Exhibition Script - Museum on Main Street

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The Way We Worked scriptOur union they do fear.Let’s stand together, workers,And have a union here.”--A Mill Mother’s Lament, song by Ella May Wiggins, 1929United Farm Workers protest poster, 1978.--Chicago Women’s Graphics Collection, Library of Congress[Interactive Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Hat]Some workers, like truck driver Gary Sheatler, work without supervisionor are self-employed. Joining a recognized union related to their tradeallows them to be a part of a collective voice. Whether union or not, theseworkers defend their independence fiercely.“Trucking’s a lot different than a 40-hour week job . . . . I figure I’mworking all the time, not just what the log book says. . . .“I have a lot of people I need to answer to, but once I have my truckloaded, and I crawl in the seat behind the steering wheel and shut thedoor, I’m my own boss.”--Interview, <strong>Museum</strong> on Main Street, 2009RISKY BUSINESSDangers on the job arise in different forms and situations. A miner faces cave-inswhile a chemist may handle toxic materials. The 1970 Occupational Safety andHealth Act (OSHA) allowed the Federal government to set and enforce healthand safety standards nationwide. It required inspections and allowed workers tofile complaints about unsafe conditions.Activist Justin Dart Jr. (right) and other advocates at the DisabilityPride/Americans with Disabilities Act March in New York, July 25,1993. Signed by President George Bush in 1990, ADA guarantees fullaccess and protection for all Americans with disabilities.--Photograph courtesy of Yoshiko DartRadiation isolation booth, Argonne National Lab, Illinois, January1967.--National Archives – Great Lakes Region (Chicago),Records of the Atomic Energy CommissionSection 4: Who Works?Our workforce is a lively kaleidoscope of young, old, female, and male from every ethnicity.Every talent and perspective adds a new facet.And this diversity remains strong because of workers who dream big and work hard: Immigrantsand migrants start new lives throughout America; men and women fight for greater equality on20
The Way We Worked scriptthe job; and families turn businesses into legacies. Americans build a better future throughsacrifice, working from sunrise to sunset.Everyone can enrich the picture. Together, America works.A COMMUNITY OF WORKERSSouth Texas Panorama shows many of the agricultural, professional, andindustrial workers who keep communities running. During the Great Depression,federally commissioned artists celebrated American workers in murals, paintings,and sculpture.South Texas Panorama (Alice, Texas post office),by Warren Hunter, oil on canvas, 1939.Smithsonian American Art<strong>Museum</strong>“I hear America singing, the varied carols I hear,Those of mechanics, each one singing his as it should be blitheand strong,The carpenter singing his as he measures his plank or beam . . .Each singing what belongs to him or her and to none else . . .”--I Hear America Singing, poem by Walt Whitman, 1855DREAMS AND OPPORTUNITIESWe have unceasing faith in America as a land of opportunity where “life, liberty, and thepursuit of happiness” is open to all. Dreams can come true. These ideals toucheverything, especially our right to work.These ideals inspired immigrants and migrants to uproot their lives to find work. Theyfueled the civil rights movement when African Americans, Hispanic Americans, and otherminorities fought to be included in the American dream.STARTING A NEW LIFEForty million immigrants came to America in the 20 th century alone. After enteringcities like New York City, Galveston, and San Francisco, they worked throughoutthe country, opened new businesses, and even founded new towns.Newly arrived immigrants leave a customs processing center at EllisIsland in New York Harbor.--Library of Congress[Flipbook] MOVING FOR WORK: IMMIGRANTS & MIGRANTSSettlers in Red Lodge, Montana, were mostly Finnish immigrants whocame to mine in the Beartooth Mountains.Construction of the Finnish Worker’s Hall, Red Lodge, Montana, 1912.--Immigration History Research Center, University of Minnesota21
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