History | Pummarolə

28Jan

By Gabriel Piemonte3 Comments

History

Triangle Fire

The Triangle Fire Comes Full Circle for Edvige Giunta An interview with writer, editor and activist, Edvige Giunta by Marci Merola Edvige Giunta works tirelessly to keep the dead alive. It happens during her memoir writing workshops, like a recent one entitled “Stories of Our Dead,” and through her day job as Professor of English at New Jersey City University, where such stories are both read and written. It’s obvious when she’s writing the names of the victims of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire in chalk in front of their homes on the anniversary of the tragedy (a newish tradition started by Ruth Sergel that she carries forth) or observing the impact that it has on students of her Triangle fire class. Now, in a new book co-edited with Mary Anne Trasciatti, Talking to the Gir...

A More Useful Public History: An Interview with Jerry Wilson

28Jan

By Gabriel PiemonteNo Comments

History

A More Useful Public History: An Interview with Jerry Wilson

by Charles Tocci Jerry Wilson The movement to remove Columbus statues has much to learn from the long history of Black activism and its efforts to create a more truthful and inclusive public history. While the removal of Confederate monuments became a flashpoint during the summer of 2020, Black organizers had focused their efforts on these statues for over a century. Their experiences offer a deep catalog of strategies and insights from which to glean. For over a century, Silent Sam, a statue of a Confederate soldier, had stood watch over the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) Campus. It was erected in 1913 with support from the United Daughters of the Confederacy and was dedicated to the “young student soldiers who went out from this grand old University to battle ...

Fiorello La Guardia and the Social Democratic City

7Oct

By Pummarola1 Comment

History

Fiorello La Guardia and the Social Democratic City

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=LTlz7EUpvx8 The exclusion of Fiorello La Guardia’s leftist brand from his biography represents a gross distortion to the image of America’s greatest mayor, according to professor Gerald Meyer. New York City’s La Guardia is a beloved figure, Meyer stated, “But what’s left out of his story is his leftism.” Meyer, a professor at Hostos Community College in The Bronx, N.Y., is co-editor of “The Lost World of Italian Radicalism,” and author of “Vito Marcantonio: Radical Politician." So he has some experience with cases like La Guardia’s. The educator spoke March 18 at the New Haven Free Public Library’s “Books Sandwiched In:Virtual Author Talks,” on the subject, “Mayor Fiorello La Guardia and the Left.” The Little Flower’s le...

5Sep

By Gabriel PiemonteNo Comments

History

The indomitable “Bella Ciao”

THE SONG FROM THE FIELDS THAT BECAME ANANTHEM FOR LIBERATION ACROSS A CENTURY https://youtu.be/tXUkH-dARpY Workers, known as mondine, in the rice paddies of Northern Italy in the 1950s (photographer unknown) “Bella Ciao” is the kind of song that can be in the soundtrack of a child’s life and they are never even aware of it, yet years later, when they hear it, it has the familiarity of a family recipe or a parent's voice. The old Italian folk song, which had its origins in the brutal work conditions of the mondine (pictured right) transformed into a song of resistance as Italians fought off the Fascist Party. It later spread worldwide and has become representative of struggles everywhere. It even found a new life during the worldwide coronavirus pandemic as a ballad of solidar...