"This period of time in the Thirties struck me as a period of great innovation and resilience that women organized around the need to provide certain services. And I see that happening in my community today around the pandemic."
Emily Twarog, author of “Politics of the Pantry: Housewives, Food, and Consumer Protest in Twentieth Century America.” Her study of how women used institutions built on patriarchy and consumer capitalism to cultivate a political voice resonates strongly today in the midst of both the COVID-19 pandemic and an election year. Joyce McCawley talked with Twarog on the Heartland Labor Forum, the labor radio show airing weekly in Kansas City on KKFI.
Plus: Ben Grosscup with a new version of “We Just Come to Work Here” and Joe Glazer on the Memorial Day Massacre.
Produced by Chris Garlock with editing by Patrick Dixon; 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:
“Politics of the Pantry: Housewives, Food, and Consumer Protest in Twentieth Century America.”
Heartland Labor Forum
"We Just Come to Work Here," by Harry Stamper; new lyrics by Paul McKenna and Ben Grosscup May 2020; performed by Ben Grosscup.
“The Long Deep Grudge: A Story of Big Capital, Radical Labor, and Class War in the American Heartland”
“Strike for Your Life!”; labor history's lessons for the COVID-19 crisis
Jack Kelly’s "The Edge of Anarchy”; “Union Maids” director Julia Reichert (Part 2)
Virtual May Day rally builds on the militancy of the past to inspire workers today
Julia Reichert: ‘We Don’t Just Interview People Once’; Montgomery Ward busted; May Day and Mother Jones
Sacco & Vanzetti at 100; What happened to MLK’s dream?
Organizing during historic crises
Coronavirus essential workers’ rights
Socialists, suffragettes and fear at work
COVID-19: An injury to one is the concern of all
The Great Postal Strike, Watergate and “Casey Jones, the Union Scab”
Neutron Jack, Joker and Parasite
Rightfully Hers: American Women and the Vote
African American Lumber Workers in the Jim Crow South
Striking Images: Labor on Screen and in the Streets
John Sayles on “Matewan,” “Yellow Earth” and more
Sisters, rebels and social justice in the Jim Crow South
Voices from the Lansing Auto Town Gallery
MLK: All Labor Has Dignity
UAW’s Punch Press strike daily
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