Coauthored by Michael Hillard and  Chad Pearson The theme of the 2025 Business History Conference (BHC) was “The Business of Labor.” (Held in Atlanta, Georgia, from March 13-16). BHC in its annual gathering has long been open to scholars interested in labor and working-class history, and this year’s meeting featured dozens of labor-related topics, including three state-of-the-field roundtables. The post Business and Labor Historians: Friends till the End appeared first on LAWCHA ..read more

Labor Power and Strategy (PM Press, 2023) John Womack Jr.’s Labor Power and Strategy, published by PM Press in 2023, offers a blueprint for how workers can leverage their latent power and expand the labor movement’s influence and numbers. The book was released before the decidedly anti-labor Trump administration took office in Washington, D.C., The post Harvey Schwartz on John Womack’s Labor Strategy appeared first on LAWCHA ..read more

What originally brought you to this project, and what motivated you to bring the project out in book form now? I am a 1960s era anti-war and civil rights activist and community organizer interested in the dynamic of movements for social change, particularly the Gramscian concept of organic intellectuals for the working class and marginalized groups. The post Alan Singer on his new book, Class-Conscious Coal Miners appeared first on LAWCHA ..read more

This is my 12th year of creating the annual bibliography, which used to be in the LAWCHA annual newsletter. If you think a book published in 2024 should have been included, I can update this list. The post Labor History Bibliography, 2024 appeared first on LAWCHA ..read more

Labor historians in the United States and Canada often rely on familiar sources, union and company records, newspapers and oral interviews, to name a few. The Moving Past: A Collection of Archival Film is an invitation to consider another source – film. The post The Moving Past: Seeing Labor History in Archival Films appeared first on LAWCHA ..read more

David M. Emmons’ provocative new book History’s Erratics: Irish Catholic Dissidents and the Transformation of American Capitalism, 1870-1930 deploys a wealth of theory and decades of research to reframe our understanding of the Irish Catholic working class. The post David Emmons on his New Book, History’s Erratics appeared first on LAWCHA ..read more

When the Cincinnati city government decided in 1930 to build a large new rail station, they chose German immigrant artist Winold Reiss (1886-1953) to decorate parts of the interior with sixteen large 20’ x 20’ mosaics—murals, really– depicting the principal industries of the area. The post Public Art in the Queen City: Cincinnati’s Labor Murals appeared first on LAWCHA ..read more

Editor’s Note: Erik Bernardino’s compelling essay, “Between the Homing Pigeon and the Vagrant, ” published in the December issue of Labor: Studies in Working Class History, is available from behind the paywall until March 31, 2025, courtesy Duke University Press. The post Erik Bernardino’s “Between the Homing Pigeon and the Vagrant”: Free Essay available appeared first on LAWCHA ..read more

Over the past year and a half, Canada has significantly changed its international student policy in an effort to reduce the number of non-citizens in Canada. The post International Students and Neoliberalism in Canada appeared first on LAWCHA ..read more

Jesse Chanin’s book Building Power, Breaking Power: The United Teachers of New Orleans, 1965-2008, published earlier this year, tells the remarkable story of the United Teachers of New Orleans (UTNO), a teachers union that defied expectations, labor factionalism, and racial divides to become a powerhouse in Southern organized labor and New Orleans politics. The post Jesse Chanin on Building Power, Breaking Power appeared first on LAWCHA ..read more