As the nation marks 250 years since the Declaration of Independence, the Illinois Labor History Society (ILHS) is sponsoring two Zoom meetings: Each session will open with a brief overview of working people’s unique contributions during the American Revolution. Then participants will go into Zoom small group rooms, to discuss their own reactions to the Declaration of Independence’s ideals and our current realities and to try and answer where do we go from here. We will bring labor union members to think about these questions. 

 https://bit.ly/AMERICA250ILHS2ndMeeting

Questions to consider: What does this anniversary mean to working people and labor unions? Who was included in the Declaration's call for "Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness" and who did our founding documents leave out?  Have we lived up to the promise of the Declaration of Independence, and how can labor be part of making these truths a reality for working people today?  

 These events are free and open to the public. Please register in advance.

As the nation marks 250 years since the Declaration of Independence, the Illinois Labor History Society (ILHS) is sponsoring two Zoom meetings: Each session will open with a brief overview of working people’s unique contributions during the American Revolution. Then participants will go into Zoom small group rooms, to discuss their own reactions to the Declaration of Independence’s ideals and our current realities and to try and answer where do we go from here. We will bring labor union members to think about these questions. 

 https://bit.ly/AMERICA250ILHS1stMeeting

Questions to consider: What does this anniversary mean to working people and labor unions? Who was included in the Declaration's call for "Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness" and who did our founding documents leave out?  Have we lived up to the promise of the Declaration of Independence, and how can labor be part of making these truths a reality for working people today?  

 These events are free and open to the public. Please register in advance.

Join the Pullman National Historical Park for a public panel discussion for Black History Month focusing on the influence of the Pullman Porter Labor Leaders on the Civil Rights Movement. The discussion will focus not only on leading figures such as A. Philip Randolph, but also how the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters influenced Black organizers of that era. 

 One of the Pullman National Historical Park core themes is the civil rights and labor struggle of the Brotherhood of sleeping car porters. While we often discuss the direct actions that made in their fight against the Pullman Company their fight did not stop there. Many members of the Brotherhood went on to be core pieces of the Civil Rights Movement, and the organizational roots of the union was a major reason that the Civil Rights Movement was able to have the success that it did. 

Co-authors of Climbing the Rough Side of the Mountain: the Extraordinary Story of Love, Civil Rights & Labor Activism

Thursday, February 19, 6 p.m. In person & via Zoom

REGISTER HERE for Zoom discussion with the Hills

Co-sponsored by the Chicago Federation of Labor, the Chicago Chapter

When Velma Murphy was knocked unconscious by a brick thrown by a man from an angry white mob and was carried away by Norman Hill, it was the beginning of a six-decade-long love story and the turmoil, excitement, and struggle for civil rights and labor movements. In Climbing the Rough Side of the Mountain, the Hills reflect upon their more than half a century of fighting to make America realize the best of itself.

Born in New Jersey, Norman Hill came to Chicago where he was the Chicago Coordinator for the Civil Rights movement. He led efforts to desegregate Chicago beaches, helped organize the 1963 March on Washington, where he stood with A. Philip Randolph and Bayard Rustin, and was the national program director for the Congress on Racial Equality. He was the AFL-CIO Industrial Union Department’s Civil Rights liaison, and director of the A. Philip Randolph Institute.

Velma Murphy Hill, a graduate of the Harvard Graduate School of Education, was a leader of the Chicago Wade-In to integrate Rainbow Beach, East Coast field secretary for CORE, and assistant to the president of the United Federation of Teachers, where she unionized 10,000 paraprofessionals, mostly Black and Hispanic, working in New York public schools. She was vice president of the American Federation of Teachers and International Affairs and civil rights director of the Service Employees International Union.

Alternately loved and reviled, Eugene Victor Debs was a passionate labor leader, a progressive political figure, and a formidable speaker in a time of great change in the United States. WFYI’s new documentary, The Revolutionist: Eugene V. Debs, tells the story of this Hoosier’s life. Born in Terre Haute in 1855, Eugene Debs emerged as a divisive figure when he led the nationwide Pullman Strike in 1894. Seeking an alternative way for workers to gain power, he helped establish the Socialist Party in the United States and ran as its candidate for president five times. His campaign across the country drew massive crowds, and his oratory tested the limits of the First Amendment. When he spoke out against America’s involvement in World War I, the Supreme Court upheld a guilty verdict that sentenced him to ten years in prison for violating the Espionage Act. From his cell, he ran for president for the final time, garnering nearly a million votes…and sparking a national conversation about the right to free speech.

“Allison Duerk has served as the director of the Eugene V. Debs Museum since 2016. Originally from rural northeast Indiana, Allison studied political science and music at Indiana State University in Terre Haute. Allison’s work at the museum connects the Debs story to ongoing movements for social and economic justice.”

REGISTER HERE

Human Rights Day Show, December 12th, 2025 from 6pm to 9pm

7pm program: Discussion with artist John Pitman Weber,  Carl Rosen, retired UE General President, and Stephanie Strickland, Chicago Public Art Group on the history and the preservation of the mural.

Open by appointment outside of receptions. For an appointment call or text 312 852 7717 or email gabbyfish@hotmail.com.

John Pitman Weber, board member of URI-EICHEN Gallery, worked for many months with Jose Guererro between 1972 and 1974, for free, to create the labor history mural of the UE Union on the interior stairwells and landings of their main office at Ashland and Monroe on the near west side of Chicago. It was a comforting and inspiring backdrop for many labor union members inside and outside of the UE and other progressives that were lucky to see it in its home space when in the UE hall for meetings or events.

When the UE building was sold, it became clear that the mural would be destroyed during renovation. To preserve substantial parts of the mural, the UE and others including Chicago Public Art Group made enormous efforts locally and nationally to raise funds for that purpose. Parma Conservation was retained to restore several mural panels from the site following removal. Those panels will be displayed at the Chicago Teachers Union and the UE Local 506 Hall in Erie, Pennsylvania, in the building used by one of the union's oldest locals.

This exhibition details photographic and large paper images of the mural, its dismantling, and preservation with the photos of CPAG, Carl Rosen, John Pitman Weber, and J Burger.

Thanks to the Chicago Public Art Group, John and Elsa Pitman Weber, and the UE

Welcome to the 2025 Union Hall of Honor! Join us at IBEW Local 134 for a night of celebration and recognition. We'll be honoring outstanding individuals who have made significant contributions to our community.

This year’s theme is Building Coalition & Unity. We are pleased to announce that this year we are honoring Jesse White – former Illinois Secretary of State; the late Cipriano Samonte – Filipino member of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters (BSCP); Lonnie Stephenson — recently retired President of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW); and Larry Spivack — President Emeritus of ILHS and former AFSCME District Director. They are being honored for their lifelong advocacy of union and human rights, and for their work to engage union members and labor activists.

 This is an in-person event, so mark your calendars and get ready for a memorable evening. See you there! Go to the Eventbrite link to buy tickets, sponsorships, or ads.

Pilsen Community Books is so excited to host an evening reading of some of the best of the speeches of the Haymarket Martyrs. 

Join us November 11th, the 138th anniversary of the execution of the Haymarket Martyrs by the state of Illinois, as we mark the return to print of The Famous Speeches of the Eight Chicago Anarchists, edited and organized by Lucy Parsons and now with a new introduction from David Roediger. In the midst of an ever growing fascist storm, our friends at AK Press have brought this long out of print classic back to  our bookshelves so we might gather new lessons for our time.

We'll honor the lives of the martyrs who fought for a better world with an evening of dramatic readings from their rousing speeches by friends of the store. We're thrilled to welcome Juan Gonzalez, Lilia Fernandez, Eman Abdelhadi, Zhandarka Kurti, and Jarrod Shanahan to help us bring the spirit of the martyrs back to Chicago and build community for the struggles to come.

Here is the link to the event page on our website and attached below is a promotional flyer/slide you can share by email and on social media if you like.

https://pilsencommunitybooks.com/events/20251111

This history feels more urgent than ever and we're happy to be able to share it with our community. Hope to see you there!

Families First Rally at Union Park – July 26

Join SEIU members, families, neighbors and allies across the country for a National Day of Action. The Chicago rally will be held at Union Park, 1501 W. Randolph on Saturday, July 26 at 12:00 p.m. This is to address Congress’ regression of protections for wages, healthcare, and immigrants. Click here to sign up for the Chicago rally. 

WHO

Under the Tree Podcast & Pilsen Community Books as part of the sub Version Summer Camp presented by the Public Media Institute.

WHAT

Join us in recreating a pivotal moment in Chicago and labor history!

The great railroad strike of 1877 became a massive nationwide labor uprising that arrived to Chicago and nearly brought the city and its business titans to their knees - mass strikes, walkouts, running battles and fiery speeches from labor leaders incited violent reprisals from police and national guard troops resulting in the deaths of over 30 civilians. With striking parallels to our current political moment, our re-enactment hopes to ensure that this history and the lives lost are properly memorialized and the lessons carried forward toward a more just future.

Addressing issues of labor, historical erasure, immigration, abolition, and solidarity; we propose to turn this event into a springboard for civic agitation. Our immediate demand is that the City of Chicago create a historical marker acknowledging this event and the lives lost in time for the 150th anniversary in 2027. Our greater goal is the building of movements that acknowledge that our histories are maps guiding us towards a future where our labor is not undervalued, our race not a marker for brutality, and state violence an anachronism - let us hold them up to the light and dare to march forward!

WHEN: Friday, July 25, 2025 at 7:00 p.m.

WHERE: The Pilsen Neighborhood, the intersection of Cermak & Halsted streets.

The Steelworkers Organization of Active Retirees (SOAR) Local 7-319, we would like to invite you to our annual commemoration of the 1937 Republic Steel Memorial Day Massacre.  The event is scheduled to  take place on Saturday, May 17, at the former union hall located at 11731 S. Avenue "O".  This is just two blocks south of George Washington High School.  The doors will open at noon and the commemoration ceremony will begin at 1:00 p.m. and is expected to last two hours.

In 1937, steel workers were seeking recognition from Republic Steel and at a rally on Memorial Day police opened fired into the crowd that included women and children, killing ten people and injuring many dozens of others. Please join us!

HAYMARKET MEMORIAL PLAQUE DEDICATION

with the Illinois AFL-CIO  on Thursday, May 1, 4:00 p.m. at the Haymarket Memorial, 175 N. Des Plaines St., Chicago, IL

 Join the Chicago Federation of Labor, the Illinois Labor History Society, and the Illinois AFL-CIO at this year’s May Day celebration.

 Around the world, the 1886 Haymarket incident and the fight for the eight-hour day is honored on May 1st—International Workers’ Day. The Haymarket Memorial Statue in Haymarket Square in Chicago was dedicated in 2004, after decades of advocacy by the Illinois Labor History Society, which sought to tell labor’s side of the incident that transpired in 1886. Since 2005, the ILHS has held May Day celebrations at the statue. Labor federations from around the world come to Chicago to dedicate commemorative plaques to the statue’s base in solidarity with and celebration of May Day. Join us at this year’s Plaque Dedication for the Illinois AFL-CIO.

Historian David Roediger will present stories from his new book An Ordinary White: My Antiracist Education. A direct response to the venom and durability of white nationalist attacks on Critical Race Theory, the memoir describes Roediger’s youth in a family of southern Illinois workers. He portrays the white racism he was carefully taught, both in a small all-white town and the city of Cairo.

David Roediger teaches American Studies and History at University of Kansas. He holds a PhD from Northwestern. His books include: Seizing Freedom, The Sinking Middle Class, The Wages of Whiteness, How Race Survived U.S. History, Class, Race and Marxism, and a recent autobiography, An Ordinary White.

A dual language live and video program for Women’s History Month with

Antonella Cocolli in Italy and Cristina DeMeo and Joann Condellone at SIUE.

 Saturday, March 29 at 1:00 pm

SIUE campus

School of Engineering Building

first floor classroom auditorium

61 Circle Drive

Edwardsville, Illinois

Reception with Italian desserts following the program

Campus parking is free on Saturdays  

RSVP with QR Code or www.internationalwomensdaysiu.rsvpify.com

 A program of the Matt Melucci Fund for Italian Studies at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville

Un programma del Matt Melucci Fund da Italian Studies Southern Illinois University da Edwardsville, Illinois, USA

Storytelling Workshop 5-7 PM, Dinner 7-9 PM

“an eloquent storyteller, making visible the landscapes and lives of working people.” TIME Magazine.

Frazier is dedicated to telling the stories of workers - miners, healthcare workers, steelworkers, autoworkers, and others. In this workshop, she will teach Illinois workers how to tell their own stories.

The event is free and open to the public. Registration is required.

Join the Clarence Darrow Commemorative Committee for the 

Annual Clarence Darrow Flower-tossing and Symposium 

 100 Years after Scopes Monkey Trial: Book Banning in 2025 

NOTE: Two free events with separate locations

Flower Tossing Thursday, March 13, 2025 at 10 a.m. 

Join us just east of the Clarence Darrow Bridge in Jackson Park for brief speeches, including excerpts from Darrow’s defense of Thomas Scopes, the 24-year-old Tennessee high school teacher charged with teaching the theory of evolution. The Bridge is behind the Museum of Science & Industry. Driving south on Lake Shore Drive, pass the light at 57th Street and turn right at the next right, Science Drive. You will come almost immediately to Columbia Drive; turn left and follow this road to parking near the bridge. 

Symposium Thursday, March 13, 2025 6:00 – 7:00 p.m. 

Harold Washington Library Center, Chicago Public Library, 400 S. State Street 

Co-sponsored with the Harold Washington Library Center 

 While the explosion of book- and idea-banning in schools and libraries across the country might seem like a recent phenomenon, this year marks the 100th 

anniversary of the “Scopes Monkey Trial,” when Darrow faced off against three-time presidential candidate Williams Jennings Bryan in an epic battle over whether Darwin and his theory of evolution should be taught in the classroom. 

 As similar battles play out across America today, join us as acclaimed historian and author Brenda Wineapple (in a virtual appearance) tells the story of how the Scopes trial unfolded, followed by a live discussion with attorney Rebecca Glenberg and librarian Joyce McIntosh addressing the questions of what the Scopes trial really taught us – and why book banning is seeing a strong resurgence today. 

• Moderator: Nina Barrett, Owner, Bookends and Beginnings 

• Brenda Wineapple, author, Keeping the Faith: God, Democracy and the Trial that Riveted a Nation 

• Rebecca Glenberg, Chief Litigation Counsel for the First Amendment, American Civil Liberties Union - IL 

• Joyce McIntosh, Assistant Program Director, Freedom to Read Foundation 

For more detailed information on the programs and our speakers - visit this page. 

To reach the Darrow Commitee, please contact Tracy Baim at Tracybaim@gmail.com or 773-387-2394.