The Stories That Made Us
On this week’s Labor Heritage Power Hour: Art, stories and songs don’t simply preserve labor history—they help working people recognize their power and imagine a different future.
This week, we hear artists and historians at the Reuther-Pollack Labor History Symposium reflect on the creative legacy of organized labor. Erik Ruin and Tabitha Arnold explore art rooted in solidarity and working-class experience; Max Alvarez considers how stories shape who we are; and Shaun Slifer explains why he calls himself a “community-taught historian.”
Then we travel to Tacoma, Washington, where union members gather each Labor Day at the grave of Ralph Chaplin, the Wobbly poet and artist who wrote “Solidarity Forever.” What began with one friend quietly honoring Chaplin has grown into a community tradition of remembrance and song.
Finally, Tampa organizers Roger Butterfield and Manny Ramirez take us into Ybor City’s often-overlooked radical history—from cigar workers and Cuban independence to women-led antifascist organizing—and explain why workers must be remembered as makers of history, not passive figures in it.
Plus, Harold Phillips has the latest Labor Arts News Briefs.
Click here to listen