Forget Loyalty Day, Health Day, Moving Day. May 1st is a celebration for working people all around the world, and … More
Category: Labor
Rising Tide: Steamboat Workers
From the Mississippi River to the Connecticut River, steamboats played a major role in building 19th century America. Hartford residents … More
Storm Center of Labor Unrest
On the morning of June 27, 1905, Bill Haywood used a piece of wood as a gavel to open the … More
“Take Away Their Clubs and Give Them Shovels”
The nonviolent foundation of history’s most radical union. Union organizer Matilda Rabinowitz took to the stage in 1913 to address … More
Josephine Bennett, Hartford’s City Mother
The history of the early Connecticut women’s movement is not complete without the story of Josephine Bennett (1880-1961). A militant … More
Teaching Working Class History to Our Kids
Beginning in 2018, Connecticut schools gained a new resource to teach students about the history of the American working class. … More
We March with Jesse Jackson to Rebuild America
Hartford and Bridgeport have long been known as the poorest cities in the country, but there is another statistic that … More
The Rebel Girl on May Day
Elizabeth Gurley Flynn celebrated May Day with Connecticut textile workers on May 1, 1912. This little-known speech was a special moment, … More
Young Boot Blacks Struggle to Survive
A story circulated in Hartford toward the end of the 19th century about a young boot black who worked on … More
Labor & Suffrage
The small plaque in the south corner of the State Capitol identifies the names of early 20th century Connecticut women … More
The Woman in Red
If she hadn’t worn her red dress to the picket line, Amelia Sabich might have lived a normal, quiet life. … More
Mayor Mark Twain
Could Mark Twain have become mayor of Hartford? Apparently, the Knights of Labor thought so. This 19th century labor union … More
Triangle Shirtwaist Fire: Lessons from a Tragedy
Sol Bidek’s family lived in a tenement on Market Street in Hartford. They waited several days for word from New … More
Baseball Crazy
No ESPN, no sports radio, no internet scores. In 1913, all Hartford baseball fans had was the Megaphone Man. He … More
More Hidden History of the Wobblies
A Shoeleather History of the Wobblies: Stories of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) in Connecticut is a new book … More
The Gandhi Strike
It’s been more than 75 years since the legendary Flint sit-down strike by Michigan autoworkers, a watershed event in American … More
We Won’t Starve Quietly
At the height of the Great Depression, thousands of Hartford people were thrown out of work. Like the rest of … More
Jay Gould: Octopus of the Wires
“I can hire one half of the working class to kill the other half,” said Jay Gould, probably the most … More
They fought for me and I fought for them
When he was about eight years old, Ernie DeMaio came home after school– more than once– with a black eye. … More
Why the Union Vote Counts
Will the union vote count on election day? For the last one hundred years it has, in Hartford and around … More
The Newsies Strike Back
The front page photo was startling, even to people who had lived in the city all their lives. On May … More
Connecticut’s Jim Crow Law
A dozen farmworkers entered Windsor Town Hall, quietly following Erwyn Glanz, the local constable who had given them a ride. … More
This Land is Your Land
In October 1944, weekend entertainment options for Hartford residents were limited. A family might take in the fall foliage, or … More
Union Brew
In 1901, all Hartford saloons sold a glass of beer for a nickel. But if a thirsty man bought the … More
Hartford Sex Trade: Prostitutes and Politics
Ann Dunn and Caroline McElroy were unceremoniously escorted to the police station where they were charged with prostitution. The arrest … More
Peace Work with a Union Label
“While this war was on, you appropriated billions for the war. How much are you willing to appropriate for peace … More
A Feeling of Solidarity
It was March, 1912. Emily Pierson and her sister suffragists were on a statewide tour of Connecticut, putting up posters, … More
Lincoln: “There is a Strike!”
March, 1860. Abraham Lincoln considers an invitation to Hartford, determined to widen his appeal as a possible presidential candidate. “Do … More
Solidarity and 75 cents
It started out as a dispute over seventy-five cents and ended up as a test of wills between hundreds of … More
Hobo Life
On the Big Rock Candy Mountain /All the cops have wooden legs/ The bulldogs all have rubber teeth/ And the hens … More
The Shameful Legacy of Sam Colt
Some Hartford people are pretty desperate for heroes. What other explanation could there be for the recent attempts to glorify … More
Two, Three, Many Rosa Parks
In 1955, Rosa Parks was removed from a city bus by a Montgomery, Alabama police officer. Her arrest sparked a … More
Factory Girls Strike for Their Health
The factory owner demanded sixty hours a week from the young women employed at the Government Envelope Works on South … More
Sand Hogs
We might drive over the Bulkeley Bridge every day, but we seldom think about the sweat and toil it took … More
One Big Union in Hartford
In a few rooms above Giolito’s Restaurant on Market Street, not too far from the Hartford Police Station, Sam Bernowsky … More
The Peddler & the Shoemaker
What would have happened if Bartolomeo Vanzetti had found work in Hartford? He traveled to our city, probably in 1909, … More
The Tao of Danny
Some of the sayings of Danny Perez, union organizer. Principles that signify the fundamental true nature of the organizing world. … More
Sam Clemens, Union Man
He is best known for his American classics Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, but Hartford resident Samuel … More
The Shoeleather History Project 