The 100th Anniversary of the Great Lawrence Strike of 1912, popularly referred to as the Bread & Roses Strike, begins January 2012. A number of events have been planned to commemorate this historically significant event. The Bread and Roses Centennial Committee in Lawrence has a web site featuring the strike’s history, calendar of events resources, links and contact information.
Additional information is available at the Bread and Roses Heritage Committee. They memorialize the event every Labor Day with a variety of music and dance, poetry and drama, ethnic food, historical demonstrations, and walking and trolley tours from Lawrence’s Common. The Bread and Roses Labor Day Heritage Festival will be held on September 3, 2012 from 12 to 6pm.
“Collective Voices,” a 21-minute documentary about the famous 1912 Lawrence textile strike, is available in DVD for $12 and VHS for $9 from the Friends of Lawrence Heritage State Park or may be viewed online at the Massachusetts AFL-CIO web site.
The famous “Bread & Roses” song by James Oppenheim and sung by Teresa Healy and Tom Juravich, along with printed lyrics, is available from Union Songs
Teachers are encouraged to urge their students to use the Bread & Roses centennial for a project entry in the National History Day contest whose theme this year is “Revolution, Reaction, Reform in History.” The entry should be submitted under the Special Category of American Labor History. The American Labor Studies Center sponsors a Gold Medal and $1000 prize to the winner in this category.
