Back in the day of publishers William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer, newsboys were essential players in the circulation pipeline, cheap labor that made the highly competitive industry profitable. The newsboy became an America cultural trope or archetype, a focus of rags-to-riches fiction, the target of pity and social welfare activism, a smiling stereotype, an exemplar of hard work, and an incarnation of urban poverty. "Please Buy My Last Paper, I Want to Go Home”: Portrayal of Newsboys and Newsgirls in 19th and 20th Century Music" is a talk given last Fall by Joshua Duchan from Wayne State University’s Music Department and Eric Freedman from the Michigan State University School of Journalism. The talk was part of MSU’s Our Daily Work/Our Daily Lives brown bag series, organized by John Beck. Today’s show features highlights from that talk, and adds in a number of the songs they reference.
On this week’s Labor History in Two: renowned Illinois poet Carl Sandburg wrote about workers in Gary, Indiana and farmers around Omaha, Nebraska; he wrote about railroad workers and steel workers.
Questions, comments, or suggestions are welcome, and to find out how you can be a part of Labor History Today, email us at LaborHistoryToday@gmail.com
Labor History Today is produced by the Labor Heritage Foundation and the Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor.
@michiganstateu #LaborRadioPod #History #WorkingClass #ClassStruggle @GeorgetownKILWP #LaborHistory @UMDMLA @ILLaborHistory @AFLCIO @StrikeHistory #LaborHistory @wrkclasshistory
The Return of John Brown
The ’34 Toledo Auto-Lite strike
Trumka remembers Pittston
Connecting the ACLU, NRA and IWW
“Changing Lives, Changing L.A.”
B.C.’s Tough and Fearless Truck-Driving Woman
The 2024 Labor Oscar winners!
When Mother Jones teamed up with a U.S. Senator to battle West Virginia feudalism
We Were There
Life and Times of a Black Wobbly (Encore)
Mingo, Matewan and the Coal Wars of West Virginia
The myth of “highly paid” Alabama auto workers
Art Shields: The People’s Scribe
Saving "the Diego Rivera of Pittsburgh"
The lost Matchgirl Strike leader
MLK at the AFL-CIO in 1961 (Encore)
Woody’s resolutions
Bayard Rustin, leader and lover
Capital’s Terrorists
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
Irish Songs with Ken Murray
History Obscura
Historycal: Words that Shaped the World
The Rest Is History
Everything Everywhere Daily