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Passaic Textile Strike (1926) – film

The Passaic Textile Strike (1926) by Alice W. Campbell, VCU Libraries   The Passaic Textile Strike is a 1926 American silent film directed by Samuel Russak, and produced by Alfred Wagenknecht. The film’s photographers were Lester Balog, Sam Brody, and William Schwartfeller; the title cards were written by Margaret Larkin. Most of the acting was done…

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Passaic Textile Strike, 1926

By Catherine Paul, 2017. The 1926 Passaic Textile Strike began on January 25th, 1926 and lasted through March 1st, 1927. The work stoppage involved more than 15,000 wool and silk workers in and around Passaic, New Jersey. The Passaic Textile Strike is notable for the use of force against the demonstrators, the debates over free speech, the role of intellectuals and intellectualism, and for being the Communist Party’s first attempt to organize a large-scale demonstration encompassing the region’s textile industry.

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Children Who Labor – film (1912)

“Children Who Labor” was a collaboration between the Edison Company and the National Child Labor Committee, the nonprofit organization founded in 1904 and chartered by Congress to promote the rights of “children and youth as they relate to work and working.”

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Paterson Silk Strike, 1913

Paterson Silk Strike, 1913 By Catherine A. Paul October 31, 2017 The Paterson Silk Strike of Paterson, New Jersey lasted from February 1913 until July 1913 and was one of many industrial conflicts that erupted between 1909 and 1913 (Golin, 1992). During the strike, 1,850 strikers were arrested and jailed, 300 mills and dye houses…

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Music & Social Reform

Written by Catherine A. Paul. “Throughout the history of the United States, music has been used to bring people together. By singing together, people are able to form emotional bonds and even shape behavior…Therefore, it is unsurprising that social movements have similarly interwoven music and action to create and sustain commitment to causes and collective activities.”

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Federal Government and Negro Workers Under Woodrow Wilson – J. MacLaury

Paper written by Judson MacLaury, U.S. Department of Labor Historian, and delivered at the Annual Meeting for the Society for History in the Federal Government. It reflects another step in the evolution of the civil rights movement and a graphic description of some of the political and governmental obstacles the African-American community faced in becoming an integral part of American society.

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Black Studies in the Department of Labor, 1897-1907

By Jonathan Grossman. “At the dawn of the 20th century, when 8.5 million blacks constituted about 12 percent of the population of the United States…not a single first‑grade college in America undertook to give any considerable scientific attention to the American Negro.”

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Women’s Bureau

The Women’s Bureau was established in the Department of Labor by Public Law No. 259 of June 5, 1920. It is the only federal agency mandated to represent the needs of wage-earning women in the public policy process.

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