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Bread and Roses
The Labor Movement
Websites / Books in our Library
The U.S. Department of Labor defines Labor Day as a "yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity and well-being of our country." Those contributions did not come without a fight. In the early 1900's, laborers had to endure long hours, meager wages, and unsafe working conditions. For the price of freedom and better working conditions, some lives were lost. In the Ludlow massacre of 1914, alone, 66 men, women and children were killed during the strike.
Women laborers have had additional problems with which to contend. On top of the harsh working conditions shared by the males, women were given less pay, less respect, and faced greater hostility on the workfront. On March 25, 1911, flames engulfed the top floors of the Triangle Shirtwaist Company, due to unsafe working conditions. 125 of the 146 workers who died were young women.
Move forward to New Year's Day, 1912. Textile workers in Lawrence, Massachusetts engaged in a 9-week strike. During one of the demonstrations, women held banners demanding "Give Us Bread, and Roses, Too." This symbolic battle cry did not go unnoticed, as it inspired countless poems and the song, "Bread and Roses."
"What the woman who labours wants is the right to live, not simply exist - the right to life as the rich woman has it, the right to life, and the sun, and music, and art. You have nothing that the humblest worker has not a right to have also. The worker must have bread, but she must have roses, too." -- Rose Schneiderman, August, 1912.
Of course, great strides have been made in the past century to ensure the safe, fair, quality workworld that we now know. Although unjust working conditions have not completely been abolished, the sacrifices made by our predecesors have carved and given us the bread and roses we enjoy today.
The Labor Union Movement in America
Working Heroes—Men and Women Who Shaped America’s Labor Movement
Workers World Jan. 29, 1998: Bread & Roses strike
Bread and Roses: The 1912 Lawrence Textile Strike
US Department of Labor: The History of Labor Day
Books in the Edith Hamilton Library
| 301.5 R |
Rodgers, Daniel T. |
The work ethic in industrial America, 1850-1920. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1978 |
| 305.48 H v. 7 |
Industrial wage work. Munich: New Providence: K.G. Saur, 1993 | |
| 305.562 L |
Le Blanc, Paul |
A short history of the U.S. working class: from colonial times to the Twenty-First Century. Amherst, N.Y.: Humanity Books, c1999. |
| 305.569 E |
Ehrenreich, Barbara. |
Nickel and dimed: on (not) getting by in America. New York: Metropolitan Books, 2001. |
| 331 D |
Dulles, Foster Rhea |
Labor in America: a history. Crowell, 1960 |
| 331 M |
Meltzer, Milton |
Bread--and roses; the struggle of American labor, 1865-1915. New York, Knopf [1967] |
| 331.0973 M |
Murolo, Priscilla |
From the folks who brought you the weekend: a short, illustrated history of labor in the United States. New York New Press: Distributed by W.W. Norton, 2001. |
| 331.0973 N |
Nelson, Daniel |
Shifting fortunes: the rise and decline of American labor, from the 1820s to the present. Chicago: Ivan R. Dee, c1997. |
| 331.0973 P |
Pessen, Edward |
Most uncommon Jacksonians; the radical leaders of the early labor movement. [ Albany] State University of New York Press [1967] |
| 331.3 G |
Gourley, Catherine |
Good girl work: factories, sweatshops, and how women changed their role in the American workforce. Brookfield, Conn.: Millbrook Press, c1999. |
The picture above is Rosie the Riveter, a poster made in 1942.
Last updated: January 2010
