June 19th marks a significant incident in Connecticut history. Yet no one celebrates it. (No, I don’t mean Juneteenth, which…
Hell Hole: The Seyms Street Jail
For more than a century Seyms Street jail housed the criminal and the courageous. At one time or another, Wobblies,…
aka Jim Pembroke
The Reverend James W.C. Pennington, D.D. had been warmly received in Scotland, had his biography published in England, and was…
Isabel Blake, Welfare Warrior
Isabel Blake challenges state legislators to “meet with us and talk things over.” The legislators stay silent. “We don’t bite,”…
Secret FBI Files 3: Lessons for Today
How the Phone company and the news media aided FBI spying in Hartford.
Secret FBI Files 2: The Black Panthers’ Work in Hartford
The National Archives released 1,582 pages on the Black Panther Party (BPP) in Hartford on March 6, 2014. Many pages…
New: FBI Files Released on Hartford Black Panthers
Government spying on Hartford residents is not new. It dates back at least to 1919, when police and the U.S.…
Mayor Mark Twain
Could Mark Twain have become mayor of Hartford? Apparently, the Knights of Labor thought so. This 19th century labor union…
Shoeleather Quiz #2
1. What was the last film to play at the Meadows Drive-In Theater before it closed? 2. Which one of…
The Fugitive and the Hero
The steamship Hero made its way up the Connecticut River. It was October 1, 1850; two men with different purposes…
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…
Baseball Crazy
No ESPN, no sports radio, no internet scores. In 1913, all Hartford baseball fans had was the Megaphone Man. He…
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…
No Part too Great or too Small
I think Bobby Sands is smiling. In 1981, Bobby was an Irish prisoner in a British jail. As a member…
Roberto Clemente, ¡Presente!
Why would a baseball star who died more than forty years ago have such a great impact on Hartford people?…
Shoeleather Quiz # 1
1. From where did Mayor George Athanson broadcast his overnight radio show? 2. Which famous person spoke in Hartford? (a)…
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…
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…
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…
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.…
No Room at the Inn
Ethel Thompson and her family reached Hartford after midnight. She entered the Hotel Essex on Main Street and went to…
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…
Heroes & Anti-Heroes
For more than a year, the prison authorities would not allow Avelino Gonzalez-Claudio proper medical treatment. Then, a month before…
No Business as Usual: Vietnam War
On a cool and sunny fall day in Hartford, ten thousand people jammed into Bushnell Park with one goal: to…
Ralph Allen: “He have more than courage”
As 3,000 people left Connecticut by car, bus, and train to join the historic March on Washington, Hartford college student…
Hometown Nukes & Poison Gas
I went online today to see if I could buy a Gatling gun. It turns out there are at least…
The Newsies Strike Back
The front page photo was startling, even to people who had lived in the city all their lives. On May…
Strange Fruit
What was the murder of Trayvon Martin if not a lynching? The definition of the word is clear: “an extrajudicial…
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.…
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…
Union Brew
In 1901, all Hartford saloons sold a glass of beer for a nickel. But if a thirsty man bought the…
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…
Playing ’til Sundown
Mahlon “Duck” Duckett and John “Mule” Miles returned to Hartford in 2007. Duck and Mule are surviving members of a…
John Brown & the Negro in the Dark
Samson Easton entered the State House in Hartford through a door someone had left open. He and another man carried…
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…
Red Emma
One of the most dangerous women in America spoke in Hartford on February 12, 1913. “Red Emma” Goldman talked about…
Mechanic Street Obituary
Hartford’s Mechanic Street passed away in the early months of 2003; the exact date is not known. It was located…
A Feeling of Solidarity
It was March, 1912. Emily Pierson and her sister suffragists were on a statewide tour of Connecticut, putting up posters,…
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…
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…
Indian Summer in the City
Hartford’s Wild West fans and kids of all ages had to make a hard choice one hot summer day in…
Hobo Life
On the Big Rock Candy Mountain /All the cops have wooden legs/ The bulldogs all have rubber teeth/ And the hens…
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…
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…
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…
Standing Your Ground
On the cold morning of November 29, 1976, snow and ice rained down on a small group crowded in the…
Sand Hogs
We might drive over the Bulkeley Bridge every day, but we seldom think about the sweat and toil it took…
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…
The Peddler & the Shoemaker
What would have happened if Bartolomeo Vanzetti had found work in Hartford? He traveled to our city, probably in 1909,…
The Tao of Danny
Some of the sayings of Danny Perez, union organizer. Principles that signify the fundamental true nature of the organizing world. …
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