Working History

When we think about the history of railroad labor, we often think of engineers, sleeping car porters, or the workers who constructed the railroads themselves. But what about the cooks, nurses, and laundresses who kept the railroads running? In this episode, Abosede George sits down with Kate Reed, a PhD candidate at the University of Chicago, to discuss her research on women workers on Mexico’s railroads and her recent article, “Rights to Her Labor: Women Workers on Mexico’s Southeastern Railroads,” published in International Labor and Working-Class History: https://cup.org/47Gquib   Working History is a joint project between: The Southern Labor Studies Association (SLSA), https://southernlaborstudies.org/; The Labor and Working-Class History Association (LAWCHA), https://lawcha.org/; LABOR: Studies in Working-Class History, https://www.dukeupress.edu/labor; and International Labor and Working-Class History, (ILWCH) https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/international-labor-and-working-class-history Follow the links to join and subscribe today!

School may have returned for the fall, but what are the challenges facing teachers unions and their members as we approach the midway point of Trump 2.0?   In this week's episode of Working History, Joan Flores-Villalobos met with UTLA member Jake Roth, labor organizer Katie Miles from UC Berkeley, and historian Nick Juravich from UMass Boston to discuss how unions are confronting budgetary shortfalls, ICE raids, and how effective reform can only take place when community and labor work together.

It's official, "Working History" is back!  In our first episode back, Beth English—the founder, host, and producer of "Working History" vol 1—interviews Sarah McNamara, president of the Southern Labor Studies Association (SLSA), Eileen Boris, president of the Labor and Working-Class History Association (LAWCHA), Julie Greene, editor of LABOR: Studies in Working-Class History, and Mae Ngai, senior editor of International Labor and Working-Class History (ILWCH). Together they discuss their vision for the podcast, developments in labor history, global authoritarianism, and labor issues past and present. 

After several long years off the air, the beloved labor history podcast is back! Now brought to you by the Southern Labor Studies Association, the Labor and Working-Class History Association, LABOR: Studies in Working-Class History, and International Labor and Working-Class History. New episodes will drop weekly, starting Thursday, September 24, 2026. Follow along and stay tuned for more Working History!

Step Up Louisiana co-founder and co-director Maria Harmon joins the podcast to talk about the group’s Freedom Summer-inspired voter turnout campaigns and grassroots mobilization efforts in New Orleans, Baton Rouge, and Jefferson Parish, New Orleans’ proposed Workers Bill of Rights, and the future of economic and education justice organizing in Louisiana.