Harriet Applegate, Executive Director of the North Shore AFL-CIO introduces Patrick Gallagher, himself a steel worker and current President of the North Shore AFL-CIO, Gallagher testifies to the hardship and struggle of the Steelworkers, their families and ultimately the United Steelworkers Union, in his telling of the Little Steel Strike of 1937.
This event took place on 2/23/13 at the Cleveland Public Library in the Louis Stokes Wing Auditorium.
The Cleveland LaborFest & Forum was held in conjunction with a Labor & New Deal Art Traveling Exhibit to commemorate the Little Steel Strike of 1937. This exhibit was assembled by the Massillon Museum in association with Youngstown State University. It is on display at the downtown location of the Cleveland Public Library through March 24, 2013. It will then travel to the Massillon Museum for an opening reception on April 13, 2013. Artwork is on loan from the Columbus Museum of Art, the Butler Institute of American Art, the Massillon Museum, and the private collection of Tom Sodders.
The Cleveland LaborFest and traveling art exhibit are in recognition of the working class struggles for industrial unionism and the expansion and strengthening of cultural democracy that took place during the New Deal Era.
This event is funded, in part, by the Ohio Humanities Council and Cuyahoga Arts & Culture.