laborhistorytoday
100 episodes listed below
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Gripping stories of the historic battles for worker rights and how they fuel today's struggles.
Based on 6 episodes we listened to · September 2026
It connects recovered labor stories to the choices and organizing strategies that continue to shape collective action.
Labor History Today treats the past as a working set of arguments about organizing, power, and whose experience enters the record. The host shifts comfortably among guided conversations, material from other labor programs, and reporting recorded inside the Donora Smog Museum.
A smog museum becomes the detour you wish your history class had taken.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
Songs and strikes become a sharp lesson in how workers build power.
Labor History Today brings Pete Seeger’s idea of song as collective action into focus through the 1933 Funston Nut Strike, where Black women workers helped organize more than 2,000 people across segregated factories.
A clear labor-history portrait of Mary Kenny O'Sullivan, with Chicago context and a working-class angle.
Mary Kenny O'Sullivan comes across as an early labor leader whose importance is tied to work, not myth. The piece connects her bookbinding career, her role in the Bookbinders Union, and her ties to Hull House in a way that keeps the focus on how she helped organize women workers…
Labor history told through song and direct argument.
Labor History Today starts with the Sons of Vulcan, skilled iron workers who ended an eight month strike in 1865 and won a contract that helped shape the early steel industry.
A hard look at a disaster that ties labor, health, and local memory together.
A stop at the Smog Museum on the drive to Wheeling opens onto the 1948 smog disaster, when a temperature inversion trapped smoke and toxins from the mill in the valley.
A labor-history piece on turning street energy into organized power.
This Labor History Today segment follows a We Rise Fighting Labor episode with Tia and Brian as they move from mass protests in LA to immigrant-rights rallies and anti-ICE and No Kings demonstrations.
A Homestead strike story that connects labor history, art-making, and present-day organizing.
Labor History Today treats the Homestead strike as something still being argued over, using Ting Tong Chang's Hidden Shift at Pittsburgh's Mattress Factory as the frame.
A Greensboro sit-ins episode that turns labor history and civil-rights strategy into a case for direct action.
Labor History Today uses the Greensboro sit-ins as a clear entry point into direct action, tracing how four black college students at a segregated Woolworth's lunch counter helped push the civil-rights struggle into a new phase of public pressure and national attention.
A labor-history portrait where poetry serves as both witness and weapon.
Arturo Giovinetti's story gives Labor History Today a sharp angle on the Lawrence textile strike: an Italian immigrant, poet, socialist, and labor organizer whose words made him a target.
Taiwan, remembered through conversation.
This episode explores labor history through two main stories: the 1865 strike by the Sons of Vulcan iron workers and a 1938 farmworker strike at King Farm in Pennsylvania.
This episode segment discusses the recent resurgence in the U.S.
This episode discusses the ongoing fight for justice by women workers, connecting historical figures like A.
This segment explores the true story of John Henry, a legendary 1895 steel-driving man for the C&O Railroad, revealing it as more than folklore and highlighting its significance for labor history.
Bernie Sanders accepts the Eugene V.
This segment debunks the myth of a 1973 Skylab 4 astronaut strike while discussing its implications for labor power in the workplace.
This episode segment introduces Ben Fletcher, a significant but largely unknown African-American labor activist in the IWW, highlighting his role in organizing black and white dock workers in early 20th century Philadelphia to fight for better conditions.
This episode introduces a special podcast featuring 1999 recordings of Pete Seeger discussing his life, music, activism, and friendships with figures like Woody Guthrie and Bob Dylan.
The episode introduces a book titled 'Made by Labour' that explores the history of the British Labour movement from the late 18th century to the 1920s through the material objects and images created by workers.
This episode segment introduces a discussion on Philadelphia's central role in U.S.
This episode segment highlights historical labor movements led by women, covering events from the 1937 Detroit cigar factory strike to the 1929 Elizabethton Rayon Strike, emphasizing their roles in collective action and social change.
This podcast segment explores key moments in labor history, including the founding of the Coalition of Labor Union Women in 1974, a Disneyland workers' strike during the Reagan era, the Colorado labor wars, and a tribute to the United Steelworkers Women of Steel.
This segment discusses the 1946 Oakland general strike, its connection to labor organizer Stan Weir, and how a country song became part of its history.
This episode segment discusses countering far-right narratives in workplaces, emphasizing the political alignment of trade union members and the need to recognize the ongoing fight.
This episode explores historical and contemporary labor struggles, including the framing of Tom Mooney, a worker-seized factory in Italy, and the Sago mine disaster.
This segment introduces Austin Sauerbrei's graphic novel 'Trouble at Coal Creek', which depicts the 1890s miners' uprising in Tennessee where miners and black prisoners united against exploitation.
Cecil Roberts, President of the United Mine Workers of America, speaks about labor history and union struggles in West Virginia, sharing personal family stories of eviction for supporting the union.
This episode segment discusses the importance of understanding labor history, featuring Sarah Nelson's insights on worker struggles and the 50th anniversary of the Walter P.
Cecil Roberts, President of the United Mine Workers of America, delivers a keynote speech in Matewan, West Virginia, connecting historical labor struggles to contemporary battles, emphasizing that labor history provides active guidance for ongoing fights.
This segment discusses the 1916 San Francisco Preparedness Day bombing, focusing on the wrongful arrest and imprisonment of labor leaders like Tom Mooney, as explained by historian Dr.
This episode segment explores how racial divisions and the failure of post-Civil War land reform (40 acres and a mule) shaped the American labor movement, featuring historian Rudy Batzel discussing historical and modern impacts on labor and justice.
This episode explores labor history through events like the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire and Bread and Roses strike, highlighting themes of solidarity, dignity, and fair pay in worker movements.
This segment connects the 1934 Minneapolis general strike with contemporary labor activism, discussing worker uprisings, class conflict, and current AFL-CIO actions during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The host discovers a commemorative art piece in Hamilton, Ontario, highlighting the 1947 Stelco strike's impact on Woodlands Park and introduces an episode exploring this and the 1929 Marion Massacre as hidden labor landmarks.
This segment discusses a congressional hearing that falsely accuses unions of anti-Semitism, highlighting the historical role of Jewish activists in unions and warning against efforts to weaken unions under this guise.
This segment discusses the 100th anniversary of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, highlighting its founding, demands for dignity and rights, and its influence on civil rights movements.
This episode segment recounts the stories of conductorettes, women who operated Vancouver streetcars during World War II, highlighting their experiences, labour history, and union solidarity.
This segment discusses President Trump's criticism of the Smithsonian's focus on slavery, historian Douglas Brinkley's rebuttal, and introduces a podcast episode exploring the survival and resistance strategies of enslaved black labor before the Civil War.
This episode segment discusses the historical significance of the 1981 PATCO strike and its parallels to modern threats against federal employee rights under figures like Trump and Musk.
This podcast segment introduces an interview with Dr.
This episode highlights Emma Tenayuca, a teenage activist who organized Mexican-American pecan shellers in San Antonio, leading a significant labor strike for better wages and civil rights.
This episode segment introduces Naomi R.
This episode segment recounts the 1984-85 British miners' strike through former miner John Dunn's personal experience of violence and explores its broader implications for union power and government policy under Margaret Thatcher.
This segment discusses the Red Bandana Ceremony at Camp Solidarity in Matewan, West Virginia, highlighting its significance in labor history and solidarity.
This segment introduces an episode exploring the hidden history of the Erie Canal's workers, including immigrants, orphans, and displaced native peoples, as discussed by author Mark S.
This episode segment explores labor history through stories of construction workers clashing with anti-war protesters in the 1970s and a steelworker challenging union leadership, highlighting intersections of work and social change.
This episode discusses the 90th anniversary of the 1935 Battle of Ballantyne Pier in Vancouver, exploring its significance for longshore workers' struggles, trans-Pacific union solidarity, and the living legacy of labor history through conversations with ILWU members.
This episode examines the 1960 Greensboro sit-ins as a pivotal moment in the civil rights movement, analyzing the strategy of militant nonviolence and media provocation.
The host visits the Donora Smog Museum in Pennsylvania to learn about the 1948 industrial disaster where a temperature inversion trapped toxic emissions from the world's largest zinc smelter over the town, killing dozens and sickening thousands.
This segment discusses the ongoing Starbucks union strike, highlighting worker grievances, the lack of contract negotiations, and the broader labor movement impact.
Labor historians Chris Garlick, Joe McCartin, and Leon Fink discuss three pivotal moments in labor history: the legacy of early women's organizer Mary Kenney O'Sullivan, novelist Jack London's scathing critique of strikebreakers, and the complex story of the Southern Tenant Farmers Union's interracial organizing during the New Deal.
This episode explores the intersection of labor history, art, and justice through the story of artist Ben Shahn's response to the wrongful execution of Italian immigrant anarchists Sacco and Vanzetti in 1927.
This episode explores three pivotal moments in labor history: the legacy of union leader Tony Mazzocchi and his fight for worker safety, the untold story of the multiracial cowboy strike of 1883 that challenges myths of rugged individualism, and the 1937 miners' solidarity strike during the Little Steel strike.
Hosts Tia and Brian analyze current mass protests against ICE and other social movements, questioning where this energy is going and arguing that protests need to evolve into organized efforts to eliminate oppression altogether.
This segment discusses the disconnect between stagnant wages and rising home prices, questioning how future generations will afford housing, while also covering labor history and union news.
Labor History Today presents Tim Strangelman’s account of Guinness’s Park Royal brewery, where workers received free beer, silver-service meals, pensions, and access to more than 30 sports.
Historian Marcella Bencivini discusses Arturo Giovannitti, an Italian immigrant poet and labor organizer central to the 1912 Lawrence textile strike.
Labor scholar Kathleen Newman joins the show to analyze Ting Tong Chang's two-screen film installation 'Hidden Shift' at Pittsburgh's Mattress Factory, which uses a fictionalized drama about the 1892 Homestead steel strike alongside behind-the-scenes footage to argue that making culture—from coffee to art—is itself a form of labor.
This episode of Labor History Today tells two intertwined stories of music and labor organizing.
This episode features two oral history interviews from the Library of Congress's Occupational Folklife Project: Bill Favaros discusses his family's fishing rod and reel repair business in Baton Rouge, while Juan Salcido Sanchez shares his experiences as a second-generation racetrack groom.
Labor History Today talks with Bellingham writers Victoria McCallum and Lance Simpson about their short play The Last Words of Joe Hill, staged in 2023 by the Unsubdued Theater Collective.
Arthur Soden's 1879 five-player reserve list became a clause that bound players to one team for almost a century.
Labor History Today devotes this episode to Sarah Nelson's keynote at the April 6th symposium for the 50th anniversary of Jeremy Brecker's Strike.
Labor History Today previews the DC Labor Film Fest, which opens May 1 at AFI Silver with about a dozen films about work and workers.
Nick Jurowich’s Para Power traces how paraprofessionals became educators and organizers in New York City schools during the 1950s and 1960s.
Cheryl Kaskowitz’s A Chance to Harmonize examines the Resettlement Administration’s 1935 Music Unit and its use of folk music during the Great Depression.
Labor History Today examines British Columbia union solidarity with South African anti-apartheid activists after Nelson Mandela's 1990 prison release.
Labor History Today examines a 2002 Supreme Court ruling, Sam Walton's anti-union retail system, Harry Bridges's internationalism, and the 1883 Texas cowboy strike.