The History Project - University of California, Davis

Image Collection / Roland Marchand / Labor / Labor Organizations and Leaders

	John L. Lewis, President of the United Mine Workers, 1920-60. A dramatic shot of his gesturing to make a point, 1936. Labor czar Lewis blasts Republican Presidential candidate Alf Landon as a "pitiful puppet responsible to the steel industry." Harris & Ewing photograph, Gilloon Agency. Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, Washington, DC20540. In Eds. of Time-Life Books, This Fabulous Century, IV, 1930-40, 1970, p. 163. 8.12.6, 11.6.5
	John L. Lewis, President of the United Mine Workers, in miner's cap and with soot on his face, surveying the March 25, 1947, mine explosion in Centralia, Illinois that killed 111 miners. Reprinted with permission of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, copyright 1951. St. Louis Post- Dispatch, 900 N. Tucker Blvd., St. Louis, MO 63101. All rights reserved. Our thanks to the Post-Dispatch. In M.B. Schnapper, American Labor, 1972, p. 513. 8.12.6, 11.6.5
	Auto workers' sit-down strike in the Dodge plant in Detroit, 1936. Workers are looking out of plant windows. Signs: "We will hold the fort with you;" "Injunction will not produce cars;" "10 Days Now…." Copyright holder unknown. Photoworld, Inc., 522a Third Ave., New York, NY 10016. In William Cahn, Pictorial History of American Workers, 1972, p. 262. 8.12.6, 11.6.5
	Coxey's Army on its way to Washington to petition for relief from mass unemployment, 1894. Copyright holder unknown. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, Washington, DC 20540. In Eds. of American Heritage, An American Heritage Pictorial History of the Presidents of the U.S., Vol. II, 1968, pp. 572-3. 8.12.6, 11.6.5
	March of steelworkers. Signs: "Steelworkers on the march, 500,000 strong;" "A Gallant Leader...Roosevelt." Beaver Valley, Pa., 1936. An example of the combined campaign for Franklin D. Roosevelt and the CIO. The Steel Workers Organizing Committee drive began in midsummer 1936; organizers invaded the small shanty towns along the Monongahela River, into Youngstown, Aliquippa and Gary. In March 1937 US Steel recognized SWOC as bargaining agent, raised wages 10%, and established an 8-hour day. By July 75% of "Big Steel" was organized. Courtesy of The United Steelworkers of America, Five Gateway Center, Pittsburgh PA 15222. All rights reserved. Our thanks to the Steelworkers. In M.B. Schnapper, American Labor, 1972, p. 517. 11.6.5
	Alexander Berkman addressing a crowd in Union Square on May Day, 1908. Berkman had served fourteen years in prison for his attempt to kill Henry Clay Frick at the time of the Homestead Steel strike in 1892. Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, Washington, DC 20540. In John A. Kouwenhoven, Columbia Historical Portrait of New York, 1953, p. 452. 11.6.5
	Jacob Coxey in jail, May 1894. Coxey, the utterly respectable rebel. With him in the cage are Christopher Columbus Jones, a lieutenant, and (at right) Coxey's principal aide, Carl "Old Greasy" Browne, carnival barker, artist, and sometime seller of Kickapoo Indian Remedy. General Coxey was "the most dangerous man since the Civil War" (source unknown). Poem: "And so they did at Washington when Coxey's army came, The millionaires got out and said that Coxey was to blame. For marching on the Capitol with such a Commonweal, Composed of men who would not 'put their shoulders to the wheel.' But when you say that there are men who only care to shirk, You must get out yourself and try to find a little work. With money scarce and business dull, and then see how you feel. Your shoulder may be willing but you cannot find the wheel." - Chesterfield A. Myers. Copyright holder unknown. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, Washington, DC 20540. In American Heritage, Dec. 1966, p. 24. 8.12.6, 11.6.5
	"Eugene Debs as a young man." Copyright holder unknown. Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, Washington, DC 20540. In David F. Selvin, Eugene V. Debs, 1966, p. 26. 8.12.6, 11.6.5
	"William Sylvis, an iron molder, was one of the first organizers of America's national unions. He also built and headed the country's first national labor federation." Tamiment Library, New York University, 6 Washington Place, New York, NY 10003. In Milton Meltzer, Bread and Roses - The Struggle of American Labor 1865-1915, Alfred A. Knopf, 1967, p. 78. 8.12.6, 11.6.5
	Terence F. Powderly, Grand Master Workman of the Knights of Labor. Elected 1879, retained the position for 14 years. "Symbol of irresolution and ineffectuality," p. 78. Harris & Ewing photo. Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, Washington, DC 20540. In Herbert Harris, American Labor, Yale University Press, 1938, p. 80. 8.12.6, 11.6.5
	"Labor and poverty, with strike their only weapon, fight big business, which is mounted on monopoly and armed with arrogance, corrupt legislature and a subsidized press." Cartoon, 1883. In Irving Werstein, Strangled Voices - The Story of the Haymarket Affair, Macmillan Co., 1970, p. 7. 8.12.6, 11.6.5
	Samuel Gompers in a speaking pose. "The 28-year-old Samuel Gompers posed for a portrait in 1878, when he was president of the Cigar Makers International Union Local 144 (CMIU) in New York. His experiences during the depression of the 1870s and with German American socialists in the CMIU shaped what he called his 'practical' labor philosophy." Copyright holder unknown. George Meany Memorial Archives. In Bernard Mandel, Samuel Gompers, The Antioch Press, 1963, p. 248. 8.12.6, 11.6.5
	Gompers' favorite cartoon: "No Longer the Man with the Hoe," by J.M. Baer, 1921. In Bernard Mandel, Samuel Gompers, The Antioch Press, 1963, p. 249. 8.12.6, 11.6.5
	Slogans and stickers of the IWW. In Irving Werstein, The Great Struggle, Labor in America, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1965, p. 145. 8.12.6, 11.6.5
	A collection of the badges of the commonweal. Theme of the badges: "Peace on earth." St. Louis Public Library, 1301 Olive St., St. Louis, MO 63103. In Henry Vincent, Mass Violence in America - Story of the Commonweal, 1894; reprint by Arno Press and The New York Times, 1969, p. 118. 8.12.6, 11.6.5
	I.W.W., "Songs...To Fan the Flames of Discontent." Early edition. Collection of Archie Green, Urbana, IL. In Gibbs M. Smith, Joe Hill, Salt Lake City, 1969, p. 232. 8.12.6, 11.6.5
	I.W.W., "Songs...To Fan the Flames of Discontent." Early edition. Collection of Archie Green, Urbana, IL. In Gibbs M. Smith, Joe Hill, Salt Lake City, 1969, p. 232. 8.12.6, 11.6.5
	I.W.W., "Songs...To Fan the Flames of Discontent." Early edition. Author's collection. In Gibbs M. Smith, Joe Hill, Salt Lake City, 1969, p. 238. 8.12.6, 11.6.5
	I.W.W., "Songs...To Fan the Flames of Discontent." Early edition. Collection of Archie Green, Urbana, IL. In Gibbs M. Smith, Joe Hill, Salt Lake City, 1969, p. 238. 8.12.6, 11.6.5
	Anti-Knights of Labor cartoon poster. The Knights are associated with violence and anarchy, controlling workers with leading strings. "Just You Wait!!" This cartoon from Puck taunts the Catholic Church, showing the Vatican hurling excommunication at McGlynn for supporting the doctrine of Henry George. Anti-Catholic views of labor. Joseph Keppler cartoon. Puck Magazine, June 22, 1887. In Socialist Labor Party, Golden Jubilee, 1890-1940, p. 9. 8.12.6, 11.6.5
	A worker holding his CIO (Congress of Industrial Organizations) membership book, 1938. Dorothea Lange photo. FSA/OWI Collection. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, Washington, DC 20540. LC-USF34-T01-018613-C. 8.12.6, 11.6.5
	"The New Ally of the Knights of Labor - Does the Catholic Church Sanction Mob Law?" What Cardinal Gibbons calls "Taking the part of the 'weaker' - the Knights of Labor - 'against the stronger' - (the scab)." Cartoon representing the reactionary but anticlerical capitalists, glorifying the scab. c. 1880? Puck Magazine. In Socialist Labor Party, Golden Jubilee, 1890-1940, p. 46. 8.12.6, 11.6.5
	Union members are shown as puppets controlled by anarchists in this 1886 cartoon ridiculing the Central Labor Union. Stock Montage, Inc., 6970 W. Diversey, Unit 1-R, Chicago, IL 60707. In Irving Werstein, Strangled Voices - The Story of the Haymarket Affair, Macmillan Co., 1970, p. 78. 8.12.6, 11.6.5
	"First annual picnic of the Knights of Labor," 1882. Joseph Keppler cartoon. Puck, 1882. In Irving Werstein, The Great Struggle, Labor in America, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1965, p. 105. 8.12.6, 11.6.5
	"[Joe]Hill hoped 'The Rebel Girl' would attract more women to the ranks of the IWW, the International Workers of the World." Collection of Archie Green, Urbana, IL. In Gibbs M. Smith, Joe Hill, Salt Lake City, 1969, p. 32. 8.12.6, 11.6.5
	"Discriminate Against Inferior Unclean Sweat-shop Clothing. Insist Upon the... Union Label." Saturday Evening Post, March 8, 1902. In Ray Brosseau, Looking Forward: Life in the 20th Century as predicted in the pages of American magazines from 1895 to 1905. American Heritage Press, 1970, p. 335. 8.12.6, 11.6.5
	Joe Hill's call for working class solidarity appeared on this sheet music, presented after his death. Note the slogan in the upper right, from his last words before execution: "Don't waste any time in mourning - organize." Collection of Archie Green, Urbana, IL. In Gibbs M. Smith, Joe Hill, Salt Lake City, 1969, p. 29. 8.12.6, 11.6.5
	The IWW issued stickers promoting solidarity and workers' power. "Solidarity takes the whole works--join the one big union," "I Won't Work more than 8 hours after May 1st 1912--how about you?" "A bird that lays such rotten eggs is long overdue for extinction--capitalism and unemployment, dictators, war." Collection of Archie Green, Urbana, IL. In Gibbs M. Smith, Joe Hill, Salt Lake City, 1969, p. 8. 8.12.6, 11.6.5
	In one big union the strength of all organized workers would converge to a common center, according to the I.W.W. (The International Workers of the World). In Gibbs M. Smith, Joe Hill, Salt Lake City, 1969, p. 3. 8.12.6, 11.6.5
	Samuel Gompers addressing the Jewish shirtwaist makers in the Great Hall of the Cooper Union during the general strike of 1909. By this time the old tenement sweatshops had mostly been eliminated, but there were new complaints about poor working conditions in the factories and the lack of union recognition. Copyright holder unknown. Brown Brothers, 100 Bortree Road, P.O. Box 50, Sterling, PA, 18463-0050. In Ronald Sanders, The Downtown Jews, New York, Harper and Row, 1969, after p. 306. 8.12.6, 11.6.5

November 23, 2009

programs

resources

staff

contact

calendar

Grants & Projects

News