For this special Labor Day edition of A Celtic Sojourn, I explore organized labor struggles on both sides of the Atlantic. We include miners' songs of Colorado and Wales, of strikes in California and Kentucky, and of ethnic tensions between French-Canadians and Irish Union activists in the mills of Lowell and Lawrence, Massachusetts.
I also tell the story of Joe Hill, born in Sweden and executed in Utah in 1915 at age 36. Hill became an icon within labor movements throughout the world and a favorite of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), a powerful union nicknamed the "Wobblies" in the early 20th century.
Songs from Kate and Anna McGarrigle, Paddy Reilly, Woody Guthrie, Christy Moore, Mary Black, Pete Seeger, Paul Robeson, Luke Kelly, and the Dubliners, Joan Baez, Utah Phillips, and Ani DiFranco are featured. I've have compiled a playlist below.
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