![Not for Bread Alone: A Memoir](http://img.images-bn.com/static/redesign/srcs/images/grey-box.png?v11.9.4)
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Overview
"Don't waste any time mourning—organize."—Joe Hill
Moe Foner, who died in January 2002, was a leading player in 1199/SEIU, New York's Health and Human Service Union, and a key strategist in the union's fight for recognition and higher wages for thousands of low-paid hospital workers. Foner also was the founder of Bread and Roses, 1199's cultural program created to add dimension and artistic outlets to workers' lives.
Foner produced a musical about hospital workers; invited Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger to perform for workers and their children; presented stars such as Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee, Sidney Poitier, Harry Belafonte, and Alan Alda; and installed the only permanent art gallery at a union headquarters. One of Foner's last projects was a poster series called "Women of Hope," which celebrates African American, Native American, Asian American, and Latina women including Maya Angelou, Maxine Hong Kingston, Septima P. Clark, and the Delaney sisters Sarah and Elizabeth. Today his legacy is the largest and most important cultural program of any union.
Not for Bread Alone traces Foner's development from an apolitical youth whose main concerns were basketball and music to a visionary whose pragmatism paved the way for legislation guaranteeing hospital workers the right to unionize. Foner writes eloquently about his early life in Brooklyn as the son of a seltzer delivery man and about many of the critical developments in the organization of hospital workers. He provides an insider's perspective on major strikes and the struggle for statewide collective bargaining; the leadership styles of Leon Davis, Doris Turner, and Dennis Rivera; and the union's connection to key events such as the civil rights movement and the Vietnam War.
Product Details
ISBN-13: | 9780801440618 |
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Publisher: | Cornell University Press |
Publication date: | 08/15/2002 |
Pages: | 160 |
Product dimensions: | 6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.81(d) |
Age Range: | 18 Years |
About the Author
Table of Contents
ForewordAcknowledgments
Chapter 1 Saturdays at the Palace: Growing up in Brooklyn
Chapter 2 Sing While You Fight: Finding the Labor Movement
Chapter 3 Grab Them by the Collar: Telling the Story of Forgotten Workers
Chapter 4 Like a Beautiful Child: The Hospital Union Comes of Age
Chapter 5 I Am Somebody: The Charleston Strike
Chapter 6 Bread and Roses: Working People Deserve the Best
Chapter 7 The Busted Stradivarius: Fighting to Preserve 1199 's Ideals
Chapter 8 Senior Advisor: Passing It On
Epilogue
Bibliography
Index
What People are Saying About This
Moe Foner's Not for Bread Alone is a landmark book. Grounded in lively autobiography, it spells out an account of twentieth-century labor history strangely unfamiliar to scholars, historians, and unionists as well. He tells a wonderfully moving and instructive story of those he calls 'forgotten workers': drug employees, hospital workers, and—eventually—the marvelously diverse men and women who have made up Local 1199. Because of Moe Foner's long experience as editor, director of cultural affairs as well as activist (wise and impassioned at once) his perspective is unique as well as widely informed. He writes of strikes and negotiations, of fellow unionists jailed for their commitments and activity. He gives us a suggestive look at the artistic and cultural achievements of his union (complete with art gallery), always alive to contemporary demands—economic, political, and (yes) imaginative. This book cannot but speak to those interested in the new history, in overcoming the silences that have muted so many voices, and those interested in an encounter with a lifelong fighter alive to personal predicaments and triumphs, and always open to novel possibilities.
Moe Foner was an educator. Those of us who are concerned with the future and with the integration of the arts, politics, and learning have to read this book. It is the story of a life committed to justice, the power of imagination, and the potential in every person to live a full and creative life.
1199/SEIU's Bread and Roses Cultural Project is a shining example of how a labor union can enrich the lives of its members through the arts. One person has been responsible for this achievement and in Moe Foner's memoir we can read how he did it.
1199, The Health Care Workers' Union, was my husband's favorite and it became mine as well. The stories in this book show why. They tell of a passion for social justice and true humanity. And they do so with spirit and humor.
For the daily truth behind phrases like 'first-generation American,' 'labor movement' and 'civil rights,' there is no better life story than that of Moe Foner. Like Emma Goldman, he insisted on dancing at the revolution, and on every American's right to joy and justice. In these dark times, his memoir is a beacon of past and future light.
Moe Foner's fervent life mirrors the fervent years of our country. His is the drama of a gallant, passionate scrapper in the never-ending battle of civil and human rights. A deeply moving memoir.