This program originally aired on Wednesday, March 25, 2026 at 6:00pm Eastern.
Author Cathryn J. Prince joined AJHS historian Andrew Sperling for a discussion on her latest book For the Love of Labor: The Life of Pauline Newman. Their conversation occurred on the anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire, where 146 people (a majority immigrant women) were killed in one of the largest workplace disasters in American history. Newman was employed by the infamous factory, though not at the time of the fire, and it was that experience that led her to activism. Prince’s book examines Newman’s role as the first female union organizer for the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union (ILGWU) and her influence on labor laws as advisor to labor secretary Frances Perkins. Around 1913, Newman helped a Dr. George Price establish a union health center, understanding how an unhealthy workforce decreased productivity, and simultaneously believing that no one should go bankrupt because of health care. That work can be directly traced to why workers today in the United States receive their health benefits through employers.
Prince remarked that in a period when several states appear to be rolling back child labor laws hard won by activists such as Newman, it is a moment to reflect and interrogate why those protections were established in the first place.
Topics covered in this program:
- Pauline Newman pioneered coalition building across class and ethnic differences.
- Pauline Newman served on the New York State Commission to enforce equal pay laws.
- Pauline Newman was known not only for her grit and creative tactics on the picket-lines, but also turning protests into meaningful and lasting policy.
- Pauline Newman dedicated her life to advocacy, lecturing publicly about workers rights well into her 80s.
