2020 Great Labor Arts Exchange contest winners!

This year’s contest winners include People’s Music Networks’ Executive Director Ben Grosscup and Paul McKenna for the Julie McCall Best Parody; Songwriter Inez West from the NYC Labor Chorus for the Bread and Roses Best Labor/Social Justice Poem; Steve Jones, Music Director of the DC Labor Chorus for the Joe Glazer Best Union Song; NYC artist and activist Dilson Hernandez, for the John Fromer String Buster Ballad; and first timer and youngest winner of the contest ever, JustLove, for the Talkin’ Union Spoken Word. “These last two young winners are our hope that the labor and social justice movement is once again on the rise!”

Also this week, Joe Glazer’s recording of "Solidarity Forever" from the Songs of Work and Freedom album, and the Cool Things from the Meany Archives gang brings us the July 4th, 1964, issue of the AFL CIO news, which featured the signing of the Civil Rights Act, and Ben and Allen tie that into the ongoing protests for social justice that we see in the streets today.

Produced by Chris Garlock. Alan Wierdak produced the Meany Archives segment. To contribute a labor history item, email laborhistorytoday@gmail.com

Labor History Today is produced by the Metro Washington Council’s Union City Radio and the Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor at Georgetown University.

Links:
2020 Great Labor Arts Exchange videos
Labor Heritage Foundation
George Meany Memorial AFL-CIO Archive