Conference Calendar:

Friday October 3
1:00 – 3:00 p.m. Combined Board and Membership Meeting at the Pumphouse: 1892 Battle of Homestead Site

3:00 p.m. Public Tour of the Pumphouse

4:00 p.m.Visit to 1892 graves of Homestead workers; tour Bost Building

6:30 p.m. Reception: St. Michaels Church

7:00 p.m. Annual PLHS Awards Dinner: St Michael’s Church

• Bill George, PA AFL-CIO and Leo Gerard, USWA
• Maida Springer Labor Union Woman Award: (nominations accepted)
• John Brennan Labor Education Award: Irwin Marcus (nominated)
• Bill Sylvis Labor Organizer Award: Barney Oursler (nominated)
• Mother Jones Award: Molly Rush (nominated)

Keynote Speaker: Staughton Lynd - author, labor lawyer, activist

Saturday October 4

Pennsylvania Labor History Society Annual Conference
“ Free Speech: Then and Now”

Morning Sessions: 9:00 am to Noon – Homestead Library
“ Free Speech in Homestead: 1918-1940”
Conference Chair: Russ Gibbons

Topics:

• Suppression of Civil Liberties and Labor Organization
• Divide to Conquer: Manipulation of Race and Ethnicity
• The New Deal and the Rise of the Labor Democrats
• Mother Jones and Frances Perkins in Homestead and Beyond
• The Mellons: Corporate Control and Political Domination
• Radicals and Labor Organization

Lunch: Homestead Library: “Then and Now”

Tom Kerr Pittsburgh American Civil Liberties Union; National Workers Rights Committee Chair, Americans for Democratic Action

Afternoon Session: 1:15 – 3:30 p.m.
The Threat to Free Speech and Civil Liberties Today
Panel: Moderator Charles McCollester, Labor Center IUP

• Bernie Kleiman, former General Counsel USWA, Labor Rights: An Historical Perspective
• Judy and Bill Serrin, co-authors: “Muckraking: The Journalism That Changed America” Free Speech and Its Limitations
• Vic Walczak, Legal Director, Pittsburgh ACLU, Civil Liberties in Pittsburgh Today
• Alice Lynd and Marcus Rediker, Civil Liberties and the Imprisoned

3:30-4:00 p.m. Free Speech March from Carnegie Library of Homestead to 9th and Amity, “Free Speech Corner”, site of both the incarceration of Mother Jones in 1919 and the workers’ committee meeting with Francis Perkins in 1933.

4:00-5:00 p.m. Two Pennsylvania Historical Marker Dedications: Mother Jones and Frances Perkins

5:30 p.m.Wreath Laying: 1941 Steel Workers Organizing Committee Memorial – Remembrance of Fannie Sellins - 8th Ave and High Level Bridge

Dinner at Chiodo’s, Duke’s, Bulgarian Club, Michael’s etc.

8:00 p.m. Labor Music Concert: Homestead Library Concert Hall
Anne Feeney, Joe Glazier
Mike Stout and the Human Union

Sponsors:

• Battle of Homestead Foundation
• Pennsylvania AFL-CIO
• United Steelworkers of America
• Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation
• Pittsburgh ACLU
• Coalition of Labor Union Women
• Pennsylvania Center for the Study of Labor Relations, IUP
• Labor Education Institute (SSHE-Harrisburg)
• Thomas Merton Center
• Western Pennsylvania Coalition of Religion and Labor
• Mon Valley Unemployed Committee
• Steel Industry Heritage Corporation
• National Organization of Women (PA)
• Allegheny Unitarian Universalist Church

CONTACT – History Conference Chair: Russ Gibbons (412) 782-0181;
Then and Now Panel: Charles McCollester (724) 357-4443