Featured Exhibition: The Men Along the Shore and the Legacy of 1934

At the beginning of the 20th Century, employers launched an all-out campaign to crush the labor movement. Union organizers were portrayed as un-American in the media and union members were subjected to a reign of terror, including vigilante violence, mass arrests, deportations and lynchings. Radical union leaders were driven underground and many workers were forced to join company unions.

In 1934 the workers fought back. The Pacific Coast Maritime Strike and the subsequent San Francisco General Strike are some of the most significant events in San Francisco and U.S. labor history. In a new exhibition in the Skylight Gallery - The Men Along the Shore and the Legacy of 1934 - historic photographs, graphics and newspapers will tell the story of how longshoremen, considered little more than transients at the time, stood up and made history. The exhibition will be on view through August 31 on the Sixth Floor of the Main Library.

[Crowd of striking longshoremen on 3rd Street] [graphic]. Courtesy of the San Francisco Historical Photograph Collection, San Francisco Public Library.

The strike shut down the entire West Coast and a new labor movement was born. But it was a birth paid for in blood. Police and vigilantes opened fire on strikers and demonstrators, killing and/or wounding workers in Seattle, San Francisco, San Pedro and Portland before a negotiated victory and arbitration ended the strike.

This unique panel display was commissioned by the ILWU's Longshore Division to portray the origins of the union in the historic 1934 strike. The exhibit took a year to produce. Materials were gathered from the ILWU library in San Francisco and union sources in California, Oregon and Washington. Many photographs were gathered from the SFPL History Collection, along with material from other museums, historical societies, libraries, universities and the personal collections of ILWU members.

The exhibit pays tribute to those who struggled and gave up their lives so that future generations could live in a more just world and enjoy the fruits of their labor.

Events related to this exhibition:
Saturday, August 1 -- 2-5 p.m.
Films by and about the ILWU
Screenings of We Are the ILWU; The Eye of the Storm and May Day 2008. Discussion with Local 10 International Committee Representative Mike Villeggiante.
Latino/Hispanic Community Meeting Room - B, Lower Level, Main Library

Saturday, August 22 -- 2-5 p.m.
Bloody Thursday to the Present
Discussion with Harvey Schwartz, author of Solidarity Stories: An Oral History of the ILWU and film premier of Bloody Thursday with documentary filmmaker Jack Baric.
Latino/Hispanic Community Meeting Room - B, Lower Level, Main Library