Tuesday, April 15, 2008 at 7 p.m.
Minnesota History Center
345 Kellogg Blvd W., St Paul

Featuring: Prof. Peter Rachleff, Macalester College labor historian

Presenting: "Hard-Pressed in the Heartland: The Making, Unmaking, and Remaking of Minnesota's Labor Movement in the 20th and 21st Centuries"

From the late nineteenth century to the mid twentieth century working women and men from Scandinavia, southern and eastern Europe, and the east coast of the United States formed labor unions that struggled against some of the world's most powerful corporations. They sought economic security, acceptance as citizens, and social respect through these unions and their participation in the political system. The economy that emerged in the 1980s and 1990s tore apart their world, but it also brought new immigrants from Latin America, Asia, and Africa to the North Star State. These new immigrants are now struggling to reshape their Minnesota universe, and their struggles change the balance of power and the prospects for other Minnesotans. This lecture will tell the story not only of what happened but how to think about the future.

Noble Lecture Archive

• The Annual David Nobel Lecture Archive