On April 1 and 2, 2023, the Pennsylvania Labor History Society and Battle of Homestead Foundation present a two-day gathering commemorating the 1922-23 United Mine Workers strike based in Windber, PA and the 1924 street battle between citizens of Lilly, PA and the Ku Klux Klan. These centennial recognitions of headline events from the 1920s mark decisive turning points in America’s progress toward religious tolerance and union rights and are OPEN TO THE PUBLIC. On Sat. Apr. 1, the 1922-23 United Mine Workers strike for union recognition will be discussed at a gathering of the Pennsylvania Labor History Society in Windber’s Slovak Educational Club, 1300 Jackson Avenue. Panels include “Women in Coal and Steel”, “John Brophy and Labor Education” and “Eastern Europeans and American Labor History”. Labor singer/songwriter Tom Breiding will perform, and recipients will be named for the Society’s annual Mother Jones Award, Irwin Marcus Worker Education Award and William Sylvis Labor Award. The 1922-23 strike was the first natiowide walkout by both anthracite and bituminous miners, with more than 600,000 miners demanding better wages, improved safety conditions, the right to collective bargaining and legal protection from the systemic corporate violence and intimidation that pervaded company-run coal towns across […]

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. _______________________________________________ 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; […]

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. _________________________ *** 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. _________________________ 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 […]

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. _____________________________ * 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.

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.

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. […]

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, […]

The Battle of Homestead Foundation is raising funds to create — The Center for the History and Future of Work. The Center will be a public education space celebrating the history of workers in Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania – all workers, past and present – from early industrial labor of miners, millworkers and trades to today’s diverse array of workers in knowledge, service, education, healthcare and other 21st-century occupations. The Center will tell this history by presenting events and programs (exhibits, lectures, films, concerts, classes, public forums, archives) that emphasize the vital role these workers played – and still play – in shaping their communities and ours. Get a glimpse of the vision for the Center here. Your contribution to the Center for the History and Future of Work will help us share this important labor history to a wider audience and inspire a new generation of activists and organizers. * You can contribute online ... click here to donate with PayPal or credit card. * You can contribute by check or money order ... please address to The Battle of Homestead Foundation and mail to P.O. Box 339, Homestead, PA 15120. The 1892 Battle of Homestead is revered worldwide as […]

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

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 […]