This past Saturday we completed a volunteer project at the American Labor Museum / Botto House National Landmark in Haledon, NJ. Council Representative Robert Hopkins along with several volunteers built a new observatory deck.
“The American Labor Museum advances public understanding of the history of work, workers and the labor movement throughout the world, with special attention to the ethnicity and immigrant experience of American workers. The Museum is headquartered in the historic Botto House National Landmark, the 1908 home of immigrant silk mill workers.”
“In the winter of 1913 more than 24,000 men, women, and children marched out of Paterson, New Jersey’s silk mills calling for decent working conditions, an end to child labor, and an eight-hour day. Pietro and Maria Botto offered their home overlooking a green as a meeting place for strikers. Upton Sinclair, Elizabeth Gurley Flynn and other champions of labor spoke from the 2nd-floor balcony to workers of many nationalities. This action and others like it brought about reforms in the workplace broadly enjoyed by Americans today.”