Please join us to celebrate the dedication of a magnificent monument to honor the ten men who gave their lives to win a decent living for steelworkers, their families and all labor.
When - Sunday, May 25, 2:00 PM
Where - Memorial Hall, 11731 S. Ave O, Chicago, IL 60617
More Info Call - (773)646-0800
Sponsored by South Chicago Soar, United Steelworkers District 7, USW Sub 1, USW Local 1010, Ald. John Pope, Rev. Zaki L. Zaki of the Zone
Click here to read ILHS President Emeritus, Les Orear's take on the decline of the manufacturing sector in Illinois and what it portends for the nation.
Dedicated on October 28, 2006, Illinois now has a powerful new labor history monument located in Virden. The marvelous bronze sculpture commemorates the Battle of Virden which occurred on October 12, 1898. Located in the town square, the sculpture is a six-foot by 12-foot bas-relief cast in bronze and mounted on a gray granite wall. It depicts people and events associated with the historic “shootout” between mine guards and miners.
Close by the site are the railroad tracks along which the action took place as armed miners stopped a train bringing strikebreakers into the compound of the Chicago-Virden Coal Company. Eight miners and five guards were killed. Another 40 miners were wounded. The train hurried on to Springfield without stopping at the mine. Governor John Tanner intervened on behalf of the miners and sent in the National Guard to restore order and prevent further attempts to bring in strikebreakers. A month later the mine owners yielded and the miners received their wage increase.
The sculptor is David Seagrave of Elizabeth, Illinois who was selected by the Virden Sesquicentennial Group. The Monument project grew out of the 2002 celebration of the town’s founding in 1852. Business and civic leaders recognized the need for a proper recognition of its most important historical event and began a fundraising campaign for a proper monument.
More than $140,000 has been raised from the town and state governments, many labor organizations throughout the state, and residents of the community. Another $35,000 is needed to complete the lighting and landscaping of the area. Memorial bricks bearing the names of contributors are being placed around the Monument. Call John Alexander at 217-965-5443 to order your brick for $50-$100.
President Larry Spivack and Trustees Lisa Oppenheim, Katie Jordan and Joe Berry represented the ILHS at the dedication ceremony. Spivack was among the speakers at the unveiling. International President Cecil Roberts of the United Mine Workers gave a stirring main address. Labor songs were provided by Chicago folksinger Bucky Halker.
This memorial to the Battle of Virden is now firmly on the map of U.S. labor history sites. It stands alongside the Mother Jones Monument in the Union Miners Cemetery in Mount Olive; the Haymarket Memorial in Haymarket Square, Chicago; the Irish track layers burial site in Funk’s Grove near Bloomington; and the plaque to the ten men who fell in a fusillade of police bullets at the Memorial Day Massacre of 1937 on Chicago’s Southeast Side.
According to Professor Rosemary Feurer of Northern Illinois University, Virden was the focal point of a huge demonstration each year, bringing coal mine veterans and their friends and families from all over the state to memorialize the event of 1898. These gatherings continued well into the Depression era. Professor Feuer is currently working on a video about Virden and another on Mother Jones is in the works.
Mother Jones was frequently the headline speaker. It was on one such occasion that Mother Jones emotionally declared her wish to be buried with her “boys” in the Union Miners Cemetery at Mt. Olive. That cemetery had been founded following the Battle of Virden to receive the remains of local miners who had gone to Virden in support of fellow union members on strike.
This new destination point is a fitting place to visit for all those who support the cause of working people. There they can contemplate struggles of the past with reverence and strengthen their spirit of dedication and determination.
Virden is twenty miles south of Springfield on Illinois Route 4.
Labor Beat has produced a documentary of the event. Click here to inquire about video copies.
As the diners assembled, they were treated to a running show of Iron Workers in the process of building Chicago’s famous skyline and its newest playground Millennium Park. The festive dinner was chaired by ILHS President Larry Spivack. He introduced Vice President Bill Adelman who presented a fascinating and authoritative slide show about the history of the Union.
Alma Washington followed with a reading from Carl Sandburg’s poem “Skyscrapers.” Fellow AFTRA-SAG actors, Gary Brichetto and David Nisbet read “Something to Point To” from the musical Working, drawn from the book of the same name by Studs Terkel. Joe Bella of AFSCME presented some historic labor songs.
After dinner, Dennis Gannon, president of the Chicago Federation of Labor, introduced the guest speaker Joseph J. Hunt, General President of the International Association of Bridge, Structural, Ornamental and Reinforcing Iron Workers. Hunt delivered a spirited address, concluding with a declaration that he was committed to a policy of labor unity and would work ceaselessly to maximize cooperation despite structural differences.
Eric Dean, president of the District Council covering locals in Northern Illinois and Indiana said a few words.
President Emeritus Leslie Orear presided over the Union Hall of Honor Induction Ceremony. He presented the handsome plaques citing two Chicago Iron Workers, one historical and one contemporary. The first was George W. Geary, leader of Chicago’s Bridge Builders Mutual Association (now Local 1) organized in the 1880s. Robert Boskovich, president of Local 1, received the handsome plaque for display in the union’s offices.
In 1896, through Geary’s inspiration, the International Association was formed. Geary was appointed the first International Organizer. A plaque citing him as “Founding Father” of the International was accepted by General President Joseph J. Hunt for a place of honor at national headquarters in Washington, DC.
The second inductee was Richard Rowe, a Business Agent/Organizer of Architectural Iron Workers Local 63 and the historian of the Iron Workers’ Union. Rowe teaches Labor History to union apprentices in the Chicago area. He also leads labor history classes at the month-long gathering of Ironworker Apprentice Trainers held each year on the campus of the University of California at San Diego. Rowe has recently updated the historical book on the Iron Workers published on the Centennial of the Union in 1996.
The evening closed with an enthusiastic rendition of Solidarity Forever. The entire event was taped for later telecast on CAN TV, Chicago’s public access cable network.
Once again, the ILHS Union Hall of Honor has worked its wonders. The warm and intimate ambience of the Ballroom at Carpenters ‘s District Council was the perfect setting for the annual tribute to the inspirational power of our labor history.
The tone was firmly set by Chairman Larry Spivack as he opened the pre-dinner program with an introduction of Mike Carrigan and Dennis Gannon, Secretary–Treasurer of the Illinois Federation of Labor and President of the Chicago Federation of Labor respectively. Both spoke of the ILHS with enthusiastic commitment.
The after dinner program took The Message and the Messenger as its theme. Upton Sinclair’s 100 year old novel, The Jungle, was the sensational Message of it’s day. The IWW’s Joe Hill, whose songs enlivened the labor movement in his time, represented the Messenger.
Jim Barrett Speaks
The guest speaker was James Barrett, long-time ILHS member and labor historian from the University of Illinois at Urbana. He noted that The Jungle was an instant best-seller and its message had a profound effect on public opinion of the “Meat Trust”. The book propelled Congress to adopt food safety legislation. Nevertheless, Barrett observed that its vivid account of the grinding toil and poverty suffered by the workers left out the significant social cohesion and resilience that existed within the immigrant communities.
Following Barrett’s talk, Larry Spivack called on everyone to hold hands, close eyes, and maintain a moment of silence. The magic worked and Joe Hill (Joe Bella of AFSCME) worked his way through the audience to take up his guitar and delight the audience with a hard driving rendition of his famous songs.
Next, Franklin Rosemont of the Charles Kerr Publishing Co. talked about Joe Hill and the IWW, which was founded in 1905 in a hall only a couple of blocks away. Rosemont’s recently published biography of Joe Hill is among the best-sellers on the ILHS booklist.
The program concluded with inductions into the Union Hall of Honor. The first was Upton Sinclair for his great “Message.” That was followed by Joe Hill as the “Messenger.” The surprise of the evening came with the induction of Franklin and Penelope Rosemont, managers since 1983 of the venerable Charles Kerr Publishing Co. who have kept the flame alive with new titles. Among them have been The Haymarket Scrapbook and Rosemont’s Joe Hill.
All hands held high and voices ringing loud and clear with the sounds of Solidarity Forever, there could be no doubt that all of our batteries had been recharged with that good old Union Spirit.
The entire program was taped for telecast and will appeared January 21 on Chicago’s public access television channel, CAN TV21.
As part of the ILHS recent May Day celebration, James Green,Professor of History and Labor Studies at the University of Massachusetts Boston delivered this address entitled The Globalization of Memory: The Enduring Memory of Chicago's Haymarket Martyrs around the World. Click here to read the address.
Friday, February 18 - The Center for Working Class Studies unveiled the Labor Trail, the product of a joint effort to showcase the many generations of working-class life and struggle in the Chicago area's rich and turbulent past. The Trail's neighborhood tours invite you to get acquainted with the events, places, and people -- often unsung -- who have made the city what it is today. The map, easily adaptable for a variety of walking tours, will be a valuable educational tool for schools, libraries, unions, public history events, and heritage tourism in the region.
With funding from the Illinois Humanities Council, the Labor Trail is co-sponsored by the Illinois Labor History Society, the Department of History at the University of Illinois at Chicago, the Newberry Library’s Scholl Center for Family and Community History, the Chicago Metro History Education Center, and the Liberal Education Department, Columbia College.
To Order a Copy of the Labor Trail
The LABOR TRAIL maps are $5 each. Free maps are available to educators. Please submit requests on school/university/union letterhead with the specific number of maps requested and $5 to cover mailing costs to the school.
Please call or email Jamie Daniel at:
(312) 909-1121
jdaniel@upilocal4100.org
or write:
CCWCS c/o Jamie Daniel
11 E. Adams Suite 1106
Chicago IL 60603
You may also visit the website http://www.labortrail.org/
By AMY HOAK - H&R Staff Writer
DECATUR - If the Rev. Martin Mangan were alive, he'd turn 75 years old today.
If he had the energy, the St. James priest would still be fighting for justice in the workplace, say those who knew him. He'd be urging corporations to see that people should come before profit, that workers' rights should always trump any bottom line.
And if local labor's epitome of social justice was there to accept the honor bestowed upon him Saturday night at the Decatur Trades and Labor Assembly's annual community services and awards banquet, he would have done so quite modestly.
"He would have been quite humbled by it," said Sister Glenda Bourgeois, who worked closely with Mangan during his days at St. James Catholic Church.
Mangan was posthumously inducted into the Illinois Labor History Society's Union Hall of Honor on Saturday, a distinction bestowed on only about 10 downstate leaders and a couple of priests during the 20 years it has been in existence
Every year, two or three Illinoisans who have had a significant impact on workers rights are chosen as recipients, and most are from Chicago, said Mike Matejka, who is on the state labor history board and presented the award Bourgeois accepted. Many prior inductees worked in the early 1900s, he said.
Mangan, however, was a contemporary labor advocate conditioned by the civil rights movement in the 1960s who later came to bring strength to local unions facing off with their ever-competitive corporate bosses.
"He had a real sense of social justice," Matejka said. "He brought an appreciation for Catholic teaching - that people came before profit."
He also did it without any airs of self-importance, agreed Matejka and Bourgeois.
Some of Mangan's most remembered moments came during Decatur's labor unrest in the mid-1990s. He once stood chained for 12 hours to a fence outside A.E. Staley Mfg. Co., protesting the 12-hour workday of those inside. He was also one of scores arrested for trespassing during a demonstration at the plant.
In September 2001, Mangan lost a battle with cancer at the age of 71.
Local historian and Macon County Board member Bob Sampson works to keep Mangan's spirit alive through a "Friends of Mitz" group, which hosts lectures and whose members wear lapel buttons bearing the letters "FOM" on them.
Mike Shampine says he likes to think the Decatur Trades and Labor Assembly also has continued Mangan's tradition. Shampine is president of the organization, which serves as an umbrella for local AFL-CIO unions.
"We champion those standing out and speaking out against wrongs done against workers," he said, then quickly shifted gears to lament the large number of union jobs lost during the past 3½ years. New jobs in the service industry often don't provide an even swap for the good-paying union jobs lost, he said.
Mangan would have had the same complaints, Shampine said.
Though Mangan got involved in labor issues during a lockout at Staley and strikes at Bridgestone/Firestone and Caterpillar Inc., he still would have no trouble finding labor issues to work on in the community, said Bourgeois.
"Whenever he saw rights denied, he stepped up to the plate," she said.
As a reminder of that, the plaque she accepted Saturday will be hung in the vestibule of St. James, next to a picture of the revered father.
"He's a legend," she said.
The magnificent Ballroom at the new headquarters of the Carpenters District Council in Chicago was filled to the brim as the Illinois Labor History Society celebrated its 35 years of service to the labor movement and the public.
Some 200 well-wishers were on hand when Larry Spivack, newly elected Chair of the ILHS Board, called the guests to order and asked Trustee Alma Washington to read a letter. The congratulatory message was from Jerry O’Connor, Secretary-Treasurer of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. The former leader of IBEW Local 134 in Chicago has been a strong supporter of ILHS since its founding in1969.
Co-Chairs of the evening were Dennis Gannon, President of the Chicago Federation of Labor, and President Margaret Blackshere of the Illinois AFL-CIO. A moving invocation by Rev. Addie Wyatt was followed by Vice President Bill Adelman who presented an illustrated account of our many accomplishments over the years.
Don Turner, retired President of the CFL, was the principal speaker of the evening. His talk about the importance of labor history was so warmly applauded that President Les Orear promised to post Don’s remarks on the ILHS web site where it will be available to all comers.
The event concluded with the induction into the Union Hall of Honor of Les Orear, a founder of the ILHS and its President since the beginning. President Blackshere brought with her from Springfield a letter from Governor Rod Blagojevich, lauding Les Orear and the ILHS for its years of good work on behalf of labor history. He said: “Throughout the years, you have never wavered in your belief that we can all learn from the past, both from our mistakes and our triumphs.”
President Gannon read the citation on the handsome plaque and presented it to Orear, who appeared overwhelmed by the honors.
But more was to come! The big surprise was the presentation of a portrait of the veteran ILHS president. The 27” x 24” framed painting was displayed to the gathering by the artist, O. W. Neebe, grandson of Haymarket martyr Oscar Neebe, who had been pardoned by Gov. Altgeld in 1893.
Former Trustee, Alan Schwartz, now a resident of Ohio, provided his inspirational labor songs and led the singing of Solidarity Forever, as the Union Hall of Honor Awards Dinner, 2004 concluded.
The event will be telecast on Chicago Access Network TV21 on Sunday, December 19 at 3:00 PM. The program will repeat on Tuesday, December 21 at 9:00 AM on CAN TV19.
Chicago’s long awaited Haymarket Memorial sculpture was dedicated in a public ceremony attended by numerous union representatives and others on September 14, 2004. Located at Randolph and Desplaines Streets at the spot where the wagon used by the Haymarket speakers stood on the night of May 4, 1886, now rests a semi-abstract bronze monument to one of labor history’s most tragic moments.
Speakers at the ceremony included Dennis Gannon, president of the Chicago Federation of Labor. Margaret Blackshere, president of the Illinois State AFL-CIO, was in the applauding crowd. Commissioner of Cultural Affairs, Lois Weisberg chaired the event and introduced Senator Emil Jones who sponsored legislation funding the project. Others on the official speakers list were Mark Donahue, president of the Fraternal Order of Police, and Nathan Mason, who directed the project.
It was noted that members of the Teamsters had volunteered to truck the sculpture from the foundry in Oregon, Illinois to its new site. The crowd also heard remarks from a member of the anarchist group. President Les Orear of the Illinois Labor History Society spoke of that organization’s satisfaction at the realization of a goal it had set at its founding in 1969.
It is expected that the site will become a magnet to many foreign visitors, and to travelers from around the country familiar with the Haymarket story. Sculptor, Mary Brogger, told reporters that her piece was deliberately abstract, open to the interpretation of each viewer. To most union minded people, however, it will be seen as a symbol of freedom of speech and assembly under attack, and in the process of rejuvenation. The figure of The Speaker carries on.
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The Illinois Labor History Society
28 E. Jackson, Chicago, IL 60604
Phone: (312) 663-4107
