2020 Press Releases
Battle of Homestead Foundation premieres podcast exploring future work trends in America
HOMESTEAD, PENNSYLVANIA — The new public affairs podcast from Battle of Homestead Foundation explores a wide range of social and economic topics affecting the American work force, from fast food counter clerks to C-suite CEOs.
“Essential Work: Exploring the Past, Present and Future of Jobs … A Podcast from the Battle of Homestead Foundation” presents a mix of interviews with local and national experts helmed by a rotating cast of hosts including Rosemary Trump, Dr. Charles McCollester, Dr. Patricia DeMarco and Nathan Ruggles.
The podcast is available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, the Battle of Homestead Foundation website and YouTube channel and its main online home at essentialwork.buzzsprout.com.
Essential Work’s premiere episode features author Dr. Patricia DeMarco, Director of the Rachel Carson Institute at Chatham University and Vice President of Forest Hills Borough Council, interviewing Amanda Woodrum, Senior Researcher at Ohio Policy Matters, on the new multi-state Re-Imagine Appalachia coalition and its economic initiatives.
“Ever since its founding, Pittsburgh has been a center for innovation in industry and labor,” says John Haer, Battle of Homestead Foundation president. “As the U.S. economic landscape becomes even more disrupted and decentralized, we thought it was important to look at what these changes mean for individual workers.”
In addition, notes Foundation vice-president Steffi Domike, each episode highlights Pittsburgh-area service and social action groups making a positive difference in the community. “Essential Work: Exploring the Past, Present and Future of Jobs is more than abstract theorizing about the evolution of work. It provides a clearinghouse for information listeners will find useful here and now.”
The podcast also contains a regular feature by labor music historian L.E. McCullough spotlighting songs and performers connected to the topic. “Work and labor issues have always found their way into the popular culture,” says McCullough. “Using music to educate and spur people to action is as viable today as it ever was.”
Upcoming Essential Work programs examine farmers and the potential for regenerative agriculture, the emerging plastics-alternative industry, jobs in the coming Green Economy, manufacturing in a post-fossil fuel world, the Re-Imagine Appalachia movement and several episodes devoted to the anticipated effects of artificial intelligence on employment and education.
HOMESTEAD, PENNSYLVANIA — One hundred years ago this month, the volatile political landscape of post-war/post-pandemic America received another jolt: the passage of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution giving U.S. women the right to vote in all 48 states.
For voting rights advocates, the ratification crowned a long and bitter struggle that finally ensured for all adults the promise of full participation in our democracy. For those wary of sudden social change, the prospect of millions of new voters was an unsettling prospect.
On Tuesday,Aug. 18, from 7:30-9:00 p.m.the public is invited to an online conversation about the impact of women’s suffrage in the historic past and our current present. “1920-2020, How We Took the Vote — A Conversation about Suffrage and Strategies” connects the strategies used by the early 1900s suffrage movement to resolve the many voting rights issues facing Americans today.
Two Community College of Allegheny County professors, Dr. Jacqueline Cavalier and Dr. Ebony English, will lead the discussion. with concluding remarks by Ms. Eileen Olmsted, Communications Director of the League of Women Voters of Pennsylvania.
The program is free and presented by The Battle of Homestead Foundation and League of Women Voters of Greater Pittsburgh. Attendees must register at www.eventbrite.com to receive a Zoom admission link.
“We encourage everyone to watch the PBS film The Vote before the event,” says John Haer, Battle of Homestead Foundation president. “It provides an excellent overview of the suffrage movement and how it relates to our political landscape in 2020.”
The Aug. 18 program will follow an interactive format where participants share their thoughts on the film as well as their own personal experiences with respect to voting and political participation in 2020.
“The 100th anniversary of women’s suffrage in America is worth celebrating for its historic value as a milestone of human rights,” says Dr. Cavalier. “We’re hoping this program will encourage people to look at the opportunities voting offers in their own life.”
The Battle of Homestead Foundation is an educational nonprofit promoting Western Pennsylvania’s vibrant industrial and labor history starting with the 1892 Homestead Steel Strike and connecting with current labor issues involving economics, the environment, healthcare, racism and other social concerns.
The League of Women Voters of Greater Pittsburgh, a nonpartisan political organization, encourages the informed and active participation of citizens in government and works to increase understanding of major public policy issues and influences public policy through education and advocacy.
* For information on Battle of Homestead Foundation programs visit https://battleofhomestead.org
* For information on League of Women Voters of Greater Pittsburgh programs visit
https://my.lwv.org/pennsylvania/greater-pittsburgh
Battle of Homestead Foundation hosts weekly video tour of historic Pittsburgh labor sites
HOMESTEAD, PENNSYLVANIA — If you were suddenly offered a million dollars to name the nearest Pittsburgh historical site that played a vital role in America’s labor history, could you walk away with the cash?
Your final-answer lifeline would certainly be Charlie’s Monday Marker, a just-launched 12-minute weekly video series celebrating the notable people, places and events that shaped Pittsburgh’s rise to industrial prominence.
Hosted by Dr. Charles McCollester and produced by the Battle of Homestead Foundation, Charlie’s Monday Marker delves into the fascinating stories behind the more than 60 labor history sites listed in Labor History Sites in the Pittsburgh Region, a book authored by McCollester and Howard Scott in 2016 and published by Allegheny County Labor Council.
The first three Charlie’s Monday Marker features spotlighted locations commemorating people — early 1900s labor and women’s rights activist Crystal Eastman (Market Square), 1800s African-American abolitionist and physician Martin Delany (PPG Place) and the immigrant girls and women who led the 1840s cotton mill strikes for a 10-hour workday (Allegheny Landing).
Future segments include August Wilson Home (Bedford Avenue), Jewish Labor Temple (Miller and Reed Streets), Abraham Lincoln’s Inauguration Train Stop (Smithfield Street), Arsenal Armory Explosion (40th Street), 1919 Steel Strike (Braddock), 1947 Hotel Debate between John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon (McKeesport) and more.
“Pittsburgh has undergone immense physical and cultural changes the last few years, but there’s still a bedrock of working-class history that continues to shape our city today,” says McCollester. “This video series lets the viewer pause at familiar spots and take a quick trip back in time.”
A longtime professor of Industrial and Labor Relations at Indiana University-Pennsylvania, Dr. McCollester is former director of the university’s Pennsylvania Center for Labor Relations and president emeritus of the Pennsylvania Labor History Society. The Charlie’s Monday Marker project grew out of the current restrictions conducting in-person walking tours, one of McCollester’s favorite retirement pastimes.
“Charlie has a gift for making history come alive,” says John Haer, Battle of Homestead Foundation president. “He’s able to connect the past with current labor issues involving economics, environment, healthcare, racism and other social concerns. Charlie’s Monday Marker shows us the historical roots of those issues and how people are addressing them today.”
A new installment of Charlie’s Monday Marker debuts each Monday morning on the website and Facebook pages of the Battle of Homestead Foundation, an educational nonprofit promoting Western Pennsylvania’s vibrant industrial and labor history.
“History isn’t as remote from their lives as people often think,” McCollester observes. “A lot of the time, it’s literally right around the corner.” # # #
NEWS RELEASE:
Battle of Homestead Foundation hosts July 16 online literary meetup with Crystal Eastman biographer Amy Aronson
HOMESTEAD, PENNSYLVANIA — In 1910, New Englander Crystal Eastman was one of the most
acclaimed progressive reformers in America. By the 1920s, her ardent suffragism, insistent anti-militarism, inclusive internationalism and uncompromising feminism branded her “the most dangerous woman in America” and led to her exile in England.
On Thursday, July 16, from 7:30-9:00 p.m. Dr. Amy Aronson shares insights from her landmark new biography, Crystal Eastman: A Revolutionary Life, in an online literary meetup presented by the Battle of Homestead Foundation as the 2020 United Steelworkers’ Bernard Kleiman Memorial Lecture.
The program is free with donation requested; viewers must register at www.eventbrite.com to receive Zoom admission links.
A founder of the ACLU and Woman’s Peace Party, Crystal Eastman held degrees from Vassar, Columbia and New York University School of Law. As journalist and organizer, Eastman was a tireless advocate for women’s suffrage, labor equality and opposition to American involvement in World War I. She died of a sudden kidney illness at age 47.
Eastman’s Pittsburgh connection was a strong and fruitful one; at age 26, she was hired to investigate labor conditions in the city’s industrial complex; her resulting 1910 landmark publication, Work Accidents and the Law, was a catalyst for the first workers’ compensation law in America. “In everything I’d ever seen about Crystal Eastman, her voice and vision came through so powerfully,” says Dr. Aronson. “I knew my biography had to focus not just on the incredible impact she had a century ago but how relevant her work is to today’s movements for social change.”
Amy Aronson, Ph.D. is Associate Professor of Journalism and Media Studies at Fordham University. Formerly an editor at Working Woman and Ms., she now serves as an editor for Media History. She is the author of Taking Liberties: Early American Women’s Magazines and Their Readers and co-author with Michael Kimmel of Sociology Now and Men & Masculinities: A Social, Cultural, and Historical Encyclopedia.
The Battle of Homestead Foundation is an educational nonprofit promoting Western Pennsylvania’s vibrant industrial and labor history starting with the 1892 Homestead Steel Strike and connecting with current labor issues involving economics, the environment, healthcare, racism and other social concerns.
Battle of Homestead Foundation hosts June 14th Zoom event for novel on 1922 Pennsylvania Coal Strike
WHAT: Battle of Homestead Foundation presents a free Zoom talk on 40 Patchtown, the new novel by Damian Dressick on the 1922 Pennsylvania coal strike that united immigrants and resident miners in a bitter struggle for decent wages and working conditions.
WHEN: Sunday, June 14, 2:00-3:00 p.m.
WHERE: Program is free but viewers must register at www.eventbrite.com
WHY: Writing historical fiction meaningful to our time and true to its original living characters is a special form of literary art. Dr. Dressick will share his insights on the methods he employed to recreate for modern readers the vanished world of 1920s’ Pennsylvania coal town life.
INFO: https://battleofhomestead.org
HOMESTEAD, PENNSYLVANIA — Over the last 150 years, Western Pennsylvania has seen its share of pivotal labor strikes. A new novel by Damian Dressick, 40 Patchtown, tells the story of a particularly violent and critical series of coal country confrontations during the 1922 Windber Strike centered in Somerset County.
TheSunday,June 14 literary meetup is presented by Battle of Homestead Foundation and runs online from 2:00-3:00 p.m. The program is free with donation requested; viewers must register at www.eventbrite.com to receive admission links.
Dr. Dressick teaches writing at Clarion University of Pennsylvania and is the author of several award-winning poetry collections. 40 Patchtown follows fatherless 14-year-old coal miner Chet Pistakowski as he struggles to support his mother and siblings amid a corrupt company-town culture ruled by violence, poverty and manipulation.
“Many of the same issues workers face today drove the coal strikes of a century ago and have yet to be fully resolved,” says John Haer, Battle of Homestead Foundation president. “History-based fiction like 40 Patchtown helps us see those important events from the perspective of the people who lived through them.”
Writing historical fiction meaningful to our time and true to its original living characters is a special form of literary art. Dr. Dressick will share insights on methods he employed to recreate the vanished world of 1920s’ Pennsylvania coal town life for modern readers.
The Battle of Homestead Foundation is an educational nonprofit promoting Western Pennsylvania’s vibrant industrial and labor history starting with the 1892 Homestead Steel Strike and connecting with current labor issues involving economics, the environment, healthcare, racism and other social concerns.
The Foundation’s 2020 online lecture series continues July 16 with Fordham University professor Dr. Amy Aronson presenting Crystal Eastman: A Revolutionary Life, her book on the early 20th-century progressive reform movement.
* For information on Battle of Homestead Foundation programs visit https://battleofhomestead.org
* For information on 40 Patchtown visit www.damiandressick.com
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Battle of Homestead Foundation 2020 Online Program Series
May 27 – American Factory online panel discussion with Oscar-winning directors Julia Reichert and Steven Bognar
June 14 – Author Damian Dressick discusses 40 Patchtown, his new novel on the violent 1922 Pennsylvania coal miners’ strike
July 16 – Fordham University professor Dr. Amy Aronson presents Crystal Eastman: A Revolutionary Life, her new book celebrating a leader in the early 20th-century progressive reform movement
• The Battle of Homestead Foundation’s Program Series kicks off May 27, 2020, with Directors of Oscar-winning “American Factory” film
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WHAT: Battle of Homestead Foundation presents a free Zoom panel discussion of American Factory, 2020 Oscar-winning Best Feature Documentary, with film directors Julia Reichert and Steven Bognar, Braddock filmmaker Tony Buba, Dr. Louis Picard, director of University of Pittsburgh’s Public Administration Program
WHEN: Wednesday, May 27, 7:30-9:00 p.m. EST
WHERE: Online Program is free but viewers must register at https://bhfdn.in/2TaBLS9
WHY: The COVID-19 pandemic has brought the long-simmering crisis in American factories to a boil; American Factory explores the dynamics of the problem and what may be solutions
For More Information : https://bhfdn.in/2T6zabV
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HOMESTEAD, PENNSYLVANIA — The COVID-19 pandemic has not only revealed the chaos in America’s healthcare network, it’s shone a harsh spotlight on disturbing trends impacting the nation’s larger supply chain system and millions of vulnerable workers.
Battle of Homestead Foundation members believe the Academy Award-winning film American Factory offers useful and timely knowledge, and they’ve organized a Zoom panel discussion with the Directors of the celebrated documentary, Julia Reichert and Steven Bognar, Wednesday, May 27 from 7:30-9:00 p.m.
Theprogram is free with donation requested; viewers must register at www.eventbrite.com/ xxx to receive admission links, then view the film before joining the May 27 discussion.
American Factory opens in 2014 when a major Chinese glass manufacturer refits a closed GM auto plant in Moraine, Ohio, and hires several hundred ex-plant employees to work under Chinese managers. Clashes between labor and management soon emerge, mirroring the growing breakdown in America’s manufacturing sector over the last decade.
Produced by Barack and Michelle Obama’s new production company Higher Ground and distributed by Netflix, American Factory was directed by Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert, veteran documentarians with a five-decade list of social-issue film credits that include Union Maids, Seeing Red, Methadone: An American Way of Dealing,Growing Up Female and Raises Not Roses: The Story of the 9to5 Movement.
“Having the directors speak to us in real time is what makes this program so special,” says John Haer, Battle of Homestead Foundation president. “They saw the process unfold over several years and were able to interpret that in tandem with events happening in the world outside the factory.”
For the May 27th panel discussion, Reichert and Bognar will be joined by Braddock filmmaker Tony Buba, whose oft-awarded body of work has chronicled Western Pennsylvania working-class life, and Dr. Louis A. Picard, director of the Public Administration Program at the University of Pittsburgh and an expert in international economic and social development.
“America’s factory and warehouse networks are in crisis, and so much of the problem lies in the how we address the basic rights not just of workers but of consumers at the other end of the supply chain,” says Rosemary Trump, Battle of Homestead Foundation board member and former Pennsylvania AFL-CIO vice president. “American Factory has a lot to tell us about the stark future that millions of Americans may encounter in their workplace and their daily lives.”
The Battle of Homestead Foundation is an educational nonprofit promoting Western Pennsylvania’s vibrant industrial and labor history starting with the 1892 Homestead Steel Strike and connecting with current labor issues involving economics, the environment, healthcare, racism and other social concerns.
“The true foundation of American economic security is the economic security of American workers,” saysJohn Haer. “Every occupational sector is undergoing rapid change, and American Factory tells that story with clarity and insight.”
American Factory is the first offering in the Foundation’s 2020 online lecture series that continues June 14 with author Damian Dressick discussing 40 Patchtown, his latest novel on the violent 1922 Pennsylvania coal miners’ strike, and July 16 with Fordham University professor Dr. Amy Aronson presenting Crystal Eastman: A Revolutionary Life, her book on the early 20th-century progressive reform movement.
2019 Press Releases
Battle of Homestead Foundation October Events Will Take on Rise of Extremism and HatredFor Immediate Release: October 2, 2019Contact: John Haer, (412) 478-5907, johnhaer1@gmail.com
Pittsburgh, PA ― The Battle of Homestead Foundation (BHF) will host events this month focusing on the rise of extremism and hatred, and the socioeconomic factors behind these disturbing trends. But first, BHF is organizing an event that offers solutions to some of the same root causes behind this social alienation, with a focus on skills training and apprenticeship and opportunities available to young people to find a good job with a living wage, without having to first go to college.
“We understand that support for nationalism, right-wing populism, and racist and anti-Semitic ideas don’t emerge from out of nowhere,” BHF President John Haer said. “The fertile ground for toxic ideology has been laid down by over 40 years of growing economic inequality, wage stagnation, and abandonment of the working class to a large degree by both major political parties.”
In part to confront this economic and social alienation and address the relative lack of opportunities for young, working class adults, this Saturday, October 5, at 2:00 pm, BHF will host a panel, “Building Alliances for Tomorrow’s Workforce: New Voices, Technology, and Ideas,” featuring Steve Shelton, Executive Director of the Trade Institute of Pittsburgh; DeWitt Walton of the Pittsburgh Chapter of the A. Philip Randolph Institute; Walter Bentley, Minority and Diversity Recruiting Specialist, IBEW Local 5 Electrical Apprenticeship; and interns. These union apprentice program leaders and other new workforce job educators, and students-in-training, will discuss challenges and prospects for lifetime careers in the skilled union trades, no college needed.
On Thursday, October 10, at 7:00 pm, BHF will present the Michael Moore film, “Fahrenheit 11/9,” which examines class, ethnic, racial, and other divisions in the US. Unlike many political experts, Moore correctly predicted that Donald Trump would win the 2016 presidential election.
This month marks one year since the horrific Tree of Life Synagogue massacre in Squirrel Hill. To attempt to understand why there has been an upsurge of murderous hatred against Jewish people and people of color, on Sunday, October 20, at 2:00 pm, BHF will host a discussion, “Build Solidarity to Fight Anti-Semitism and Racism: An Attack on One is an Attack on All.” Panelists will include Tammy Hepps, a local historian focusing on American Jewish history; Carl Redwood Jr., a social worker who has participated in community organizing efforts on the local, state, and international levels; and labor historian and activist Joe White. Steffi Domike, labor educator with the United Steelworkers International in the Education and Membership Development Department, will moderate.
“The Tree of Life massacre is not reflective of what Pittsburgh is, nor who we are as a community,” Haer said. “But the solidarity and support that followed very much brought out the best in who we are. We need to continue to pull together to push back against hatred, bigotry, racism, and the injustices we see far too often in the area.”
All events will be held at the wheelchair-accessible Historic Pump House, 880 E. Waterfront Dr., Munhall, PA 15210, free of charge.
Labor History Events in August to Focus on Legacies of Martyred Labor Organizer Fannie Sellins; Irish Presbyterians
For Immediate Release: August 6, 2019
Contact: John Haer, (412) 478-5907, johnhaer1@gmail.com
Pittsburgh, PA ― The Battle of Homestead Foundation (BHF) will join the United Mineworkers and the United Steelworkers in honoring Fannie Sellins, a labor martyr who was brutally murdered by deputies 100 years ago in Natrona on the eve of a United Mineworkers strike. The commemoration activities will be held throughout the day on August 26, the anniversary of Sellins’ martyrdom, in three locations in Ducktown, Natrona Heights; Brackenridge; and Arnold, where Sellins is buried.
“Fannie Sellins is one of the most important labor martyrs in Western Pennsylvania history, which is saying a lot,” BHF President John Haer said. “Her murder, along with that of miner Joseph Strzelecki, galvanized workers throughout the region and strengthened the mine workers’ resolve to strike the Allegheny Coal and Coke Company. She was another forceful figure like Mother Jones ― both widows who became involved in labor struggles across various industries ―but unlike Jones, Sellins was tragically cut down in the prime of life.”
Participants will gather to remember Sellins at three Allegheny Valley locations: 1) Ducktown, Natrona Heights (at 2:00 pm), where striking miners rallied and where Sellins was shot and killed in 1919; 2) Brackenridge, at the USW Local 1196 Union Hall (1080 Brackenridge Avenue), where there will be speeches from Fred Redmond, International Vice President USW; Levi Allen, International Secretary-Treasurer UMW; Steffi Domike of BHF and the USW; and others about Fannie’s relevance today (beginning at 3:00 pm, and a dinner at 5:00 pm); and 3) the Union Cemetery in Arnold, PA, at the Fannie Sellins and Joe Strazeleski gravesite to pray for the dead, and where speakers will include Rick Bloomingdale, PA AFL-CIO; Tanya James, UMW International Auditor/Teller; Ed Yankovich, UMW International VP, District 2 emeritus; and music by Tom Breiding (6:45 pm, 2030 Freeport Rd).
Also this month, on Saturday, August 17, BHF will present a book talk on “Pittsburgh’s ‘Other’ Irish: Before the Robber Barons” by Dr. Peter Gilmore, who will discuss his recent books Irish Presbyterians and the Shaping of Western Pennsylvania 1770–1830 and Exiles of ’98: Ulster Presbyterians in the US, at 1:30 pm at the Historic Pump House (880 E. Waterfront Dr.) in Munhall. Gilmore will discuss an earlier time when Pittsburgh’s Irish were mostly Presbyterians whose religious beliefs actually discouraged them from the pursuit of wealth for its own sake, unlike the Scotch-Irish robber barons who would follow.
“These are probably both topics that are still relatively unknown to many people living in Western PA,” Haer said. “Yet the legacies of both Sellins and the region’s Irish Presbyterians are hugely important and affect our communities today in numerous ways.”
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Press Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE June 25, 2019
For more information, contact:
Danielle Maggio, Associate Producer
Phone: 412.777.3720 Email: dam217@pitt.edu
John Haer, President, Battle of Homestead Foundation
Phone: 412.478-5907 Email: johnhaer1@gmail.com
Battle of Homestead Foundation presents the Homestead premier of
BETTY – THEY SAY I’M DIFFERENT on the Queen of Funk’s 75th Birthday
Friday, July 26, 2019
EVENING SCREENING OF BETTY – THEY SAY I’M DIFFERENT
- Q&A W/ ASSOCIATE PRODUCER, DANIELLE MAGGIO
7pm-8:30pm, AMC Waterfront 22
$30 General Admission – Includes admission to film + after party with complimentary appetizers & live DJ entertainment.
$50 VIP Admission (50 seats available) – Includes admission to film, reserved luxury seating, autographed Betty Davis photo, gift bag, admission to after party, complimentary appetizers, live DJ entertainment & one drink ticket.
QUEEN OF FUNK AFTER PARTY W/ DJ ANTHONY SUSAN [GET DOWN GANG]
8:30pm-11:30pm, Sing Sing/Rock Bottom at The Waterfront
$20 After Party ONLY – Includes admission to after party ONLY with complimentary appetizers & live DJ entertainment
Proceeds from these events benefit the Battle of Homestead Foundation, a non-profit, charitable, educational organization. - About the Events – Join us as we celebrate Homestead resident, Queen of Funk, Betty Davis on her 75th birthday! A merchandise table will be set up with CDs, LPs, photos and accessories. Enter a raffle to win an autographed film poster by the Queen of Funk herself! After the film, enjoy a talk back and Q&A with Associate Producer of the film, Danielle Maggio. After the film, stroll over to Sing Sing/Rock Bottom at The Waterfront (5 minute walk from theatre) and get up and get down to a funky dance party with DJ Anthony Susan [Get Down Gang]. Enjoy complimentary appetizers, a full bar, and a live DJ set of soul, funk, r&b, disco + more!
- About Betty Davis – Funk Queen Betty Davis changed the landscape for female artists in America. She “was the first…” as former husband Miles Davis said— “Madonna before Madonna, Prince before Prince.” An aspiring songwriter from Homestead, PA, Betty arrived on the 70’s scene to break boundaries for Black women with her daring personality, iconic fashion and outrageous funk music. She befriended Jimi Hendrix and Sly Stone, wrote songs for the Chambers Brothers and the Commodores, and married Miles – startlingly turning him from jazz to funk on the album she named Bitches Brew. She then went on to become the first Black woman to write, produce, perform and manage herself, paving the way for Black women in the music industry. Betty was a feminist pioneer, inspiring and intimidating in a manner like no woman before. After three hard-hitting funk albums, and years of being banned and boycotted by the press and mainstream culture, Betty retreated from the public in the early 1980s and moved back to her hometown of Homestead, Pennsylvania.
- About the Film – After years of trying, the elusive Betty, finally allowed the filmmakers to creatively tell her story. The result is a documentary that tells the story of an artistic innovator and progressive social figure whose aesthetic ideas and practices, although marginalized during the1970s, are now celebrated in mainstream popular music. Made in accordance with Betty herself, this is the first artistic project that shines a light on one of the most pioneering and controversial musicians from the 1970s. Composed around Betty’s song lyrics, interviews, animations and a creative narrative, Betty finally shares her extraordinary story – including her short marriage to Miles Davis, befriending Jimi Hendrix and her 35 year disappearance. Creatively blending documentary and animation this movie traces the path of Betty’s life, how she grew from humble upbringings to become a fully self-realized Black female pioneer the world failed to understand or appreciate for several decades.
- About the Battle of Homestead Foundation – The Battle of Homestead Foundation is a nonprofit, charitable organization of citizens, workers, educators, artists and historians. Its purpose is to preserve, interpret, and promote a people’s history focused on the significance of the dramatic labor conflict at Homestead, Pennsylvania in 1892.
- Reviews of the Film:
The New Yorker “The Artful, Erotic, and Still Misunderstood Funk of Betty Davis”
The New York Times “Betty Davis Was a Raw Funk Pioneer. Her Decades of Silence Are Over.”
The Stranger “One of Funk’s Biggest Freaks Comes Out of Hiding”
Cultural Critique on Betty Davis:
The Guardian “Cult heroes: Betty Davis – blistering funk pioneer and fearless female artist”
AFROPUNK “We Need To Talk About Betty Davis” - Purchase tickets through Eventbrite! Search for “Betty Davis”
Visit us on Facebook for ticket link or at www.battleofhomestead.org
The Battle of Homestead Foundation is exempt from Federal Income Tax Revenue Code Section 501©(3). All contributions are deductible from federal taxes under section 170 of the IRA code.
For Immediate Release: June 6, 2019
Contact: John Haer, (412) 478-5907, johnhaer1gmail.com
Pittsburgh, PA ― The Battle of Homestead Foundation will feature a keynote presentation and discussion in June on the importance of collaboration and partnership between organized labor and environmental activists. The event, “Labor and Environmental Coalitions: A Must for Survival of Both,” will take place this Saturday, June 8 at 1:30 pm at the Historic Pump House (880 E. Waterfront Dr.) in Munhall.
“It is imperative that the labor and environmental movements work together to confront the challenge of climate change head-on,” BHF President John Haer said. “It’s a problem that’s already affecting millions of Americans through increasingly common severe storms, flooding, droughts, fires, and other disasters. Now is the time to push for a transition to a green economy that will create jobs ― good union jobs ― while hopefully providing us with a chance to avert global catastrophe.”
The event will feature Keynote Speaker Joe Uehlein, President of the Labor Network for Sustainability. Uehlein previously served as Secretary-Treasurer of the AFL-CIO’s Industrial Union Department, and as Director of the AFL-CIO Center for Strategic Campaigns. He also served on the United Nations’ first commission on global warming from its inception in 1988 until 2003. Joe started his trade union work at an aluminum extrusion mill in Mechanicsburg, PA as a member of the United Steel Workers (USW), and then worked highway construction as a member of the Laborers Union, LiUNA, Local 158 in Central Pennsylvania.
A discussion will follow Joe Uehlein’s presentation, featuring Chris Petrone, Legislative Director for the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 66; Rosemary Bezy, Vice-President, USW Local 1557, US Steel Clairton Works; Eva Resnick-Day, Community Organizer with the Sierra Club’s “Ready for 100” Campaign to bring Pittsburgh to 100 percent renewable clean energy; and Tina Doose, President of the Braddock Borough Council.
The event comes just months after a fire at the Clairton Coke Works and its resulting air pollution ― and a contentious public hearing ― brought local tensions around labor and environmental issues to the fore. But it also follows in the wake of the introduction of the Green New Deal, a major congressional proposal to address climate change while stimulating job creation and transitioning away from fossil fuels.
“This is a do or die moment,” event organizer and retired steelworker Mike Stout said. “We either work together toward the common goal of collective survival, or time is going to run out very quickly for the human race, and the planet.”
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Pump House Events in Early May Will Take On the Outrage of Family Separation at the Border
For Immediate Release: April 19, 2019
Contact: John Haer, (412) 478-5907, johnhaer1@gmail.com
Pittsburgh, PA ― Two events at the Historic Pump House in early May will deal with US government policies that have separated children from their parents at the US-Mexico border. The events on May 2nd and 4th, organized by the Battle of Homestead Foundation (BHF), will follow May Day demonstrations around the US, including in Pittsburgh, to tout immigrant workers’ importance to the US labor force and show solidarity for immigrant working families. The events also come just as policy debates are putting harsh anti-immigration and anti-asylum policies back in the spotlight.
“Immigration has always been a labor issue here in the US,” BHF president John Haer said. “From the earliest US immigrants from Northern Europe through the waves of people coming from Southern and Eastern European who emigrated to Western Pennsylvania and organized some of the most important labor campaigns in US history, immigrants have played a major role in the US labor movement. Along the way, their collective actions have often lifted up their native-born brothers and sisters, gaining better working conditions and pay for all.”
On Thursday, May 2, the Battle of Homestead Foundation will screen “Separated: Children at the Border,” a PBS Frontline documentary film about the history of immigration policy under both the Obama and Trump administrations. It focuses on what happened to Central American families whose children were forcibly separated from their parents and other relatives at the border. (Thursday, May 2, 7:00 pm, at the Historic Pump House, 880 E. Waterfront Dr., Munhall, PA 15210. Admission is free and the Pump House is wheelchair accessible. For more information, see https://battleofhomestead.org/)
On Saturday, May 4, the Battle of Homestead Foundation will host the discussion program, “Family Separation at the Border: Its Impact on Pittsburgh, a ‘Welcoming City.’” This program addresses the important role immigrants have played and continue to play in our nation’s history, culture, and work force, and will focus on the current U.S. immigration policy that makes it difficult for Central American immigrants to seek asylum in the U.S. Like other immigrants before them, today’s immigrants are searching for a better life, freedom from violence, and economic security. Speakers will include Monica Ruiz, Executive Director of the Casa San Jose Center in Pittsburgh, and a powerful advocate for Latinos on legal, housing, development, and educational issues; and Guillermo Perez, United Steelworkers Labor Educator and Founder and President, Pittsburgh Chapter of Labor Council for Latin American Advancement (LCLAA). (Saturday, May 4, 1:30 pm, at the Historic Pump House, 880 E. Waterfront Dr., Munhall, PA 15210. Admission is free. For more information, see https://battleofhomestead.org/)
“We’re honored to host immigrant advocates like Ruiz and Perez and to express working class solidarity with our sisters and brothers coming to the US to seek asylum, or simply seeking the ‘American dream’ as so many of our ancestors did,” Haer said.
BHF is committed to preserving the history of the Battle of Homestead and to educating the public about its legacies. BHF, along with others, has successfully preserved the Historic Pump House building, which has become a venue for educational and community events, and led efforts to commemorate the Battle with plaques describing the event and honoring the dead. BHF has been involved in establishing historic markers at sites related to many historic events and persons in Western Pennsylvania.
For more information: mail@battleofhomestead.org, battleofhomestead.org. Twitter: @HomesteadFdn. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/homestead1892/.
Battle of Homestead Foundation 2019 Events Will Focus on Important Labor History Centenary
Historic Steel Strike and Murder of Organizer Fannie Sellins Were Landmark 1919 Events
For Immediate Release: April 4, 2019
Contact: John Haer, (412) 478-5907, johnhaer1@gmail.com
Pittsburgh, PA ― The Battle of Homestead Foundation’s events series this year will examine the importance of landmark labor history events that occurred 100 years ago and their lasting relevance for today. A launch event in April will provide context for the turbulent year that was 1919, which saw labor and class strife, with a massive steel strike and the murder of labor organizer Fannie Sellins in Natrona Heights just before the strike began.
“The year 1919 saw greatly important events in US labor history,” BHF President John Haer said. “Certainly, in Western Pennsylvania none more so than the steel strike and the brutal murder of Fannie Sellins, who instantly became a martyr to the cause.”
BHF will begin its events season with “1919: Bridges from History” on April 25, a discussion featuring historians Eric Leif Davin, Charles McCollester, Jacqueline Cavalier, and Howard Scott, who will employ their extensive research and experience to spotlight the turbulent post-war era of 1919 USA. Among the many lasting developments of the time, they will touch on the Suffragette movement; immigrants’ struggle for labor and civil rights; the Great Migration North of Black Americans; wartime unions; strikes; and radicalism and resistance to capitalism. (Thursday, April 25 @ 7:00 pm, the Historic Pump House, 880 East Waterfront Drive Munhall, PA 15120. FREE.)
“With the armistice ending the First World War, signed November 11, 1918, manufacturing demand fell and unemployment swelled. Social pressures already exacerbated by wartime labor practices, inflation and postwar corporate repression of unions, only deepened as economic activity slowed,” historian and BHF board member Charlie McCollester writes at the BHF website. These and other pivotal events set the stage for the labor unrest that would erupt toward fall.
Events to mark the assassination of Fannie Sellins are being organized around the centennial in August. Other events this season will examine current struggles of immigrants in the Trump era, labor and environment coalitions, the Pittsburgh Irish Presbyterian community, and cultural events featuring music and theater (including the April 27 one-woman show, “Mrs. Shakespeare: Will’s First and Last Love,” written, compiled and performed by Yvonne Hudson, 2:00 pm at the Historic Pump House, 880 East Waterfront Drive Munhall, PA 15120, free admission).
BHF is committed to preserving the history of the Battle of Homestead and to educating the public about its legacies. BHF has successfully preserved the Historic Pump House building, which has become a venue for educational and community events, and led efforts to commemorate the Battle with plaques describing the event and honoring the dead. BHF has been involved in establishing historic markers at sites related to many historic events and persons in Western Pennsylvania.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/homestead1892/.
For more information: battleofhomestead@gmail.com
Twitter: @HomesteadFdn.
BHF is committed to preserving the history of the Battle of Homestead and to educating the public about its legacies. BHF, along with others, successfully preserved the Historic Pump House building, which has become a venue for educational and community events, and led efforts to commemorate the Battle with plaques describing the event and honoring the dead. BHF has been involved in establishing historic markers at sites related to many historic events and persons in Western Pennsylvania.
For more information: mail@battleofhomestead.org, battleofhomestead.org. Twitter: @HomesteadFdn. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/homestead1892/.
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