Labor Heritage Power Hour

A farewell to BJR

“I think her music or the soundtrack she provides is for every generation, every decade.” WPFW Program Director Katea Stitt on Sweet Honey in the Rock founder Dr. Bernice Johnson Reagon, who died last week, here in Washington, DC, at the age of 81.Broadcast on July 25 on WPFW 89.3FM in Washington, DC.Hosted by Chris Garlock and Elise Bryant; produced by Chris Garlock; engineered by Mike Nasella & Kahlia Chapman. The Labor Heritage Power Hour is a member of the Labor Radio Podcast Network.@LaborHeritage1 @wpfwdc @aflcio #1u #unions #laborradiopod

Art Works (Encore)

(Originally broadcast 7/6/23) An inside look at the organizers and artists on the front lines of political mobilization and social change: Ken Grossinger on his 2023 book Art Works: How Organizers and Artists Are Creating a Better World Together. Check out the Art Works music playlist on Spotify and read Chris Garlock's July 2024 review in Portside.PLUS: Stand Up, Don’t Sit Down; An excerpt from AFSCME’s I AM STORY podcast.Produced by Chris Garlock; engineered by Mike Nasella & Kahlia Chapman. @ArtWorksbook @wpfwdc @aflcio #1u #unions #laborradiopod @AFSCME

Love & Solidarity

This week's show: Remembering civil and labor rights apostle Rev. James Lawson and labor radio pioneer Frank Emspak, who both died recently. PLUS: LaborForce podcast Michael Struchen’s favorite labor song, incarcerated writer Amber Kim’s poem “In Response to the Prompt ‘Write About the Invention of the Sunkist Bottle’”, more entries in our Labor Heritage Power Hour Theme Song Contest, and, on Labor History in 2:00, the day 1,400 workers at the Milwaukee Electric Railway and Light Company launched a four-day strike.Broadcast on June 27, 2024 on WPFW 89.3FM in Washington, DC.Hosted by Chris Garlock and Elise Bryant; produced by Chris Garlock; engineered by Mike Nasella & Kahlia Chapman. The Labor Heritage Power Hour is a member of the Labor Radio Podcast Network.@LaborHeritage1 @wpfwdc @aflcio @LaborForcePod @ILLaborHistory #1u #unions #laborradiopod

Our Theme Song Contest!

This week's show: Elise and Chris play some listener suggestions for the show’s new theme song. Plus: the Oregon AFL-CIO’s new mural, the story behind Joe Uehlein’s song “Hands”, a reading from “Presente: A Dockworker’s Story” and, on Labor History in 2:00, the UAW wins a first contract at Ford. Broadcast on June 20, 2024 on WPFW 89.3FM in Washington, DC.Hosted by Chris Garlock and Elise Bryant; produced by Chris Garlock; engineered by Mike Nasella & Kahlia Chapman. The Labor Heritage Power Hour is a member of the Labor Radio Podcast Network.@ProPeterCole @OregonAFLCIO @LaborHeritage1 @wpfwdc @aflcio #1u #unions #laborradiopod

Union-The Film

Union co-director Stephen Maing and cinematographer Martin DiCicco on their new film about the historic Amazon Labor Union victory (screens 6/15 in DC); labor poetry from union organizer Jessen Fox; Chris visits the Kate Mullany House; and in our latest Story Behind the Song series, Daria Marmaluk-Hajioannou on her Ballad of Min Mathesun. PLUS: We launch our Labor Heritage Power Hour Theme Song Contest!Broadcast on June 13, 2024 on WPFW 89.3FM in Washington, DC.Hosted by Chris Garlock and Elise Bryant; produced by Chris Garlock; engineered by Mike Nasella & Kahlia Chapman. The Labor Heritage Power Hour is a member of the Labor Radio Podcast Network.@LaborHeritage1 @wpfwdc @aflcio #1u #unions #laborradiopod

“Labor’s Turning Point”

This year marks the 90th anniversary of the 1934 Minneapolis Teamsters’ strikes, which changed the course of history and the lives of tens of thousands of working people. On today’s show, an excerpt from “Labor’s Turning Point,” a documentary on the strike.
Then we tour Collective Action: Labor Activism in 21st Century Baltimore, a bold new exhibition at the Baltimore Museum of Industry exploring the historic and contemporary organized labor movement.
On Labor History in 2:00: Striking Toledo Auto-Lite workers OK a dealBroadcast on June 6, 2024 on WPFW 89.3FM in Washington, DC.Hosted by Chris Garlock and Elise Bryant; produced by Chris Garlock; engineered by Mike Nasella & Kahlia Chapman. The Labor Heritage Power Hour is a member of the Labor Radio Podcast Network.@BMIatWork @LaborHeritage1 @wpfwdc @aflcio #1u #unions #laborradiopod

Favorite labor songs

Chris & Elise play labor songs requested by listeners, including talkin’ bout a revolution (Tracy Chapman), Chain Gang (Sam Cooke), Union Maid (Anne Feeney) and Solidarity Forever (Billy Bragg). Broadcast on May 30, 2024 on WPFW 89.3FM in Washington, DC.Please support the program by pledging generously to WPFW’s spring pledge drive: call 202-588-9739 or 1-800-222-9739 or pledge online (be sure to scroll down and select “The Labor Heritage Power Hour”).Hosted by Chris Garlock and Elise Bryant; produced by Chris Garlock; engineered by Mike Nasella & Kahlia Chapman. The Labor Heritage Power Hour is a member of the Labor Radio Podcast Network.@LaborHeritage1 @wpfwdc @aflcio #1u #unions #laborradiopod

“The Black Wobbly” gets a mural

A mural celebrating Ben Fletcher – “The Black Wobbly” – was unveiled in Philadelphia on May 18; check out our audio postcard.On this week’s Labor History in Two: Remembering C.L.R. James
Broadcast on May 23, 2024 on WPFW 89.3FM in Washington, DC.Please support the program by pledging generously to WPFW’s spring pledge drive: call 202-588-9739 or 1-800-222-9739 or pledge online (be sure to scroll down and select “The Labor Heritage Power Hour”).Hosted by Chris Garlock and Elise Bryant; produced by Chris Garlock; engineered by Mike Nasella & Kahlia Chapman. The Labor Heritage Power Hour is a member of the Labor Radio Podcast Network.@IWW @ProfPeterCole @LaborHeritage1 @wpfwdc @aflcio #1u #unions #laborradiopod

The Crab Pickers Strike; Mural of a Black Wobbly

In 1938, 600 crab pickers struck for higher wages and a union in Crisfield, Maryland; on today’s show, an audio postcard from the May 10 dedication of an official state historical marker commemorating the strike. Then, we talk with historian Peter Cole, author of Ben Fletcher: The Life and Times of a Black Wobbly, whose work inspired the new Ben Fletcher mural being dedicated on May 18 in Philadelphia. Our “Story Behind the Song” feature returns today with Emily Jo Tanzey, one of our 2023 Great Labor Arts Exchange song contest winners; today she tells us the story behind her song “Solidarity is the Only Thing We Need.”  And, on Labor History in Two: The year was 1913; that was the day Philadelphia longshoremen walked off the job.

Mother Jones, Russell Lee & Solidarity Forever

This week's show: Live from the 2024 LHF Solidarity Forever Awards honoring AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Fred Redmond and retiring LHF Executive Director Elise Bryant; a visit to the annual wreath-laying at the Mother Jones historical marker; clips from the DC Labor Chorus May Day Concert; host Chris Garlock visits the National Archives with photojournalist Earl Dotter to take a look at a new exhibit, "Power & Light: Russell Lee's Coal Survey". Plus, new music from the R.J. Phillips Band, and, on Labor History in Two: The Battle of Harlan & Popeye Was a Union Man. Broadcast on May 9, 2024 on WPFW 89.3FM in Washington, DC.Hosted by Chris Garlock and Elise Bryant; produced by Chris Garlock; engineered by Mike Nasella & Kahlia Chapman. The Labor Heritage Power Hour is a member of the Labor Radio Podcast Network.@AFLCIO @STRedmond @LaborHeritage1 @LaborHistoryin2 @wpfwdc #1u #unions #laborradiopod