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.
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Labor History Today is produced by the Labor Heritage Foundation and the Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor.
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The labor “Parade” that flopped
Pins & Needles’ mass appeal
Finnish North American working class women and music in the early 20th century
For Gene Debs
Who belongs in the labor movement?
Pride on the line
The longest nurses’ strike
Labor History Today: No Equal Justice
Sharecroppers’ struggles for rights and power
Socialist fairy tales
Pueblo steelworkers’ historic strike
It’s not working on the railroad
A miasma of metals
NC Labor History Revealed!
Mother Jones and Fannie Sellins
Scabby The Rat; Smoking at Work; Which Side Are You On? (Encore)
IWW’s Little Red Songbook (Encore)
The St. Vincent Hospital Strike
The Washington Navy Shipyard Strike
A cold wind and a hot summer sit-down
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