Jazz and Working-Class Experience: Book Talk, Poetry, Live Music
2023-04-20 19:00 - 21:00 (America/New_York) | Pump House, 880 E. Waterfront Drive, Munhall, 15120, United States
JOIN THE Battle of Homestead Foundation for an in-person program “Jazz and Working-Class Experience” featuring author Nicole McCandless, poet Fred Shaw and Stepping Stone Jazz Quartet.
In celebration of Jazz Appreciation Month, we explore jazz and working-class experience — past and present — with a focus on events and people connected to Pittsburgh. The program offers an experience of live jazz as well as discussion of the music and its cultural and social significance.
Date: Thursday, Apr. 20, 2023 from 7:00-9:00 pm
Place: The Pump House, 880 E. Waterfront Drive, Munhall PA 15120
Admission: Free … must register at Eventbrite here.

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Nicole McCandless will introduce her children’s book, Down on James Street, based on a real historical incident in 1930s Pittsburgh in which an interracial dance sponsored by the Young Workers League was broken up by the police. Nicole will discuss the importance of music in storytelling and the feedback she’s gotten since the book was published by Hardball Press in 2021.
Fred Shaw will read poems from his book Scraping Away, as well as new works. Fred was selected for the Pennsylvania Public Poetry Project in 2017 and was an Allegheny County Emerging Poet Laureate finalist in 2020; his poetry offers elegiac, humanistic portrayals of work and working-class life frequently focusing on restaurant workers, family and music, particularly jazz. He will be accompanied by drummer Ken Foley’s Stepping Stone Jazz Quartet, with Daniel Lieberfeld (guitar), Lester Harper (bass), Derment Winston Jr. (soprano sax).
* Marking the site of the 1892 Battle of Homestead, the Pump House is a popular event venue at the trailhead of the Great Allegheny Passage encompassing the Steel Valley Trail in the Mon Valley.

FILM TALK: "Mighty Harlan County"
2023-05-11 19:30 - 21:00
THURSDAY, May 11, 2023 @ 7:30 p.m. — the Battle of Homestead Foundation and Pittsburgh Institute for Nonprofit Journalism present a free Zoom program with award-winning filmmaker Jared Hamilton discussing his new film “Mighty Harlan County” documenting the dramatic 2019 railway blockade by Kentucky miners seeking back pay from a corrupt mining company.
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*** Participants are asked to view the entire film ahead of the May 11 discussion … the film will be discussed, not shown on May 11 … please view the film ahead of the May 11 film talk discussion … register here on Eventbrite and you’ll receive your viewing access password to see the film before the May 11 film talk discussion.
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In July, 2019, the owners of Blackjewel Mining abruptly filed bankruptcy leaving 1,700 miners across Appalachia instantly unemployed and without benefits or required severance; the miners’ checks began bouncing, and money already deposited in their accounts was clawed back by the company.
In Harlan County, Kentucky, dozens of miners mounted an immediate resistance. Physically occupying the rail tracks for two months, they successfully prevented the last coal train with its $1million+ load from leaving the mine — until they and their colleagues were paid in full.
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Veteran filmmaker Jared Hamilton was on hand to record the 2-month rail blockade, documented from start to finish in “Mighty Harlan County”, a newly-released 57-minute film offering unique access and insight into the daily struggles of American workers faced with critical career upheaval.
“Mighty Harlan County” follows the miners, their families and community supporters through the blockade and bitter legal battle with Blackjewel Mining that quickly made international news.
It also provides detailed historical context on the long history of labor disputes and corporate malfeasance in Harlan County and the surrounding coal mining region.
Hamilton will be joined by Dr. Lou Martin, associate professor of history at Chatham University and author of Smokestacks in the Hills: Rural-Industrial Workers in West Virginia; Jody DiPerna, senior writer and editor at Pittsburgh Institute for Nonprofit Journalism; former coal miner and educator Kipp Dawson.
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Jared Hamilton is an Appalachian-born documentary-style photographer and videographer who graduated from Western Kentucky University in 2012 with a BA in Photojournalism. His clients include Appalshop, New York Times, Kentuckians For The Commonwealth, Garden & Gun, Eastern Kentucky University and National Public Radio. He self-publishes much of his personal work, including three volumes of his zine Familiar Paths. He is Chairman of the Board for artist collaborative group M.A.R.S. Collective based at Wiley’s Last Resort on top of Pine Mountain in Whitesburg, Kentucky.
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*** Participants are asked to view the entire film ahead of the May 11 discussion … the film will be discussed, not shown on May 11 … view the film ahead of the May 11 film talk discussion … register here on Eventbrite and you’ll receive your viewing access password to see the film before the May 11 film talk discussion.

Meetup for 131st Anniversary - Battle of Homestead Commemoration
2023-07-06 18:00 - 21:00 | Pump House, 880 E. Waterfront Drive, Munhall, 15120, United States
THURSDAY July 6, 2023 marks the 131st anniversary of the Battle of Homestead — then, as now, a pivotal event in U.S. labor history.
JOIN the Battle of Homestead Foundation for an in-person gathering at the Pump House (880 E. Waterfront Drive, Munhall, PA 15120) on Thursday, July 6, from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
No registration, no admission – just stop by and enjoy a casual meetup with music and food to discuss and remember the significance of the heroic struggle of workers and townspeople to preserve their dignity, their livelihood and their right to organize.
Then, as now.
*** VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS from the 130th Anniversary Commemoration in 2022.

A New Vision for the Mon Valley – 2024 and Beyond
2023-08-17 19:30 - 21:00
THURSDAY, AUG. 17, 2023 @ 7:30 p.m. The Battle of Homestead Foundation presents a free Zoom program “A New Vision for the Mon Valley – 2024 and Beyond”.
The 90-minute panel discussion with audience Q&A explores how the Mon Metro Chamber of Commerce and a coalition of companies and community organizations are working to bring new jobs and economic security to towns along Western Pennsylvania’s historic Monongahela River Valley.
Moderated by Dr. Patricia DeMarco, the panel includes Mon Metro Chamber of Commerce president Tina Doose; developer Derrick Tillman of Bridging the Gap; EOS Energy Enterprises’ Chad Fitzgerald; Breathe Collaborative director and environmental engineer Dr. Matthew Mehalik.
REGISTER HERE at Eventbrite for the Zoom link.
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* Based in Braddock, PA, the Mon Metro Chamber of Commerce (MMCC) is a neighborhood hub of connection, resources, skill building and partnership. The MMCC is a membership organization that supports businesses, entrepreneurship with a focus on young entrepreneurs, nonprofits and the people who engage with these entities. MORE INFO HERE.

The 1948 Donora Smog Disaster – 75th Anniversary
2023-09-26 19:30 - 21:00
TUESDAY, SEPT. 26, 2023 @ 7:30 p.m. The Battle of Homestead Foundation presents a free Zoom program “The 1948 Donora Smog Disaster – 75th Anniversary” presented by Brian Charlton of the Donora Historical Society and Smog Museum.
The 90-minute program with audience Q&A explores the events leading up to the October, 1948 onset of intense smog that settled over the town of Donora, Pennsylvania, a Monongahela River mill town 24 miles southeast of Pittsburgh. The toxic air conditions killed 20 people and caused severe respiratory problems for 6,000 of the 14,000 people living in the town.
The Donora Smog remains one of the worst environmental disasters in American history, yet it had the positive effect of raising widespread awareness of dangers caused by industrial air pollution … an awareness that would eventually lead to state and federal laws protecting our air, earth and water.
REGISTER here at Eventbrite for the Zoom link.
* The Donora Historical Society and Smog Museum preserves, researches, interprets and promotes Donora history through cooperative continuing educational relationships with individuals and institutions, focusing on causes and effects of the 1948 smog tragedy and its impact on global environmental concerns and issues. MORE INFO HERE.

MIllie Beik Celebration of Life & Legacy
2023-10-22 14:00 - 16:00 | Pump House, 880 E. Waterfront Drive, Munhall, 15120, United States
Sun. Oct. 22, 2023, 2:00-4:00 p.m. “A Celebration of the Life and Legacy of Dr. Millie Beik (1943-2023)” at The Pump House, 880 E. Waterfront Drive, Munhall PA.
Millie Beik was a renowned labor history scholar, whose 1995 book The Miners of Windber: The Struggles of New Immigrants for Unionization, 1890s-1930s (Penn State University Press) was a landmark publication that received the Best Book of the Year award from the International Labor History Association.
Her late husband, Bill Beik, was a noted historian in the field of French history who taught with Millie for many years at Emory University in Atlanta.
When Millie and Bill retired from university teaching and moved to Pittsburgh, they became steadfast supporters of the Battle of Homestead Foundation, helping organize numerous programs and events.
This past year, she was an important part of the team that organized the Pennsylvania Labor History Weekend at Windber and Lilly, PA in April, 2023.
The Dr. Mildred Allen Beik Collection in the Special Collections and University Archives of Indiana University-Pennsylvania contains thousands of items and is the foremost archive of materials on the subject of U.S. coal mining life and culture in the early 20th century.
Join us Oct. 22 when the Battle of Homestead Foundation and the Beik family present a public celebration recognizing Millie’s social activism and scholarly contributions.
* The event is free and open to the public; if you plan to attend, an RSVP to bhfprograms@gmail.com would be appreciated.
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“Labor and labor relations constitute the essence of American history and are not separate or isolatable subjects divorced from the nation’s overall past. Working people have been instrumental in the building of America.” — Millie Beik, preface to Labor Relations

MLK Day Celebration @ Park Place AME Church
2024-01-13 10:00 - 14:00 | Park Place AME Church, 215 E. 10th Avenue, Homestead, PA, 15120, United States
SATURDAY, Jan. 13, 2024 from 10:00-2:00 p.m. — Park Place AME Ministries presents a “Community Unity Program” commemorating the historic legacies of Dr. George Washington Carver and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

This year’s program is Music & Memories celebrating the extraordinary musical contributions of Homestead music trailblazers Catherine Cardwell Gardner (singer and choir director), Mary Cardwell Dawson (founder of the Negro Opera Company), Jester Hairston (composer, actor, founding member of the Screen Actors Guild).
Co-sponsored by Battle of Homestead Foundation, the program is followed by a CommUnity Brunch in the church dining hall. The focus is on social justice and the impact these artists had in American music, and to bring people together for fellowship and conversation.
LOCATION: Park Place AME Ministries, 215 E. 10th Avenue, Homestead, PA 15120
RSVP TICKETS: Suggested donation for Music & Memories and CommUnity Brunch is $25. For tickets visit Eventbrite at http://tinyurl.com/4k78wbzz or call (412) 400-8809; patrons at $100 will be listed in the program.
Music & Memories performers include gospel singers Keith Easley and Park Place AME Choir director Debbie Squair. The tribute to Mary Cardwell Dawson features Grammy-winning opera soprano Chantal Braziel, graduate of Saint Vincent College and Carnegie Mellon University, and classically-trained tenor Park Place AME Pastor Geoffrey Tate.
Central Baptist Church pianist Jayla Grigs will accompany the gospel artists, and pianist Benjamin May will render an homage to the music of one of Mary Cardwell Dawson’s most famous students, Pittsburgh jazz master Ahmad Jamal. The tribute to Jester Hairston features combined voices from Park Place, Battle of Homestead Foundation and Renaissance Choir with singer-songwriter Mike Stout leading the finale.
The CommUnity Brunch follows in the church social hall. Guests are invited to stay in the sanctuary for a talkback with historian Dr. Charles McCollester and PhD musicology candidate Candace Burgess whose exhibit “Music Must Go On: Re-membering Mary Cardwell Dawson” launches online Jan. 14.

2024 Annual Member Meeting
2024-01-22 19:00 - 20:30
The Battle of Homestead Foundation’s 2024 Annual Meeting will be held Monday, Jan. 22, 2024 from 7:00-8:30 p.m. online via Zoom.
It is free and open to the public, and we invite you to join us to hear a keynote speaker on a current theme of interest followed by short organizational updates.
REGISTER HERE to receive your Zoom link.
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OUR FEATURED SPEAKER is Bernie Hall, District 10 Director of the United Steelworkers.
Topic: “How Labor History Informs Today’s Technology Revolutions”
Bernie Hall is a fourth-generation Steelworker whose family has a long tradition of union activism. Joining USW Local 8183 in Bridgewater, PA, he served first as unit president and then president.
In 2011, Hall became one of the youngest ever staff representatives in the District. Since then, Hall has bargained in nearly every sector of the union, including negotiations with employers such as U.S. Steel, BASF, International Paper, PCA, Allegheny Technologies, Nova Chemicals, Robert Morris University and more.
Hall currently sits on the National Institute for Career Development advisory board and serves as a trustee to three of the Pennsylvania Heavy and Highway Construction benefits funds. He is a graduate of the Community College of Allegheny County labor management studies program and a board member for the Beaver County United Way.
Bernie will be discussing Southwestern Pennsylvania’s historic role at the forefront of the Industrial Revolution … and how that history can help advance workers’ rights in the many technology revolutions of today.

Pittsburgh Labor Movement, Then and Now
2024-02-16 18:00 - 20:00 | Room 219-B in Langley Hall, Univ. of Pittsburgh campus (171 Tennyson Ave.)
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 staffunionofpitt@usw.org

BOOK TALK: "Rust Belt Union Blues" authors Lainey Newman & Theda Skocpol
2024-03-10 14:00 - 16:00 | First Unitarian Church of Pittsbrgh, 605 Morewood Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA, 15213, United States
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!

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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.
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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 is the Victor S. Thomas Professor of Government and Sociology at Harvard University. Her many books include The Tea Party and the Remaking of Republican Conservatism (with Vanessa Williamson); Upending American Politics (coedited with Caroline Tervo); and Diminished Democracy: From Membership to Management in American Civic Life.
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*** While this program is admission-free, you are welcome to make a monetary donation on the Eventbrite Ticket Page to offset expenses involved in producing our 2024 Program Series. The Battle of Homestead Foundation is a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) nonprofit. ***
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AN EVENING OF WORKING-CLASS POETRY (AND MUSIC)
2024-04-11 19:00 - 21:00 | Pump House, 880 E. Waterfront Drive, Munhall, 15120, United States
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
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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 University Press.
Jason Irwin is the author of three full-length poetry collections and two chapbooks, most recently The History of Our Vagrancies (Main Street Rag, 2020). In 2022 he was a Zoeglossia Fellow and part of the Poetry Foundation’s Disability Poetics Project. His nonfiction has been published in Santa Ana Review, Panorama, The Catholic Worker and City of Asylum’s Pittsburgh Live/Ability: Encounters in Poetry and Prose Project. He grew up in Dunkirk, NY, and now lives in Pittsburgh.
Paola Corso is the author of seven poetry and fiction books set in her native Pittsburgh where her Southern Italian immigrant family worked in the steel mills. Her books include Vertical Bridges: Poems and Photographs of City Steps, The Laundress Catches Her Breath (winner of the Tillie Olsen Award in Creative Writing), Once I Was Told the Air Was Not for Breathing (winner of a Triangle Fire Memorial Association Award), Catina’s Haircut: A Novel in Stories (Sons of Italy National Book Club Selection), Giovanna’s 86 Circles and Other Stories (John Gardner Fiction Book Award Finalist on the Pennsylvania School Librarian Association’s Top 40 Young Adult Fiction List) and Death by Renaissance with archival and original photographs by George Thomas Mendel. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, Christian Science Monitor, USA Today, Women’s Review of Books, Writer’s Digest, U.S. Catholic, The Progressive and numerous anthologies.
kelsey jumper is a multidisciplinary performing artist grateful to have worked with well-celebrated Pittsburgh theater companies including Pittsburgh Public Theater, Quantum Theater, Bricolage Production Company, Carnegie Mellon University Drama, Barebones Productions and Pittsburgh CLO. She’s been featured alongside the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, regularly at the Honky-Tonk Jukebox and with local bands including Ames Harding & the Mirage and Watererer. She’s played big league venues like Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Kennedy Center, MoMA, The Studio Museum of Harlem and The Shed. Kelsey was granted the opportunity to bring the words of MacArthur Fellow, Claudia Rankine, to life under Ms. Rankine’s direction in White Card. Kelsey has held residencies at Kelly Strayhorn Theater and The Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh, been commissioned by Carnegie Museum of Art and received support from The Opportunity Fund, Advancing Black Arts, Cultural Trust and #notwhitecollective. She’s also choreographed for Point Park University, her alma mater, where she studied Musical Theater. She’s grateful to tether together an existence – a practice of expansion through learning and expression.
Danny Rectenwald is a composer and guitarist spanning classical, jazz, rock, Irish, bluegrass, tango and folk. He has two solo albums on Misra Records – Samadhi and Canyon – and has performed with Favorite Band, Bastard Bearded Irishmen, Robert Randolph & the Family Band, Jim Avett, Michael Glabicki, Jim Donovan, Liz Berlin of Rusted Root, The Clarks, Donnie Iris and The Commonheart. He has performed on the soundtrack for the mobile app Little Pizzeria created by Orta Interactive Studio, performed and composed music for the kids’ TV show Hello Humans and played on the Mid-Atlantic Emmy-nominated show Live from Nied’s Hotel.

Pennsylvania Labor History Society state meeting June 14-15
2024-06-14 08:00 - 2024-06-15 17:00
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.

Building a People's History Museum
2024-08-15 19:00 - 20:30 | Pump House, 880 E. Waterfront Drive, Munhall, 15120, United States
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

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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 the museum’s growing community work in the coalfields developing a series of public monuments to the 1921 Battle of Blair Mountain.
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Stories behind the Stones: A Local History Evening with Homestead Cemetery
2024-09-26 19:00 - 20:30
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

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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.
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Benefit for the Affected Families of the East Palestine Train Derailment
2024-10-25 19:00 - 22:00 | Homestead United Presbyterian Church, 908 Anne Street, Homestead, PA, 15120, United States
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 — miststout629@gmail.com or (412) 461-5650

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2025 Annual Member Meeting
2025-01-27 19:00 - 20:30
The Battle of Homestead Foundation’s 2025 Annual Meeting will be held Monday, Jan. 27, 2025 from 7:00-8:30 p.m. online via Zoom.
It is free and open to the public, and we invite you to join us to hear a keynote speaker on a current theme of interest followed by short organizational updates.
REGISTER HERE to receive your individual Zoom link.
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OUR FEATURED SPEAKER is Michael Lewis, an investigative journalist and best-selling author whose books include The Big Short, Boomerang, The Blind Side, Moneyball, Liar’s Poker and Flash Boys.
Topic: “Why Government Workers Are a Good Investment of Taxpayer Dollars”
Mr. Lewis’ 2018 book The Fifth Risk and a recent Washington Post feature article examined contributions of America’s federal workforce and the current threats to it.
Mr. Lewis will share his thoughts on the important role the nation’s 2 million federal employees play in helping government operate and provide vital services across the country every day.

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East Palestine Train Derailment: Consequences for Allegheny County & Western PA
2025-04-23 19:00 - 21:00 | Homestead United Presbyterian Church, 908 Anne Street, Homestead, PA, 15120, United States
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.

"Art of Labor: Off Our Walls"
2025-06-27 16:00 - 2025-10-24 19:00 | Bost Building, 623 E. 8th Avenue, Homestead, PA, 15120, United States
FRIDAY June 27 from 4-7 p.m. join the Battle of Homestead Foundation and Rivers of Steel for the opening of a rare collection of American art at the historic Bost Building, 623 E. 8th Ave. in historic Homestead.
The “Art of Labor: Off Our Walls” runs through Oct. 24, 2025 and features over 50 paintings, photographs and objets d’art from the collections of historians Joe and Delsa White, Steffi Domike and Rivers of Steel.
The exhibit runs through Oct. 24,2025, with related programs on Pittsburgh’s arts-and-labor heritage during the exhibit run.

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Meetup for 133rd Anniversary - Battle of Homestead Commemoration
2025-07-06 14:00 - 17:00
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.”

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"Steel City to White City: Western PA and the World’s Columbian Exposition”
2025-09-10 19:00 - 21:00 | Pump House, 880 E. Waterfront Drive, Munhall, 15120, United States
JOIN THE Battle of Homestead Foundation for an in-person program “From the Steel City to the White City: Western Pennsylvania and the World’s Columbian Exposition“
Based on his recent book From the Steel City to the White City: Western Pennsylvania and the World’s Columbian Exposition, University of Pittsburgh archivist Zach Brodt explores Western Pennsylvania’s representation at Chicago’s 1893 World Columbian Exposition, a major step in demonstrating that Pittsburgh was a region of developing culture and innovation.
DATE: Wednesday, Sept. 10, 2025 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: https://tinyurl.com/3kwexwrc
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WHILE Pittsburgh’s most famous contributions to the 1893 World’s Fair — alternating current electricity and the Ferris wheel — had a lasting impact on the United States and the world, other exhibits provided a snapshot of the area’s industries, natural resources and inventions.
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“A must-read for all historians of the Steel City.” — Thomas White, Duquesne University
“A marvelous example of placing regional history in a broader national context.” — Robert W. Rydell, Montana State University
“A worthwhile addition to any social, environmental, or urban history scholar’s library.” — H-Net Reviews
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