Labor Studies

Tells the story of Joe Hill (1879-1915), a Swedish immigrant to America who became a songwriter, cartoonist and labor organizer for the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) and whose 1915 execution by the state of Utah for a crime he probably did not commit transformed him into a martyr for the labor movement and an international folk hero.

From the first concept to the final rivet, The Statue of Liberty was the creation of volunteers. Strange to say, no government was involved. This documentary tells the exciting story of who was involved: hundreds of thousands of ordinary citizens from all walks of life, even children, gave their small earnings to realize Miss Liberty, first in France and then in the U.S. It took 14 years to consummate.

Part of the Who Built America? series, this video tells the vivid tale of the African-American exodus from the rural South to northern industrial cities during World War I.

This video looks at a nationwide rebellion that brought the U.S. to a standstill, when 80,000 railroad workers went out on strike to protest the excesses of the railroad companies.

This video features a fugitive woman slave describing life, work, and day-to-day resistance to slavery on a North Carolina cotton plantation during the 1840s and 1850s.

This video is based on the life of Boston shoemaker George Robert Twelves and reveals how working people helped make the American Revolution.

This video is a film-noir spoof, private eye Clio Malarkey investigates the central role played by working Americans in U.S. history and the hazards of misinterpreting the past.

Features the musical traditions and verbal recollections of eight retired African-American railroad track laborers, whose occupational folk songs were once heard along the railroad lines that crisscross the South.

This film shows some of the things that are being done to divert water, and predicts what will happen to our dams and reservoirs in the future.