Labor History News

We are excited to announce the recipients of this year's Amistad Awards which will be presented by the People's World on Sunday, December 4, 2011 at 4 pm at a special anniversary rally and youth cultural program, “Jobs for Youth – Jobs for All!” in New Haven at Cooperative Arts and Humanities High School, 177 College Street.

We rally in hope and unity to reject bigotry and fear and build the growing movement to pass national jobs legislation, rebuild the American Dream and put people before profits.

We celebrate the contributions and example of Renae Reese, Delphine Clyburn and Pastor Abraham Hernandez, three wonderful leaders and role models who challenge economic inequality and are in the forefront of organizing for jobs, health care and opportunities for youth. 

Renae Reese inspires grass roots organizing for economic rights and health care as director of the Connecticut Center for a New Economy. She is passionate for workers' safety and union rights, as past director of ConnectiCOSH and an organizer of UHP, AFT Local 3837 at the UConn Health Center.

Delphine Clyburn is a Local 1199 union steward with years of dedication to equal rights on the job and in the community where she is leading the struggle for jobs for Newhallville residents in New Haven as an Alderwoman-elect, and involving young people to make social change.

Pastor Abraham Hernandez is recognized across Connecticut for his compassionate work with the Interfaith Fellowship for Universal Health Care and a decade of struggles for jobs for Latino and African American residents and for bringing Latino youth into the political process.

The annual awards are presented to allies by the People's World on the occasion of the 92^nd anniversary of the Communist Party USA.

In Solidarity,

Joelle Fishman
Amistad Awards Committee

By Paula Panzarella

Last Spring, the Greater New Haven Labor History Association Outreach Coordinator Christine Saari initiated a wonderfully successful labor history program with students from Worthington Hooker and Katherine Brennan schools.  Almost one hundred sixth and eighth-grade social studies students learned how to conduct interviews with their parents and elders about work and wrote essays based on the interviews. The essays were used to create a composite performance piece with music and song by Mike Kachuba, and was performed by the students on the New Haven Green on May 1.

The Greater New Haven Labor History Association will be building off the success of last year's program, and has revised the Family Work History Project in order to reach a greater number of teachers and students. As the project coordinator, I will meet with fifteen social studies teachers in Connecticut to introduce them to the Family Work History Project and provide them with material so they can create a Family Work History Project with their own students.

I will have one meeting with their students to conduct a condensed workshop about the importance of our history at work, how to conduct an interview and how to write and present essays based on an oral history interview.  Students will have the opportunity to practice interviewing a retired or active worker who will accompany me. Volunteer interviewees will be chosen from a variety of industries and occupations in the greater New Haven area.

For teachers who decide to incorporate the five-class curriculum, I will be available to assist in planning and publicizing their classes’ “grand finale” performance.

I look forward to helping the students discover their “inner journalist” as they gain an understanding and appreciation of labor history. Please e-mail me at paulapanzarella@gmail.com or call (203) 562-2798 for any questions or suggestions. Thank you.

The Battle of Blair Mountain in West Virginia was one of the largest civil uprisings in the United States. For five days in late August and early September 1921, thousands of coal miners lined up against thousands of coal company security men and deputy sheriffs in a fight for union recognition and collective bargaining rights.

The battle raised awareness of the appalling working conditions in the West Virginia coalfields, and the leaders of the march on Blair Mountain went on to become key organizers in the national labor movements of the 1930s. In 2008 Blair Mountain was nominated for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places, a designation which the state of West Virginia is contesting. Today the battlefield site itself is threatened by mountaintop removal mining.

The public is invited to learn more about the history and current state of coal production in the United States in a discussion led by Melinda Tuhus on Wednesday, Sept. 14, at 6 pm at New Haven Public Library, 133 Elm St. Ms. Tuhus, a New Haven-based journalist, recently traveled to West Virginia to report on a march that was being held to support Blair Mountain’s preservation as a national historic site,  to protest mountaintop removal mining in Appalachia, and to advocate for labor rights and sustainable jobs.

For more information visit www.blairmountain.eventbrite.com or call the library at 203-946-8835.