30m; U.S.
Synopsis: Host Gordon Simmons interviews WVU professor Kenneth Fones-Wolf about his new book, “Glass Towns – Industry, Labor, and Political Economy in Appalachia, 1890-1930s” ( University of Illinois Press).
Contact: Host Gordon Simmons interviews WVU professor Kenneth Fones-Wolf about his new book, “Glass Towns – Industry, Labor, and Political Economy in Appalachia, 1890-1930s” ( University of Illinois Press)
5m each; U.S.
Synopsis: A collection of 5 minute long (each) audio and video files of or about historical labor events. Including: Kaiser Aluminum, 1957 Walter Reuther at the West Virginia Centennial Celebration, 1963 Hominy Falls Mine Disaster, 1968 Farmington Mine Explosion, 1968 Black Lung Rally, 1969 UMWA Presidential Candidate Arnold Miller at Miners’ Rally, 1972 Dedication of the Mine Health and Safety Academy, 1976.
Contact: Audio/Video Files from the West Virginia State Archives. Access: http://www.wvculture.org/history/av.html
7 discs
Director: Ross Ballard
Synopsis: William C. Blizzard, the son of Bill Blizzard, the “general” of the Battle of Blair Mountain, with the assistance of Wess Harris, compiled his many accounts of the West Virginia Mine Wars in his book, “When Miners March.” He had written most of the book for various labor publications anonymously in the 1950s. In 2005 Ross Ballard took the book and turned it into a monumental “audio movie,” complete with sound effects and original music. Songs on the special CD are by T. Paige Dalporto, Elaine Purkey, Hazel Dickens, Mike Morningstar, John Lilly and the Irish duo of Enda Cullen and Ian Smith.
Contact: http://www.mountainwhispers.com/MWGiftShop.htm.
30m; 29 min. sd. b&w. 16 mm.
Describes the work of union members who devote their after-work hours to the aid of their neighbors and the betterment of their communities. Features AFL-CIO president George Meany and vice-president Joseph Beirne.
Available from:
University of Maryland Libraries
Theodore R. McKeldin Library
College Park, MD 20742 United States
Virginia Tech
Blacksburg, VA 24062 United States
19m; U.S
Director: Ryan Claypool
Synopsis: Draws a connection between the historical creation of workers and the economic condition they are in today.
22m; U.S.
Director: David Koff
Synopsis: Immigrant workers die 9/11 in Trade Tower disaster.
45m; U.S.
Director: Lorraine W. Gray
Synopsis (IMDB): From December 1936 to February 1937 members of the United Auto Workers organized a sit-down strike inside the General Motors Fisher Body 1 and 2 plants in Flint, Michigan. They ultimately won recognition of their union and improved wages and conditions. “With Babies and Banners” tells the story of the Women’s Emergency Brigade, composed of female GM workers and the wives of men involved in the sit-down strike, which not only provided support services (like running the union kitchens that provided food to the strikers occupying the plants) but did picket duty themselves. It intercuts footage from 1937 with interviews with the same women 40 years later, still active in union politics and still pressuring the UAW to acknowledge women as equals.
40m; U.S.
Director: Jack Arnold
Cast: Sam Levene, Arlene Francis and Joseph Wiseman
Synopsis (IMDB): Film produced by the International Ladies Garment Workers Union — featuring several well-known Broadway actors — recreates Triangle Fire of 1913 and compares working conditions of the 1910’s with the 1950’s.
THE LABOR FILM DATABASE 