and drivers on Jefferson Ave. will be introduced to the purpose of “Transcending.” A similar sign faces Hart Plaza and the river, welcoming visitors to the plaza into the landmark area.
A photo of “Transcending” appears on the cover of one of the Detroit road atlases and several photographs are included in the National Geographic book, “Etched in Stone.” By going to the “Labor’s Legacy Landmark” section of this website, you can find further information and photographs.
