Arts: Images, Songs

• 7.4 Margaret Chanler Aldrich, “The Week Before Christmas,” December 20, 1911  *This poem describes conditions faced by retail workers during the Christmas holiday season in the early 1900s. It is critical of wealthy shoppers who contribute to workers’ misery, and was used by the National Consumers’ League to encourage consumers to be allies by getting their shopping done early. 
• 8.1 UAW-CIO song, 1942. *This song is about the struggles by auto workers to organize a union and their patriotic pride as both producers for and soldiers in the American war effort during World War II. It equates unionism with patriotism. 
• 8-7-The-Soup-Song-1930 uses humor and sarcasm to convey workers’ experiences and attitudes during the Great Depression.  As a widely popular participatory song, it was an effective tool for labor organizing.