THE 2020 REUTHER-POLLACK LABOR HISTORY SYMPOSIUM
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The 2020 Reuther-Pollack Labor History Symposium IV: "Solidarity Against Hate" was livestreamed, Saturday, September 5, 2020. View the full schedule below or download a 2020 Labor History Symposium brochure (.pdf file - 2.85 MB)
Watch the 2020 Reuther-Pollack Labor History Symposium through the WALS Foundation Youtube channel, on the WALS Foundation Facebook page or on the Reuther-Pollack Labor Heritage Week Facebook event page.
A Birthday Tribute to Walter Reuther
2020 Reuther-Pollack Labor History Symposium Virtual Walking Tour led by Dr. David Javersak
In Memoriam
The 2020 Reuther-Pollack Labor History Symposium was dedicated, in eternal solidarity, to our friend, Elaine Purkey (5/29/1949-9/2/2020), a powerful and beautiful voice for working people.
Photo: Elaine with her beloved husband, Bethel, a third-generation coal miner, visiting Wheeling during the 2019 Ruether-Pollack Labor Heritage Week.
Read more about some of the powerful female voices of the labor movement: Celebrating the Musical Women of Coal Country: Karen Collins, Elaine Purkey Remember Hazel Dickens (Weelunk: August 26, 2019)
Elaine Purkey performs for WALS Foundation2019 Labor Heritage Week |
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First State Capitol Building, Wheeling, W. Va., August 30th, 2019. |
2020 Symposium Schedule
11:00 am (EST):
Dr. Daniel Graff, Professor of Labor History University of Notre Dame
- Paper: "'The Key Remedy for the Nation's Economic Ills': Walter Reuther and the UAW's Forgotten Fight Against 'Excess Profits' and Economic Amnesia in the Contemporary USA"
12:00 pm (EST):
Mike Stout (lifelong union activist, musician, and member Battle of Homestead Foundation)
1:00 pm (EST):
Lunch: Reuther Birthday Video, Music of Tom Breiding, and Virtual Walking Tour to Reuther and Pollack monuments, led by Dr. David Javersak
2:30 pm (EST):
Dr. Charles B. Keeney, III, History Professor Southern West Virginia Community and Technical College
- "Saving Blair Mountain: A Roadmap to Preservation Success" Dr. Keeney relates how the preservation group Friends of Blair Mountain succeeded in preventing the destruction of the Blair Mountain Battlefield by mountaintop removal.
- Book: The Road to Blair Mountain: Saving a Mine Wars Battlefield from King Coal
Charles B. Keeney is an assistant professor of history at Southern West Virginia Community and Technical College. The author of two books, he served as president of Friends of Blair Mountain and was a founding member of the West Virginia Mine Wars Museum.
3:30 pm (EST):
Dr. Cicero M. Fain, III, professor of history at the College of Southern Maryland
- Download a full 2020 Labor History Symposium brochure (.pdf file - 2.85 MB)
Please contact us for more information on the Reuther-Pollack Labor History Symposium: Email Sean Duffy