Sunday, April 8, 2007

Three Beautiful Things 04/07/07: Fire, Hidden Jobs, Pullman Porters

1. An entire, uninterrupted day spent on my classes, with most of it spent gathering resources to supplement the readings assigned in the American Working Class Literature course. I hope some of our students will take more than a passing interest in the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Fire in New York City. To explore this historic event in United States' labor history, go here and here.

2. For this course, I'm always searching for photography websites that show US workers doing their many various hidden jobs. You'll find an index to a handful of such photographers here.

3. On Tuesday, we'll watch the film "10,000 Black Men Named George", the story of A. Philip Randolph's impassioned efforts to organize the Pullman porters into a national union. You can visit the website of the A. Philip Randolph Pullman Porter Museum here. Randolph was a primary organizer of the March on Washington in 1963, where Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his "I Have a Dream" speech. Life Magazine featured Randolph on its September 6, 1963 cover, here.

No comments: