Re-writing history, the right way.

Posted by benwyskida

June 29, 2008

In the Summer of 1877, the economy had gone south. Brakesmen and B & O Railroad workers pulling 72-hour weeks saw their wages cut 10-20%, while the railroad barons took home massive bonuses. (Sound familiar?) That summer the tension came to a head in Pittsburgh, where a serious strike went down:

When the outrage took hold in Pittsburgh, it ignited a popular uprising of workingmen, families and neighbors alike. Common citizens stopped train services, burned railroad property and looted freight cars. It was an anti-corporate gesture of unimaginable proportions. The events of 1877 marked the first time that the National Guard was called upon to defend privately owned property against an unsympathetic populace.

It was a remarkable uprising for the workers movement in America, and it made an impact. But in the history of Pittsburgh, the strike is not memorialized objectively. The historical markers commemorating the event all note the “violence,” the damage to property, and the mayhem, while most of the City’s official history characterizes the protests the same way: as a pain the ass. One of the most insidious things about history is the characterization of activism as trouble; protest as a problem; activists/workers/strikers as troublemakers. I remember the bizarre media coverage of the A-20/April2000 protests (the followup to the WTO in Seattle) where the local DC media focused entirely on the impact the protesters would have on the afternoon commute. It was strange, but the message was clear: protest and dissent are a nuisance.

In that spirit, I was thrilled when my roommate Matthew came home from the Allied Media Conference and told me about a worskshop he’d seen, featuring the “Howling Mob Society” in Pittsburgh. In a nutshell, the current project of the Howling Mob Society is to expose the other side of the 1877 protests, creating historical markers, street signs and a map that detail the events of 1877 from the perspective of the workers — who took to the streets, wages and benefits slashed, to demand a better deal. From their website, “the Howling Mob Society (HMS) is a collaboration of artists, activists and historians committed to unearthing stories neglected by mainstream history. HMS brings increased visibility to the radical history of Pittsburgh, PA through grassroots artistic practice.”

There are a range of “reality tours” and “activist” histories out there, but those are self-selecting. You have to be a certain kind of person to take the Global Exchange Reality tour to Cuba, or go on Kensington Welfare Rights Union’s “truth” tour of impoverished slums and police brutality hotspots in Philly. But the Howling Mob Society puts their message out there where anyone could come across it; where school kids, still forming their ideas of what dissent and activism mean, might actually learn that the labor rights movement in the 1870’s wasn’t a pain in the ass — it was necessary, or at least reasonable. Better yet, they do it with fun and some anachronistic flair.

The last time I was in Pittsburgh I was there on a train layover; my friend Sienna and I went to the usual attractions near an Amtrak station: two strip clubs, a gay bar, a naughty bookstore, a bad art installation, and a diner. I’m not sure when I’ll be back. But it’s exciting to know what HMS is doing; I’m sure there are similar efforts elsewhere.

The official marker may tell us that property was lost — thankfully there is a feisty band there to remind us that jobs and lives were lost too, and that something important was at stake in the protests.

About The Author - Ben Wyskida is a writer, activist, conscientious hedonist and political communications strategist living in Brooklyn. Formerly a co-conspirator at Philadelphia's design firm for the people, Design for Social Impact, and then the Communications Director at Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, Ben is now Publicity Director for the Nation Magazine. Ben's work has been published in Mother Jones, Yes Magazine, Fret Magazine and others. Ben has a remarkable gift for writing in the third person only when appropriate. - Visit Ben's site.

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