Lawrence and the 1912 Bread and Roses Strike

Book — Non-fiction. By Robert Forrant and Susan Grabski. 2013. 128 pages.
Images, documents, and quotes tell the story of the 1912 landmark strike.

Time Periods: 20th Century, 1910

Themes: Labor, Organizing

This collection of hundreds of photos and primary documents brings to life one of the pivotal strikes in U.S. history — the 1912 Lawrence, Massachusetts Bread and Roses textile workers strike. Editors Robert Forrant and Susan Grabski painstakingly compiled this collection with detailed captions for each image. The chapters include life and work in Lawrence, the outbreak of the strike, the children being sent away, Congressional hearings, the court trial, and the strike in popular memory. Their introduction quotes a mill worker who says at the end of the strike, “We are a new people. We will never stand again what we have stood before.” Thanks to Forrant and Grabski, we can now see and understand that jubilation. [Description by Rethinking Schools.]