Country-punk iconoclast Jon Langford, Woody Guthrie Archives director Nora Guthrie, union-song collector Bucky Halker, and Chicago jazz lions Jimmy Ellis, Art Hoyle and Willie Pickens will headline “Well-Sung Heroes,” a very special evening of music benefiting the Illinois Labor History Society.
The concert takes place Sunday evening, Nov. 22, at the Chicago History Museum (1601 N Clark). It is the Labor History Society’s annual celebration to induct worthy individuals into its Union Hall of Honor. This year’s honorees are:
The late James C. Petrillo, who served as president of the Chicago Federation of Musicians Local 10 for more than four decades beginning in 1922;
The Chicago Federation of Musicians Local 208, which represented black artists in blues, jazz and more before the unions were integrated in 1966; and
Bucky Halker, a self-described “tall man with a big voice and big songs delivered with truth, character, and conviction,” a prominent scholar of working-class history and producer of “Folksongs of Illinois,” a three-CD series.
Past ILHS honorees run the gamut from historical icons Mother Jones, Jane Addams and Joe Hill to artist/activists such as Studs Terkel, Paul Robeson and Upton Sinclair and politicians like Eugene Debs and alderman Leon Despres.
Tickets are $25 for the concert only or $75 including a pre-show cocktail reception with honorees, performing artists and host Dick Kay.
A commemorative art print for “Well-Sung Heroes” is being produced by Chicago poster artist Steve Walters.
Call 312-663-4107 for tickets and more details.
October 10, 2009 - by Michael G. Matejka, Vice-President, Illinois Labor History Society
When a worker is injured, they turn to workers’ compensation for relief. It’s not a perfect system, but it does provide financial support to pay doctor bills and compensate for time off work.
Imagine a world without workers’ compensation. If someone was injured, they had to rely on family, friends, or corporate benevolence. In 1911, Illinois passed its first workers’ compensation law. The passage of that law can be directly tied to a disaster in the tiny village of Cherry, Illinois.
In 1909 Cherry was a booming mining town. Almost 500 men and boys labored underground, mining coal to feed the locomotives of the Milwaukee Railroad. The mine was relatively new, having opened in 1905, featuring an underground electric lighting system.
On November 13, 1909, that electrical system failed. Miners went back to the old-fashioned method of torches and lanterns. Unfortunately, a small fire broke out in a hay wagon bringing feed to the mules underground. Because there was no quick action to extinguish it, the fire spread, as one misjudgement after another fueled the flames. Before the day was over, 259 miners laid dead, either from asphyxiation or immolation. Brave rescue attempts were made and a rescue crew also sadly perished. Twenty men retreated deep in the mine and sealed themselves off, surviving for a week underground before rescue. The shock and outcry over Cherry led to political action and calls for mine safety legislation. As public donations came into the community, a review board was established, modeled after the recently passed British Workers’ Compensation law, to hear claims from the bereaved families and survivors. The United Mine Workers helped serve on that committee. Approximately $1,800 was given to each surviving family in the summer of 1910. The next year, Illinois passed its first Workers Compensation Act. Thus workers would no longer have to simply rely on charity after an industrial accident. This November 14-15, the Village of Cherry will commemorate the disaster and the miners. A full weekend of ceremonies is planned, free and open to the public. On both days, there will be walking and trolley tours of the town, mine site and cemetery. Videos on labor topics are scheduled, along with displays and genealogical workshops. On Saturday, November 14, a new monument will be dedicated at Cherry’s Village Hall. Chicago Fire Fighters’ Local 2’s color guard will lead the procession to the dedication. In 1909, Chicago fire fighters came to Cherry to help extinguish the blaze. Preceding the dedication, labor musician Bucky Halker will sing coal mining and labor songs. |
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Confirmed speakers for the dedication include Illinois AFL-CIO President Michael Carrigan, United Mine Workers Vice-President Steve Earl, Congresswoman Debbie Halvorson, State Senator Gary Dahl and State Representative Frank Mautino. Confirmation is still pending on other speakers.
On Sunday, November 15, the tours and displays will continue. At 11:45 a.m., people will gather at the Cherry Grade School. For many years it was traditional for Cherry children to march to the cemetery on the disaster’s anniversary. After a march to the cemetery, there will be speeches from Italian representatives. Many of the immigrant miners who died were recent arrivals to the U.S. from Italy. Speakers include Italian Consul General Alessandro Motta, Charles Bernardini, immediate past-president of the Italian-American Chamber of Commerce of the Midwest – Chicago; and Silvia Bartolini, President of Emilia-Romagna Citizens Abroad.
Cherry is on Route 89, about five miles north of I-80, in Bureau County. The small village has kept alive the story of the workers who never came home. The events in Cherry are free and open to the public.
Click here to download a flyer for the event. (Adobe Acrobat Required)
September 17, 2009
By Leslie F. Orear, President Emeritus, Illinois Labor History Society
A life of devotion to the pursuit of labor history came to an abrupt end on September 15th with the death of William J Adelman, a founder of the Illinois Labor History Society and its Vice President. The cause of death was a heart attack.
Adelman began his professional career as a high school history teacher. Later Professor Adelman joined the faculty of the Institute of Labor and Industrial Relations at the University of Illinois-Chicago.
He was one of the few academics offering a labor history perspective in the Chicago region during the 60s and 70s. His lectures, seminars and tours to labor sites became extremely popular, particularly in the labor union community. His content was always designed to produce the maximum understanding of the historical roots of contemporary issues, and his encyclopedic knowledge of the subject was legendary.
As one of an informal group of labor attorneys, educators and editors he helped create the Haymarket Workers Memorial Committee which issued a call for a ceremony in Haymarket Square on May 1, 1969 to correct public misunderstanding of the “so-called” Haymarket riot. The success of that effort led to the incorporation of the Illinois Labor History Society and Adelman’s election as Vice President that same year.
Aware of the need for better teaching tools, Adelman produced self-guided tours to the Pullman community where the great strike of 1894 had taken place and to areas associated with the Haymarket Tragedy of 1886. He continued the series with Pilsen and the West Side, including the Ashland Avenue neighborhood known as Union Row because of its numerous labor union headquarters. His visual works began in the 16mm days with “Packingtown USA” followed by “Palace Cars and Paradise,” a walking tour of the Pullman community with Adelman himself as guide. Both have been transferred to video. Most of these materials are available today through the Illinois Labor History Society.
He served on the official public committee to select the sculptor for the Haymarket Memorial sculpture installed by the City of Chicago in Haymarket Square in 2004 after 35 years of agitation by the labor community. This historic event followed the naming of the Haymarket Martyrs Monument in Forest Home Cemetery as a National Historic Landmark by the U.S. National Park Service in 1998. Adelman had urged such action at a conference held by the Park Service. .
In May 2009, Adelman’s “Haymarket Revisited” was republished in the English language by the Centre of Indian Trade Unions in New Delhi with a foreword by its president, M.K. Pandhe. In this new version entitled “Glorious Saga of May Day Martyrs,” Pandhe notes that he and his wife had been members of a Haymarket tour party in 2008. Pandhe declares: “…I must mention the remarkable guidance given by Prof. William J. Adelman….For over two hours he narrated the entire background to us in a lucid manner which reflected his firm commitment to the working class and their legitimate struggles… I was deeply impressed. by the book [“Haymarket Revisited”] and thought that Indian readers should know about the glorious struggle of the Chicago workers.”
Adelman was immediately informed when the book arrived at the ILHS office in late August of this year, but unfortunately he did not have the opportunity to see it before his untimely death.
Chicago workers celebrated May Day with an afternoon rally in Haymarket Square by the Memorial Sculpture at Randolph and DesPlaines. The crowd cheered the presentation of a plaque from the AFL-CIO to be attached to the base of the Monument. Last year’s plaque came from the Chicago Federation of Labor. Other plaques have been presented by unions in Iraq, Columbia, S.A., and UNI (Union Network International).
Ross Hyman, spokesman for the AFL-CIO, delivered a message from President John Sweeney, Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka and Executive Vice President Arlene Holt Baker. They declared: “Because we believe deeply in solidarity with workers everywhere, we’re proud that the AFL-CIO now has a plaque at the place where May Day itself—the international day for workers—was born. That is happening because the Illinois Labor History Society and the Chicago Federation of Labor played a key role in the building of this monument. We will always be grateful to them for what they’ve done.”
Continuing in the same vein, they declared: “…the best way to honor the Haymarket Martyrs is to advance the cause they fought and died for. Here and now, that means restoring the freedom of workers to organize into unions by passing the Employee Free Choice Act.”
Responding for the Chicago Federation of Labor was its Secretary-Treasurer, Jorge Rodriguez. ILHS President Larry Spivack opened the meeting with welcoming remarks, and Board Member James Thindwa of Jobs with Justice acted as Master of Ceremonies.
Among those who addressed the meeting were: Tim Yeager of UAW; S. J. Hawking of ARISE; Margarita Klein, Chief of Staff, Workers United; Skippy (as he prefers to be called) of the IWW; and Armando Robles, President of UE Local 1110 that occupied Republic Windows and Doors.
Well-known folksinger Bucky Halker had the crowd singing along with him as he opened and closed the event. Worthy of note was the large number of young people, mostly from the IWW, who were present. The event was also attended by Mary Brogger, the sculptor of the Memorial. She expressed her pleasure at the appearance of the growing number of plaques from around the world.
Franklin Rosemont RememberedSadly, the Illinois Labor History Society reports the death of Franklin Rosemont, managing editor of the Charles H. Kerr Publishing Co., arguably this country’s most important publisher of labor, radical and what might be called “alternative” books. Organized in 1886, the Kerr Company introduced Marx to the American political discussion through publication of the Communist Manifesto. Kerr also published the International Socialist Review. During the great Pullman Strike of 1894, Kerr brought out The Pullman Strike by Rev. William Carwardine, Methodist minister at Pullman, which provided a full account of the workers’ grievances against the Company. When Mother Jones wrote her Autobiography, it was at the behest of Kerr who published this classic in 1925 with an introduction by Clarence Darrow. The Autobiography and The Pullman Strike were reprinted under the sponsorship of the Illinois Labor History Society in 1971-72, shortly after the founding of the Society in 1969. A member of the IWW since his childhood, Franklin was the son of Henry Rosemont, a prominent figure in the Chicago Typographical Union, and of Sally Rosemont, a jazz musician and union member. He was elected to the Board of Trustees of the ILHS in 1981, where he served until his untimely death at age 65 on April 12, 2009. He and his wife Penelope, Secretary-Treasurer of the Kerr Company, were inducted into the Union Hall of Honor of the Illinois Labor History Society in 2005. The citation describes them as “faithful stewards of the Charles H. Kerr Company, publishers of labor and radical classics since 1886.” Franklin was an author in his own right, his most recent book being Joe Hill: The IWW & the Making of a Revolutionary Workingclass Counterculture. Profuse with IWW illustrations, it should be in every labor historian’s collection. Another of his major contributions is the Haymarket Scrapbook, written with David Roediger in 1986 to mark the centennial of the Haymarket Tragedy. The Big Red Song Book was his most recent collaboration with David Roediger, Salvatore Salerno and the late great folklorist Archie Green. Les Orear |
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Septmber 1, 2008 - It was a warm day with nothing but blue sky in Chicago on Labor Day, perfect for a picnic on the beach, yet a crowd of nearly 350 from all over the city gathered in the Pullman neighborhood on the southeast edge of the City to celebrate the meaning of the Day. The event was organized by Tom Shepherd, president of the Pullman Civic Association and hosted by the Pullman State Historic Site headquartered in the Florence Hotel.
The event took place in the state owned sleeping car factory behind the famous Pullman Clock Tower. It was a vast space in which a small stage had been constructed and folding chairs installed for the occasion.
And, what an occasion it proved to be! This was much more than the standard labor day meeting. This time the stars were Eugene V. Debs; Jennie Curtis, a leader of the 1894 Pullman Strike; A. Philip Randolph, head of the Sleeping Car Porters union; and none other than President Franklin D. Roosevelt, whose New Deal brought a much needed “Change” to Washington in 1933, almost 75 years ago. Not only did these actors bear a physical resemblance to their subjects, but each one recalled convincingly the significant episodes from their historical roles. Especially thrilling was R.J. Lindsay in the role of President Roosevelt, with his cigarette holder cocked at the correct angle, the fedora hat, the cane, even the unique speech patterns of F.D. R. Indeed, most of his words were drawn directly from F.D.R’s own speeches.
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Young Jennie Curtis looked perfect for the part, in a simple long cotton dress, a perky hat and a tidy apron. She told of her appearance before the 1894 convention of the American Railway Union where she described the plight of the Pullman factory workers who had suffered repeated wage cuts side by side with the same high rents charged by the company. In response to her appeal for help, the delegates voted to impose a boycott of Pullman cars with the result that trains were stopped when crew members refused to work such trains. Among the consequences were a federal injunction, the imprisonment of union president Eugene Debs, and the destruction of the union. Eugene Debs was played by Mike Wolf, a former steelworker and area resident. He told of his radicalization while serving time in Woodstock Jail due to the federal injunction against the Pullman strike. Following his release, he became the perennial candidate of the Socialist Party, even drawing a million votes while imprisoned for opposing American involvement in World War I. A. Philip Randolph, played by D.J. Howard with great dignity, told of the ten year struggle of the Sleeping Car Porters who ultimately organized a nation-wide union. That union under Randolph’s leadership, won its first national contract in 1937. (The IILHS holds in its collections a copy of that contract booklet.) |
Earlier, the Program had been opened with remarks from ILHS President Larry Spivack. Concluding remarks were offered by James Thwinda, Chicago Area Director of Jobs with Justice. Greetings in person were brought to the crowd by Illinois Lieutenant Governor Pat Quinn and State Representative Connie Howard.
The Illinois Labor History Society was a co-sponsor of the event. Other co-sponsor organizations included the Illinois State AFL-CIO, Historic Pullman Foundation, Bronzeville Black Historical Society, Calumet Heritage Partnership, Labor Council for Latin American Advancement, and the Center for Working Class Studies.
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
