WHEELING. The Wheeling Academy of Law & Science Foundation, in partnership with the Ohio County Public Library, will host its 10th annual symposium focused on regional labor history. The theme is “The Art of Labor.”
The Reuther-Pollack Labor History Symposium is held on Labor Day Weekend near the birthday of Wheeling's own Walter Reuther (Sept. 1, 1907), longtime UAW and CIO President and Civil Rights Activist. It is also named for Wheeling Hall of Famer Augustus Pollack, a stogie maker, and the only business owner to have a monument built in his honor by union members. Both the Reuther and Pollack monuments stand at Heritage Port.
The Symposium is presented by the WALS Foundation in partnership with the Ohio County Public Library and sponsored by the United Auto Workers International; The United Auto Workers, Region 8; the Ohio Valley Trades and Labor Assembly; and Ironworkers Local 549. Additional partnerships include the Mother Jones Center for Resilient Community (MoJo) and Esoterica, which will host Walter Reuther Fest the weekend prior to the symposium on August 29, starting at 7 pm.
The Reuther-Pollack Labor History Symposium will take place on Saturday, September 5 at the First State Capitol at 1413 Eoff Street in Wheeling. It is a free event, but donations are suggested.Please RSVP here.
After registration and a complimentary continental breakfast from 9-10 am, paper-cut artist, puppeteer and printmaker Erik Ruin will discuss his work illustrating legacies of resistance- including his series of hand-printed artist’s books based on the personal correspondence of legendary agitator/organizers like Emma Goldman and Rosa Luxemburg, the joys and challenges of collaborating with social movements, and his two decades of experience as a founding member of the worker-owned Justseeds Artists Cooperative. Ruin is a Michigan-raised, Philadelphia-based artist who has been lauded by the New York Times for his “spell-binding cut-paper animations.”
Then at 11 am, textile artist Tabitha Arnold will explain why she believes art is one of many languages that working-class people use when they come together in a workplace struggle. Just as the way people speak is diverse and unique in every part of the world, so are the art forms that emerge from labor movements to tell their stories. In the Appalachian South, it comes in the form of craft mediums like quilting and folk music. Tabitha asks: what was the role of imagery and verse in our labor ancestors’ struggles, and why do so many of these traditions still appear on the picket line today? How can artists serve the contemporary labor movement, and how can workers embrace this language of expression to dream, fight and win bigger?
Born in Chattanooga, Tennessee, Arnold taught herself tapestry weaving. In 2019, she began organizing a union at her workplace: a profound experience that called for making tapestries about labor. Using a rug-punching tool as a makeshift embroidery needle, Arnold borrows images from Bible Belt spirituality, social realism, and pre-modern art to create monuments for the working class. She exhibits her tapestries at union halls and labor conventions in addition to traditional venues. She will have a sample of her work on display.
Tabitha will also offer two workshops at the Mother Jones Center for Resilient Community (MoJo) on Sunday, September 6 and Monday September 7. Visit themojocrc.org or call 304-238-9484 for more information.
The symposium will take a break at noon, with lunches prepared by Midge’s Kitchen available for purchase for $15. Historian Dr. Hal Gorby, a WVU professor, will then lead a walking tour to the Reuther and Pollack monuments at Heritage Port for those interested.
After some cake and song in honor of Walter Reuther’s birthday, the symposium will resume at 2 pm with , literature scholar and historian turned grassroots journalist Maximillian Alvarez, who will discuss working class literature and why the stories we tell to ourselves about ourselves matter. From Robin Hood to Tracy Chapman, from Hollywood films to campfire tales, from pop music to podcasts, the stories working people tell about ourselves shape how we live, what we remember, and what we see when we look in the mirror.
Maximillian is an Izzy-Award-winning journalist and the Editor-in-Chief and Co-Executive Director of The Real News Network (TRNN) in Baltimore. He is the founder and host of Working People, "a podcast about the lives, jobs, dreams, and struggles of the working class today.”
Finally, at 3 pm, Pittsburgh-based multi-disciplinary artist, nonfiction author, and museum professional Shaun Slifer will explore his role as the aesthetic lead for a rural people's history museum (the West Virginia Mine Wars Museum) originally built from scratch. Coming from punk and DIY roots, Slifer's work designing and building the Museum's exhibits and other public design remains consistently grounded in the collective vision of a museum team that includes union coal miners, educators, community activists, and other Appalachian story-holders and -tellers. Shaun’s creative practice fundamentally investigates memory, directly challenging the oppression of currently-dominant historical narratives, both social and ecological.
For more information about the symposium, visit www.walswheeling.org or email the WALS Foundation at spdwalsyahoo.com. RSVP Here. The Foundation is a non-profit established to promote educational programming in the areas of employment, labor history, human rights, energy, and the environment; and to promote local economic opportunity, employment, and job creation in our city and region. It is the home of the Reuther-Wheeling Labor Library and Archive. You can donate to WALS, here: walswheeling.org/donate-today/.
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