The Illinois Labor History Society Seeks to encourage the preservation and study of labor history materials of the Illinois Region, and to arouse public interest in the profound significance of the past to the present. Learn more>>

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UE Mural Update!

April 1

Thanks to your support, last month we were able to complete the first phase of preserving the “Solidarity” mural from the interior of the former UE Hall in Chicago.

Wall sections containing the majority of the mural were removed from the building over the course of several weeks. Prior to their removal, the entire mural was documented with high-quality photographs and video, allowing us to preserve virtually both the mural itself and the experience of seeing it in its original context.

The Chicago Public Arts Group has submitted a grant application on our behalf to a major arts funder to support the second and final phase of preservation — a complex process by which the paint will be removed from the wall sections, reapplied to canvas, and then touched up. Once that is complete, different scenes from the mural will be displayed at our new home at the Chicago Teachers Union building, at the offices of In These Times, and at the UE Local 506 hall in Erie, Pennsylvania.

The effort to preserve this mural was a truly collective effort:

Over 2,500 of you signed the public statement of support.

Over 200 of you donated to our online fundraiser, raising almost $14,000 online and helping put us over the top of our fundraising goals.

Several long-time UE and labor activists made major donations.

The Chicago Public Arts Group, in addition to submitting the grant proposal, worked with us to raise funds and connected us to people in the Chicago arts community without whom this project would not have been successful.

In case you haven’t seen it, the mural preservation effort also received coverage in the Chicago Sun Times, Block Club Chicago, and the Chicago Tribune (the last is behind a paywall).

Thank you again for your support!

In solidarity,

Kari Thompson - Director, UE Research and Education Fund

A union forged in steel - Illinois Labor History Society Union Hall of Honor December 8

The United Steelworkers (USW) were honored with the annual Union Hall of Honor on December 8 at International Union of Operating Engineers Local 399 Hall in Chicago. With a theme of “Forged in Steel,” this years inductees included AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Fred Redmond, a Chicago native, the late George Becker, former USW President George Becker, a Granite City native, and women union activists Norma Gaines from Granite City and Roberta Wood of Chicago. A flickr file from the event is available at Illinois Labor History Society Union Hall of Honor, Dec 8 2023 | Flickr

“Civil Rights & Labor” — Union Hall of Honor December 3. A memorable event.

Labor and Civil Rights” was the theme for the 2021 virtual Union Hall of Honor.  The guest speaker was Sara Nelson, President of the Association of Flight Attendants—Communications Workers of America (AFL-CIO).  This year’s honorees included civil and human rights advocates Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr., C.T. Vivian, late ILHS board member Mike Siviwe Elliott and United Electrical Workers (UE) President Carl Rosen.

 Jesse Jackson Sr. is no stranger to union picket lines and rallies.  Jackson is the founder and president of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, one of America’s foremost civil rights, religious and political figures. Over the past forty years, he has played a pivotal role in virtually every movement for empowerment, peace, civil rights, gender equality, and economic and social justice.

Cordy Tindell (C.T.) Vivian (July 30, 1924 – July 17, 2020) was an American minister, author, and close friend and lieutenant of Martin Luther King Jr. during the civil rights movement.  Born in rural Missouri, Vivian grew up in Macomb, Illinois, attending Western Illinois University.  Vivian participated in his first sit-in at Peoria’s Barton’s Cafeteria in 1947, helping desegregate the community.  He advocated for job opportunities for youth with organized labor.

Mike Siviwe Elliott (October 4, 1952 - May 25, 2021) was an ILHS board member and a United Auto Workers Local 551 member, who retired from the Chicago Torrance Avenue Ford plant.  Mike was involved in multiple movements.  Besides serving on union committees, Mike was instrumental in the anti-apartheid fight in Chicago, most recently with Black Lives Matter (BLM), and a stalwart with the Chicago Alliance Against Racism and Political Repression (CAARPR).  Mike’s most recent cause was establishment of a citizen’s review board over the Chicago Police Department.

Chicago native Carl Rosen in 2019 became the United Electrical Workers’ (UE) President.  Growing up with union activist parents, Carl was active in social justice efforts from a young age.  During college years he was a Steelworkers member and helped campus organizing against apartheid. 

For ten years Carl worked at Kerr Glass on Chicago’s west side, a member of UE Local 190.  He served in multiple local union positions before election as UE District 11 Secretary-Treasurer in 1990, when he joined the union’s national executive board.  He helped organize the Chicago Area Strike Solidarity Committee, which developed into the local Jobs with Justice chapter.

In 1994 he became District 11 President, covering the Midwest.  In 2006 the UE Midwest Region merged into the Western Regions, with Carl elected its first President. 

Under Carl’s leadership the UE organized immigrant workers and supported their rights, including the now famous 2008 Republic Windows and Doors sit-in.  He was a founding member of U.S. Labor Against the War and supported independent political action efforts.

John L. Lewis marked unveiled in Panama, Illinois Nov 5, 2021

An Illinois State Historical Society marker commemorating United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) President and Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) founder John L. Lewis (1880-1969) was dedicated on Friday, November 5, at John L. Lewis Park, Shoal Creek Avenue and Jefferson Street in Panama, Illinois.

Special guests included Illinois State Senator Doris Turner (48th District), Illinois State Representative Marcus C. Evans Jr. (33rd District), Midwest Region Laborers International Union of North America business manager and vice-president John F. Penn, Illinois Director of Labor Michael Klenik, Illinois AFL-CIO President Tim Drea, former UMWA District 12 President and retired Illinois Director of Mines and Minerals Joe Angleton and Union Labor Life Insurance Company CEO Edward M. Smith.

Over the crackling radio, John L. Lewis was a familiar 1930s-40s voice and newsreel presence.  At that time the UMWA was the world’s largest industrial union.  Lewis broke away from the American Federation of Labor and founded the Congress of Industrial Organizations (1937), launching massive organizing drives that added millions to labor’s ranks, launching unions like the United Auto Workers and the United Steel Workers.

With his bushy eyebrows and stentorian baritone, Lewis’ visage was regularly on magazine covers and newspaper front pages, while his union’s control of coal – the nation’s vital energy source – made the UMWA a powerful force.

Lewis was born in Lucas, Iowa, but came to Panama, Illinois with his parents and his siblings in 1908.  Within a year the Lewis family won election to local union office and Illinois Mine Workers District 12 hired Lewis as their Springfield lobbyist after the Cherry Mine Disaster.  His trajectory only went upward from there, leading the UMWA from 1920-1960.

The marker was financially supported by the Union Labor Life Insurance Company (ULLICO), with support from the Laborers International Union of North America—Midwest Region, United Mine Workers of America and the Illinois Labor History Society.

Progressive Mine Workers of America State Historical Society marker dedication, May 1, 2021, Gillespie, Illinois

Progressive Miners of America state historic marker dedication, Gillespie, Illinois, May 1, 2021.

JoAnn Condollone and other supporters portray the Progressive Miners of America Auxiliary, May 1, 2021, Gillespie, Illinois.

Virtual Union Hall of Honor was December 10

On December 10, 2020 The ILHS honored Drs. Alice Hamilton, Quentin Young, and Peter Orris. We commemorated the history of labor's involvement in fighting the 1918-1919 Influenza Epidemic and the role workers are playing in the struggle for safe working conditions and accessible health care during today's Covid-19 pandemic. This was a successful on-line event, allowing our supporters to aid the Labor History Society and join us in honoring these outstanding health care worker advocates.

2019 Union Hall of Honor

The 2019 Union Hall of Honor honored the late Ron Powell, past President of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 881, Teamster Robert Simpson and Irene Goines of the Woman’s Trade Union League.

Click Here for More Information about these Honorees