Robert Forrant & Susan Grabski: “Lawrence and the 1912 Bread and Roses Strike” - Thursday, January 23rd, 7PM
Lawrence and the 1912 Bread and Roses Strike by Robert Forrant and Susan Grabski.
Join us Thursday, January 23rd at 7PM as Authors Professor Bob Forrant of UMass Lowell and Susan Grabski of the Lawrence History Center) will discuss their book “Lawrence and the 1912 Bread & Roses Strike”
This event is free and open to the public. There will be a book selling and signing afterwards for those interested.
About the Book: Incorporated in 1847 on the banks of the Merrimack River, Lawrence was the final and most ambitious of New England’s planned textile-manufacturing cities developed by the Boston-area entrepreneurs who helped launch the American Industrial Revolution. With a dam and canal system to generate power, Lawrence led the world in the production of worsted wool cloth by 1912. The Pacific Cotton Mills alone had sales of nearly $10 million and had mechanical equipment capable of producing 800 miles of finished textile fabrics every working day. However, industrial growth was accompanied by worsening health, housing, and working conditions for most of the city’s workers. These were the root causes that led to the long, sometimes violent struggle between people of diverse ethnic groups and languages and the city’s mill owners and overseers. The 1912 strike, known today as the Bread and Roses Strike, became a landmark moment in history.
About the Authors:
Dr. Robert Forrant is a professor of history at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. Susan Grabski is the executive director of the Lawrence History Center. Founded in 1978, the organization’s mission is to collect, preserve, share, and interpret the history and heritage of Lawrence, Massachusetts, and its people.