Hi John,
Happy Women’s History Month!
We’re excited to spend the month celebrating women workers and women in the labor movement. Because everyone knows, you can’t tell the story of worker power in this country without talking about the crucial role women have played in it.
Throughout labor history, women workers have fought in courtrooms, at the bargaining table, on picket lines, in state legislatures and in the streets for fair wages, quality benefits, and union recognition. And women of color have spearheaded movements at the intersection of racial and economic justice.
Black women in the post-Civil War South—who worked as laundry and domestic workers—were collectively organizing for fair pay standards, coordinating work stoppages and creating networks of resistance to economic subjugation. And later, women led the charge on textile mill worker organizing in New England factories after the Industrial Revolution and helped form unions within the largely immigrant garment industry at the turn of the century—all of which paved the way for the child labor laws and workplace safety requirements that union members fought for.
When working women stand hand in hand alongside their union brothers, sisters and siblings, we know the labor movement is unstoppable. Women have the power to build a brighter future for our communities, free of sexism, racism and exploitation.
And this Women’s History Month, we can do more than celebrate: We can learn from those who came before us and lead from their example. That’s why we’re excited to share this list of recommended books. We hope you’ll find the time to read one of these during the month of March.
.png "Women’s History Month Reading List with pictures of book covers.")
