{"id":322185,"date":"2025-11-27T21:50:06","date_gmt":"2025-11-27T21:50:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/american-history\/labor-art-in-homestead-pennsylvania\/"},"modified":"2025-11-27T21:50:06","modified_gmt":"2025-11-27T21:50:06","slug":"labor-art-in-homestead-pennsylvania","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=322185","title":{"rendered":"\u201cLabor & Art\u201d in Homestead, Pennsylvania"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/p>\n

\n

I am a historian who studied with David Montgomery at the University of Pittsburgh in the mid-1970s, a tumultuous time in labor and working-class history. After teaching at Wesleyan University for many years, I returned to the once-mighty steel city. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

I recently saw a remarkable exhibit entitled \u201cLabor & Art\u201d in nearby Homestead, Pennsylvania. \u00a0\u00a0Fifty compelling paintings, sculptures, posters and prints depicting union and worker militancy mainly in and around Pittsburgh from the 1877 railroad strike through Ed Sadlowski\u2019s campaign for the Steelworkers\u2019 presidency in 1977 make up the display. Coal miners, railroad workers, and steelworkers are highlighted.<\/p>\n

\"\"
\u201cLabor and Art\u201d Exhibit Opening, Bost Building, Homestead, Pennsylvania. Credit: Rosemary Trump.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The exhibit was largely put together by Joe White, who taught English working-class history at Pitt, and his wife Delsa White. Joe and Delsa spent weekends for years at old bookstores, yard sales, and antique shops seeking material on Western Pennsylvania workers and protests. They installed their many finds in their house in Harmony, Pennsylvania, a former utopian community founded in 1804. Harmony was the first of three communities built by the Harmony Society.<\/p>\n

\"\"
David White, \u201cWorkers Dismantling the 6th Avenue EL,\u201d c. 1937, is one of the many works featured in \u201cLabor and Art.\u201d Exhibit. Credit: Marcus Rediker.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The artwork that they amassed (along with that of several of their friends), is now on display at the historic Bost Building in Homestead. Originally a hotel, the Bost Building served as headquarters for the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers during their famous armed battle with the Carnegie Steel Company in the summer and fall of 1892. Using the third floor as a watchtower, the union officials monitored activities in the mill site and along the Monongahela River. The hotel also served as the base for American and British newspaper correspondents who filed their stories about the Homestead strike and the battle.<\/p>\n

\"Pictured
The exhibit is housed at the historic Bost Building, a key site of the 1892 Homestead Strike. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The same third floor now houses the Whites\u2019 Labor & Art exhibit. I would encourage everyone on the Labor and Working-Class History Association list near Pittsburgh to see the exhibit. \u00a0It will be on display until December 23rd<\/sup>. The Bost Building\u2019s address is 623 East 8th<\/sup> Avenue, Homestead, Pennsylvania. It is normally open on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday 10 AM \u2013 2pm and by appointment. Their telephone number is 412-464-4020. The website is linked here.<\/a><\/p>\n

There is parking behind the building. Admission is free. When you arrive, go to the front door and press the button on the left side to be admitted.\u00a0<\/p>\n

While there, also be sure to walk through the Rivers of Steel exhibit on the first floor of the building. Rivers of Steel is a federally designated National Heritage Area in southwestern Pennsylvania, centered on Pittsburgh and oriented around the interpretation and promotion of the region\u2019s steel-making heritage.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Martin Leisser, \u201cEugene V. Debs,\u201d 1926. Credit: Marcus Rediker.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After seeing the exhibit, I sat down for an interview with Joe and Delsa White.<\/p>\n

How did you become excited about Western Pennsylvania labor history?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Our interest in labor art began when we were children. Both of us grew up in houses with art in almost every room. A second factor was political.\u00a0 Our parents were far to the left of center, something we became aware of as kids in the early 1950s. It was in Pittsburgh that our interest in art and labor came together. Neither of us are native Pittsburghers. This stimulated our curiosity to learn more about artistic and artisanal representations of workers in the area. And we did learn from looking at those artworks and objects. \u00a0<\/p>\n

Do you view this art as a primary source like a document?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Consider the painting \u201cMiner\u2019s Portrait.\u201d One of its many remarkable features is that management is nowhere to be seen.\u00a0 This is a bit strange, to say the least, given the bosses\u2019 obsession with keeping a close eye on workers. Was the artist purposely ignoring the bosses? David Montgomery\u2019s answer is a resounding \u201cNo.\u201d \u00a0In fact, just as the painting shows, miners\u2019 independence was the envy of other workers.\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"
\u201cMiner\u2019s portrait,\u201d artist unknown. Credit: Marcus Rediker.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Were you startled by what you saw in those works of art?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Some cliches contain a kernel of truth. \u201cA picture is worth a thousand words\u201d is one example. We don\u2019t know any writing that matches, much less exceeds, \u201cBurning of Union Station\u201d or \u201cHaymarket Riot\u201d in conveying the emotion and motivations of those workers. \u201cThings Were Better Then\u201d is a more subtle but equally powerful statement of loss and destruction.<\/p>\n

\"\"
William Gillespie Armor, \u201cBurning of Union Depot, 1877.\u201d 1881. Credit: Marcus Rediker.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

How does the artwork in your exhibit compare to that found in major art museums?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Except for the famed Pittsburgh Courier<\/em> photographer Charles \u201cTeenie\u201d Harris\u2019s photos of African Americans and John Kane\u2019s paintings, the permanent collection at the Carnegie Museum of Pittsburgh has relatively little art by or about working people. The Frick Pittsburgh Museum has even less. That is true of many major museums in the United States. But working-class people are already or soon will become the majority of humankind. Artists of all media will continue to take notice!\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"
Delsa White, right, speaks to a visitor at the\u00a0 exhibit opening. Credit: Rosemary Trump<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"
Joe White, right,\u00a0 speaks to an attendee at the event.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I am a historian who studied with David Montgomery at the University of Pittsburgh in the mid-1970s, a tumultuous time in labor and working-class history. After teaching at Wesleyan University for many years, I returned to the once-mighty steel city. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I recently saw a remarkable exhibit entitled \u201cLabor & Art\u201d in nearby Homestead, Pennsylvania. 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