Singing of the Unsung

By Susan Ellen Holleran

Sing a song, and tell a story about those who built our labor movement: That was the Labor History Forum's theme. Saul Brody's songs of working people accompanied historian Alice Hoffman's stories of William Heighton, William Sylvis and Mary Harris "Mother" Jones.

Brody came from his gig at the Smithsonian's American Folklife Festival. Heighton led Philadelphia's — and the nation's — first central labor body in 1827, started a newspaper and a library, and fought for free public education.

Sylvis, crippled when a ladleful of molten iron spilled into his boot and melted much of his foot, went on to found our first national labor federation: the National Labor Union in 1866. Membership was open to all workers.

The audience joined Brody in singing "Union Maid," to honor Mother Jones. A sweet old lady in appearance, Jones was a dauntless unionizer in fact. Mine workers called her the "Miner's Angel" — while their bosses denounced her as "the most dangerous woman in America." She fought against child labor, led strikes, went to jail and lived to see 100.