The Belles of New England: The Women of the Textile Mills and the Families ...

WHAT THE I. W. W. IS

Lawrence, MAUnion Crossing Public Art

1912: Great Strike of 1912 (sometimes called Bread and Roses Strike).Workers of diverse ethnic groups and languages struck for three months. In the short-term they won. Of greatest importance were the U.S. Congressional Hearings afterward which called national attention to the conditions of workers, especially of children. It contributed to changes in the Federal laws regarding child labor.Jim Beauchesne speaks on WGBH about Strike,Strike Victim, John Ramey More information Bread and Roses FestivalMass Moments Eagle Tribune Article : Theater Espresso's American Tapestry

refused Wilson's offer of mediation, conditioned upon collective bargaining, so Wilson sent in U.S. troops. While Wilson succeeded in bringing order to the situation, and demonstrated support for the labor union, the miners' unconditional surrender to the implacable owners was a defeat for Wilson.[156]

The "Mill Girls" were female workers who came to work for the textile corporations in Lowell, Massachusetts, during the Industrial Revolution in the United States. The workers initially recruited by the corporations were daughters of propertied New England farmers, between the ages of 15 and 30. (There also could be "little girls" who worked there about the age of 13.) By 1840, at the height of the Industrial Revolution, the textile mills had recruited over 8,000 women, who came to make up nearly seventy-five percent of the mill workforce.

The 1912 textile strike in Lawrence, Massachusetts, was one of the most heroic struggles and resounding victories of the U.S. working class and one of the most successful efforts of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). A distinctive characteristic was the diversity of the workforce: a variety of immigrant groups rallied to the strike, women played as decisive a role as the men, and children (many of whom were textile workers) played a powerful role as well. The strike rocked the nation. It is sometimes known as the "Bread and Roses" strike, thus associated with the stirring socialist-feminist anthem of that name written by James Oppenheim. Although there is scholarly controversy over whether that song was inspired by the Lawrence strike, it is obvious that the spirit of the Lawrence strike was consistent with that of the song: "Our lives shall not be sweated from birth until life closes; Hearts starve as well as bodies; give us bread, but give us roses!" The strike's outcome posed fundamental questions for the U.S. labor movement.

Lawrence Heritage State Park

Bread & Roses Heritage Festival What better way to enjoy Labor Day than attending a Multi-Cultural, Multi-Ethnic Labor & Social Justice Open-Air Arts & Music Festival?