The 1913-14 Michigan Copper Strike and Italian Hall Book Project: December 2014

Tuesday, December 23, 2014

Italian Hall 101 Years Ago

In honor of the Italian Hall victims, I'm posting an image of the December 26, 1913, edition of Tyomies that labeled their deaths as "Murders." This gut-wrenching headline and the article detail how Finnish immigrants associated with the labor movement saw the deaths of their fallen Fellow Workers. Additionally, I'm posting a translation of the article that was done by a pro-company Finnish-language speaker. This translation was used as evidence for the efforts to round up editors at Tyomies and charge them with crimes for reporting the labor perspective on the event. The newspaper and article about the horrific loss of life at Italian Hall are reminders of the price paid by those who fought for our labor rights today, and the importance of free speech and the 1st Amendment! Seems it is under fire as much today as it was on December 26, 1913.

The translation of the headline and article (from the C&H Collection, Michigan Technological University's Copper Country Historical Archives):

Gary Kaunonen

Gary Kaunonen did his undergrad at MSU-Mankato; then a Masters at Michigan Tech, studying Industrial History and Archaeology. Research interests: immigration, labor and social history, industrial communities, material culture of the working class, social justice, public history, and working class rhetoric. His Master’s thesis was on Finnish American labor history in Michigan. He is the author of two books published by Michigan State University Press, one of which won the 2010 Historical Society of Michigan Book Award. He also co-authored "Industrial Calumet" for the NPS, which won an award from Association of Partners for Public Lands. Before academic life, Kaunonen worked in industrial jobs in a foundry and welding shop. Recently, he's worked for Keweenaw National Historical Park, as a freelance historian, as the Archivist, Historian and Collections Development Coordinator at the Finnish American Historical Archive, and adjunct faculty at Keweenaw Bay Ojibwa Community College. Currently he is the Assistant Director of Michigan Tech's Writing Program, a Graduate Teaching Instructor, and a PhD student at Michigan Tech in the Rhetoric and Technical Communication program.

Aaron Goings

Aaron Goings is an assistant professor of history at Saint Martin’s University in Lacey, Washington, where he teaches courses on research methods and United States Social History. A longtime resident of Grays Harbor, Washington, Aaron’s interest in the Copper Country stems from his earlier studies of Finnish-American labor history in the Pacific Northwest, and the similarities between the ethnic and labor history of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan with Washington’s Olympic Peninsula. His scholarly interests include labor and the left, Pacific Northwest History, and history of the lumber industry. His dissertation "Red Harbor: Class, Violence, and Community in Grays Harbor, Washington," was completed at Simon Fraser University in 2011. He credits his interest in labor and radical history to his working-class upbringing, which included many hours on picket lines and participating in Labor Day parades. Aaron notes that in Grays Harbor people still consider it to be a major offense to cross picket lines.

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Tuesday, December 23, 2014

Italian Hall 101 Years Ago