Program Series

The Staff Union of Pitt and The Battle of Homestead Foundation host a public presentation on “Pittsburgh Labor Movement, Then and Now” by labor historians Dr. Charles McCollester and Dr. Jacqueline Cavalier and USW District 10 Director Bernie Hall. * FRIDAY Feb. 16, 6-8 p.m. at Room 219-B in Langley Hall, Univ. of Pittsburgh campus (171 Tennyson Ave.) ... admission free, light refreshments provided! * More Information? Contact [email protected]

JOIN THE Battle of Homestead Foundation for an in-person program "BOOK TALK: Rust Belt Union Blues" featuring authors LAINEY NEWMAN and THEDA SKOCPOL. DATE: Sunday, Mar. 10, 2024 from 2:00-4:00 pm PLACE: First Unitarian Church of Pittsburgh, 605 Morewood Ave., Pittsburgh PA 15213 ADMISSION: Free but Eventbrite reservation required – REGISTER HERE * Rust Belt Union Blues is published by Columbia University Press – get your copy here! _______________________________________________ LAINEY NEWMAN and THEDA SKOCPOL provide timely insight into the relationship between the decline of unions and the shift of working-class voters away from Democrats. Drawing on interviews, union newsletters and ethnographic analysis, they pinpoint the significance of eroding local community ties and identities. Using western Pennsylvania as a case study, Newman and Skocpol argue that union members’ loyalty to Democratic candidates was as much a product of the group identity that unions fostered as it was a response to the Democratic Party’s economic policies. As the social world around organized labor dissipated, conservative institutions like gun clubs, megachurches and other Republican-leaning groups took its place. _______________________________________________ LAINEY NEWMAN is a J.D. candidate at Harvard Law School. She is a graduate of Harvard College and a native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. THEDA SKOCPOL […]

CELEBRATING National Poetry Month, the Battle of Homestead Foundation presents 4 Pittsburgh poets & 2 songwriters in AN EVENING OF WORKING-CLASS POETRY (AND MUSIC). *  Thur. April 11, 2024 ~ 7:00-9:00 p.m. Admission-free! *  Live and in-person at The Pump House, 880 E. Waterfront Drive, Munhall PA FEATURING:  Robert Walicki, Robert Gibb, Jason Irwin, Paola Corso, kelsey jumper, Danny Rectenwald ______________________ Robert Walicki's work has appeared in over 50 journals, including Pittsburgh City Paper, Fourth River, Chiron Review and Evening Street Review. A two time Pushcart Prize and a Best of The Net nominee, Robert's latest full length collection, Fountain, was released from Main Street Rag Press. Robert Gibb is the author of Sightlines (Poetry Press, 2021), his thirteenth full-length poetry collection, winner of the 2019 Prize Americana for Poetry. Other books include Among Ruins (Notre Dame’s Sandeen Prize in Poetry for 2017), After (Marsh Hawk Press Poetry Prize for 2016) and The Origins of Evening (Norton, 1997), a National Poetry Series selection. He has been awarded two NEA Fellowships, a Best American Poetry, a Pushcart Prize and Prairie Schooner’s Glenna Luschei and Strousse Awards. A 2023 book, Pittsburghese, won Wheelbarrow Books Poetry Prize and is forthcoming from Michigan State […]

YOU CAN JOIN Pennsylvania Labor History Society and Lehigh Valley Labor Council in commemorating the 1849 Lehigh Canal Strike with a 2-day living history event June 14-15, 2024 in Bethlehem and Easton, PA. DETAILS HERE, including registration and nearby lodging.

JOIN THE Battle of Homestead Foundation and West Virginia Mine Wars Museum for an in-person program "Building a People's History Museum" featuring Executive Director Mackenzie New-Walker and Creative Director Shaun Slifer discussing the creation of the West Virginia Mine Wars Museum in Matewan, WV DATE: Thursday, Aug. 15, 2024 from 7:00-8:30 pm PLACE: The Pump House, 880 E. Waterfront Drive, Munhall PA 15120 ADMISSION: Free – but Eventbrite reservation required ... click here to register ______________________ The West Virginia Mine Wars Museum sits at the site of a historic battle that erupted in Matewan in May, 1920 and set in motion a chain of events leading to a months-long battle between coal company operators and coal miners and their families — the largest armed uprising in the United States since the Civil War. The museum offers the most extensive exhibition of Mine Wars history anywhere in the United States. Visitors experience compelling exhibits of archival photos and videos, first-person accounts, rare artifacts and replicas, and detailed timelines placing the events of the Mine Wars era in a global context. On Aug. 15, New-Walker and Slifer will discuss how the museum was built from the grassroots, how artifacts are acquired, and […]

JOIN THE Battle of Homestead Foundation for an in-person program "Stories behind the Stones: A Local History Evening with Homestead Cemetery" FEATURING: Historians Kim Farrah, Kyra Mangold, Russ Firestone as they spotlight historic figures buried in Homestead Cemetery in Munhall, Pennsylvania DATE: Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024 from 7:00-8:30 pm PLACE: The Pump House, 880 E. Waterfront Drive, Munhall PA 15120 ADMISSION: Free – but Eventbrite reservation required — REGISTER HERE _______________________________________________ WALK THROUGH the 34 pictureque acres of Homestead Cemetery along Main Street in Munhall, and you will see a snapshot of American life over the last 150 years. Buried here are Civil War veterans, immigrants workers in the mills, strikers killed during the 1892 Battle of Homestead, Negro League baseball stars, young children who died of smallpox. Homestead Cemetery is a testament and memorial to the great men and women of the Steel Valley who shaped the communities we live in today. screenshot

SPECIAL EVENT:  7:00 pm Fri. Oct. 25 — “A Benefit for the Affected Families of the East Palestine Train Derailment” at Homestead United Presbyterian Church, 908 Anne Street, Homestead, PA. FEATURING: Actor/playwright Wali Jamal … musicians Mat Callahan and Yvonne Moore and Mike Stout & the Human Union TICKETS: $25.00 (or whatever you can afford) … Reservations, contact Mike Stout today — [email protected] or (412) 461-5650 october 25th benefit for ep derailment families 1 october 25th benefit for ep derailment families 2

TOXICOLOGIST DR. GEORGE THOMPSON speaks Wed. Apr. 23 at 7:00 p.m. on what toxic chemicals were released at the Feb. 2023 train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio and what the implications are for our area ... present and future. * Sponsored by Battle of Homestead Foundation, Breathe Project, Food & Water Watch and Izaak Walton League LOCATION: Homestead United Presbyterian Church, 908 Ann St. Homestead PA 15120 * Free admission but please register at Eventbrite here – https://tinyurl.com/288zerjv Geo-Fact — the East Palestine train derailment/chemical burn site is a distance of 39.289 miles (as the crow flies and the wind blows) to downtown Pittsburgh.

On Sunday, July 6, 2025, from 2:00-5:00 p.m., the Battle of Homestead Foundation presents an in-person program marking the battle’s 133rd anniversary and discussing the strike’s buildup and aftermath to current issues involving local unionization efforts in healthcare, retail, agriculture, industry and public service. Featured Speaker: NEAL BISNO, Executive Vice-President, Service Employees International Union (SEIU) will speak about the lessons of the Battle of Homestead for the current moment in American labor. The event takes place at the Pump House, 880 E. Waterfront Drive in Munhall. The program is free and open to the public. Picnic refreshments will be available, and attendees are welcome to contribute their own favorite foods and beverages. Musical entertainment by Pittsburgh Labor Choir and The Raging Grannies. “The 1892 steel strike was a defining event in America’s ongoing struggle to ensure workplace rights,” says Battle of Homestead Foundation president John Haer. “Observing the anniversary lets us reflect on the role of organized labor in fighting the extreme economic inequality endangering our nation in 2025.”   Screenshot