Sister Strikers: NYC Women, Labor, and the Making of Early 20th c. US Culture

At the turn of the 20th century, New York City was “the cradle of the American labor movement,” and women were at its forefront. Crystal Eastman produced the report that led to the first workers compensation legislation in the nation. Rose Schneiderman, president of the Women’s Trade Union League, drew attention to unsafe workplace conditions after the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire of 1911. Frances Perkins, an eye-witness to “the fire that lit the nation,” declared it “the day the New Deal began.” She would know. As Secretary of Labor under Franklin D. Roosevelt, she was not only the first woman to hold a federal Cabinet position, but the principle architect of the New Deal.

These women are just three extraordinary examples within a spectacularly rich community of activists, artists, thinkers and agitators — self-styled “sister strikers,” or “ladies of labor” — who rose up in New York City by the thousands, and whose activism, oratory, and tenacity ignited the labor movement, transforming the nation in the process. This course will focus on those women, and the worlds they both found and made. Because they were also leaders in the arts, education, and social justice, we’ll consider “labor issues” from a broad variety of perspectives, too, in each discussing how these women brought their visions to bear on American cultural, political and social life.

Mondays & Thursdays, 6:30-8PM (ET)
August 2nd - 19th
$275 (6 sessions, 90 min. each)

Lucie Levine is an independent writer and NYC tour guide. She founded the historical company Archive on Parade, and has collaborated with The Municipal Art Society, The Historic Districts Council, The New York Public Library, The 92nd Street Y, Village Preservation, and Landmarks West on tours, lectures and events. She is also the Public Programs Consultant at FRIENDS of the Upper East Side Historic Districts, and Contributing History Writer at 6sqft.