Working Womenʼs History Project

Connecting Today with Yesterday

Making Women's History Come Alive

Annie Shapiro and the Clothing Workers’ Strike

Written by Marlene Targ Brill Illustrated by Jamel Akib 48pp, History Speaks Picture Books plus Reader’s Theater (Millbrook Press) (ages 7 to 10). Reviewed by Amy Laiken. While organizing a Chicago commemoration of the Triangle Shirtwaist factory fire a few …

Working Without Uniforms: School Nursing In Chicago 1951 – 2001

Helen Ramirez–Odell has written a book containing 86 stories, brief and extended, based on interviews of Chicago school nurses, going back to the beginning of the program in 1951.

Exploring the Dangerous Trades: The Autobiography of Alice Hamilton MD

Dr. Alice Hamilton wanted to take on the problem of industrial poisoning. When Alice Hamilton began her work in the new field of industrial toxicology, few worried about chemical hazards at work. Many victims were recent immigrants afraid to complain. Most did not know the risks.

Black Freedom Fighters

Thousands of African Americans poured into northwest Indiana in the 1920s dreaming of decent-paying jobs and a life without Klansmen, chain gangs, and cotton. Black Freedom Fighters in Steel: The Struggle for Democratic Unionism by Ruth Needleman adds a new dimension to the literature on race and labor.

Class Action: The Story of Lois Jenson and the Landmark Case That Changed Sexual Harassment Law

This is the story of a small group of women iron miners who took on a Minnesota mining company in a landmark civil suit: Jensen vs. Eveleth Mines.

Near West Side Stories: Struggles for Community in Chicago’s Maxwell Street Neighborhood

Carolyn Eastwood tells the stories of three people living in Chicago with immigrant roots.

The Heat: Steelworker Lives & Legends

Harmon Lisnow knew that writing was not the typical pursuit of a steelworker when he invited 25,000 steelworkers of northwestern Indiana to “tell their stories” for a possible book on life in the mills.

Labor Pains: Inside America’s New Union Movement

Erem has worked in the union movement for the past dozen years as an organizer, a union rep, and a communications director. Her book is an account of the struggle to re-build a vibrant and powerful trade union movement.

Taking Back Our Lives: A Call to Action for the Feminist Movement

This book examines the ongoing threat and reality of violence in its many forms and how that violence distorts and disfigures women’s lives.

Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By In America

Ehrenreich in this book calls attention to the millions of Americans working full-time, year-round, for poverty-level wages.

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