The Thread That Binds, a play by Mary Bonnett, tells the stories of Agnes Nestor from the Women’s Trade Union League in Chicago and Lillian Herstein from the Chicago Teacher’s Union, the first woman on the Executive Board of the Chicago Federation of Labor.

Agnes Nestor was portrayed by Brigid Duffy Gerace. It was performed at the 2nd Gala held on Nov. 13, 1997, at Roosevelt University.

The Gala was entitled “Tapestries and Voices.” It featured the stories of 150 years of working women’s struggles for equal rights through drama, song and images. Peggy Lipschutz created chalk-talk drawings to accompany Kristen Lems’ songs. Portions of the stories of Lucy Parsons and Jennie Curtiss were portrayed by Alma Washington and Laura Sollman St. John. Norma White, CTU Vice President, spoke and Helen Ramirez-Odell (Chicago Teachers Union) received the Mother Jones Award.