See all events and exhibitions below, or download calendar of events.

EXHIBITIONS

Beyond Swastika and Jim Crow
Museum of Jewish Heritage
36 Battery Place, NYC 10280
Opens May 1
Sun. – Tues. & Thurs. 10 a.m. – 5:45 p.m.
Wed. 10 a.m. – 8 p.m. Fri. 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.
The story of Jewish professors who fled Nazism in the 1930s & 1940s. In America they found teaching positions at historically black colleges & universities. $12/$10 srs./$7 students/under 13 free! 646.437.4202.

Brooklyn & the History of Chinese Immigration
Brooklyn Historical Society
128 Pierrepont St., Brooklyn, NY 11201
Through August
Wed. – Fri. 12 noon – 5 p.m.
Sat. 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. Sun. 12 noon – 5 p.m.
Andrew Urban & David Madden investigate how Brooklyn residents responded to Chinese immigration in the 19th century & to the development of a Chinatown in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. $6/$4 srs. & students/under 12 free. 718.222.4111.

Stars, Strikes, and the Yiddish Stage:
The Story of the Hebrew Actors’ Union, 1899–2005
YIVO Institute for Jewish Research
15 West 16 St., NYC 10011
Through May
Mon. – Fri. 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Correspondence, photos, & records from the Hebrew Actors’ Union, now a YIVO archive. Free! 212.294.6131.

Rochester Labor History Map
Rochesterlabor.org
Virtual launch May 1
The 1946 Rochester General Strike & much more. Website of the Rochester Labor Council’s Education Committee & the Pettengill Labor Education Fund.

Amsterdam/New Amsterdam: The Worlds of Henry Hudson
Museum of the City of New York
1220 Fifth Ave., NYC 10029
Through September 27
Tues. – Sun. 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Investigates Henry Hudson’s epic journey — & the Dutch character of the colony of New Amsterdam through household objects, navigational instruments & archaeological remnants of daily life for slaves, Native Americans, & Dutch settlers. $9/$5 srs. & students. 212.534.1672. www.mcny.org

The ILGWU – A Union of Immigrants, A Union of Activists
LaborArts.org
Opens May 1
Images showing the ILGWU’s pioneering efforts in the fight for immigrants rights (the first in a series of five exhibits about the ILGWU). The web museum, LaborArts.org, presents art by & about working people. Contact: Rachel Bernstein & Henry Foner, 212.998.2637. info@laborarts.org

Irish and Labor
American Labor Museum/Botto House National Landmark
83 Norwood St., Haledon, NJ 07508
May 1 through August 29
Wed. – Sat. 1 – 4 p.m. or by appointment.
Photos & documents of the many contributions of the Irish & Irish Americans during historic struggles for workers’ rights in the U.S. $5/members free. 973.595.7953; labormuseum@aol.com; www.labormuseum.org

EVENTS

Fri., April 24, 6 – 8 p.m.
Opening of the National Lawers Guild Archive
Speakers: Heidi Boghosian, National Lawyers Guild; Michael Krinsky, Rabinowitz, Boudin, Standard, Krinsky & Lieberman; Michael Ratner, Center for Constitutional Rights. Free! Tamiment Library, 70 Washington Sq. So., 10th Floor, NYC 10012. 212.998.2428. Michael.Nash@nyu.edu

Wed., April 29, 7:30 p.m.
Taking Liberties: The Cold War Against Labor & the New Deal
Discussion: Sam Sills & Bob Shrink analyze the damage done to organized labor by the Taft-Hartley Act & McCarthyism. $6/$10/$15 (sliding scale). Brecht Forum, 451 West St., NYC 10014. RSVP: 212.242.4201. www.brechtforum.org.

Thurs., April 30, 6:30 p.m.
Give Us Bread
Play: one-act presented by the Anthropologists, explores the pivotal, but little-known food riots of 1917, when immigrant women on the Lower East SIde demonstrated against rising food prices. Free! Lower East Side Tenement Museum. 108 Orchard St., NYC 10002. RSVP: events@tenement.org; 212.982.8420.

Fri., May 1, 6 – 9 p.m.
Capital District May Day Festival
Workers resist the economic crisis: videos of Chicago’s Republic Windows workers factory occupation. Speakers on resisting the cutbacks, single-payer health care, ending wars in Iraq & Afghanistan. Music by Taina Asili & La Banda Rebelde. Food & drink provided. Free! Prospect Park, Troy. Contact: Art Fleischner 518.273.2759. www.hudsonmohawkmayday.org; alad8@verizon.net.

Fri., May 1, 7 p.m.
May Day Festival (outdoors!)
Musical & vocal performances by Anne Feeney, Chris Chandler, “Young & Younger” (George Mann & Julius Margolin), the New Jersey Solidarity Singers, & Annamaria Stefanelli singing from operas enjoyed by immigrant laborers during the late 19th & early 20th centuries. Refreshments will be served. Tours of the Museum will be offered. $10. American Labor Museum/Botto House National Landmark, 83 Norwood St., Haledon, NJ 07508. 973.595.7953. www.labormuseum.org

Fri., May 1, 6 – 8 p.m
America’s Forgotten Holiday: May Day & Nationalism, 1867 – 1960
Book party/reading by author Donna T. Haverty-Stacke. Free! Tamiment Library (10th Fl. of NYU’s Bobst Library), 70 Washington Sq. So., NYC 10012. 212.998.2630 / 212.772.4412

Fri., May 1, 12 noon – 6 p.m.
Building Bridges May Day Special
Radio broadcast: workers of the world, unite & fight the world wide economic crisis for the people’s agenda. Bail out the people, not the banks – & good jobs for all. WBAI, 99.5 FM. Produced by Ken Nash & Mimi Rosenberg. Contact: knash@igc.org

Fri., May 1, 6 – 8 p.m
Exit Cuckoo
Play: written & performed by Lisa Ramirez based on her experiences working as a nanny in New York. Directed by Colman Domingo. Produced by the Working Theatre in association with Eve Ensler. $20. The Clurman Theatre at Theatre Row. 410 W. 42 St.. NYC 10036.

Fri., May 1, 8 p.m
Sleep Dealer
Director Alex Rivera will introduce & screen his 2008 film imagining a world dreamed of by U.S. employers: Mexican labor without immigrant Mexican workers. Robots manipulated by “cybraceros” plug into the global economy from construction to the service sector. George Eastman House, 900 East Ave., Rochester. Free admission with Labor Council ticket. www.rochesterlabor.org

Fri., May 1, 6 – 9 p.m.
North Country
Film screening: Charlize Theron plays a Minnesota iron range worker who broke the gender barrier with the nation’s first classaction sexual-harassment lawsuit. Open to all 1199 SEIU members, staff, families, & friends. 330 W. 42nd St., 33rd Floor Penthouse. RSVP: 212.261.2481. educate@1199.org

Sat., May 2, 1:30 p.m.
(Repeats Sun., May 3, 1:30 p.m.)
Wheels on the Brooklyn Bridge:
Ages 4+ learn about horse-drawn streetcars, cable cars, & trolleys & steer them across a model bridge they’ll help build in the Education Center. $5/$3 srs. & children 3-17. New York Transit Museum, corner of Boerum Place & Schermerhorn St., Brooklyn Heights, NY 11201. 718.694.1600.

Tues., May 5, 6 – 8 p.m.
Tribute to Nat Spero & theUnited Electrical Workers
NYLHA’s Spring Labor History Conference
Lecture by David Montgomery, Professor Emeritus, Yale University. Pillar of Labor installation honoring Nathan Spero, former UE Research Director. Remarks by Alan Hart, editor, UE News. Co-sponsored by the Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives. Refreshments provided. Free! Tamiment Library, 70 Washington Sq. So., 10th Floor, NYC 10012. 212.998.2630.

Tues., May 5, 6:30 – 8:30 p.m.
The Sun & the Moon: The Remarkable True Account of Hoaxers, Showmen, Dueling Journalists & Lunar Man-Bats in Nineteenth-Century New York
Book talk: author Matthew Goodman discusses his new book, an exploration of the 19th century world of newspapermen and the new kind of newspaper being born in the 1830s. Free! CUNY Graduate Center, 365 5th Ave., Recital Hall, NYC 10016. On-line registration required. 212.817.8474. www.gothamcenter.org

Wed., May 6, 6:30 p.m.
Women Who Dared
Historians Joyce Mendelsohn, Annie Polland, & Suzanne Wasserman discuss Bread Givers author, Anzia Yezierska, activist Rose Pastor Stokes, & other trail-blazing women of the Lower East Side. Lower East Side Tenement Museum. 108 Orchard St., NYC 10002. RSVP: events@tenement.org; 212.982.8420.

Wed., May 6, 7 – 9 p.m.
The Inheritance
Screening/panel discussion: The American Labor Studies Center kicks off its month-long Labor Film & Music Festival with the first of four programs Wednesday evening – a 55-minute documentary about garment workers during the first 30 years of their union’s struggles – followed by historians Dr. Irwin Yellowitz (who is president of NYLHA) & Seth Harris. Dessert & coffee will be served. Service credit is available to teachers through the GCRTC. Free! New York State United Teachers, 800 Troy-Schenectady Rd., Latham, NY 12110. Sign up early – seating is limited. ALSCRegistration@aol.com

Sat., May 9, 1:30 p.m.
(Repeats Sun., May 10, 1:30 p.m.)
Windows of the Elevated
Elevated lines pull into vivid, multi-faceted scenes of outer borough communities, local cultures, & the natural world. Ages 5+ view these glass window installations — & create their own. $5/$3 srs. & children 3-17. New York Transit Museum, corner of Boerum Place & Schermerhorn St., Brooklyn Heights, NY 11201. 718.694.1600.

Sunday, May 10, 1:30 p.m.
(Tour repeats May 17 & May 31)
Brooklyn Navy Yard
Bus tour: U.S. Navy shipbuilding site has been revitalized as an industrial & commercial park employing over 4,500 people. $30 ($25 for members) Bus leaves promptly at 1:45. Meet at the Brooklyn Historical Society, 128 Pierrepont St. at Clinton St., Brooklyn, NY 11201. 718.222.4111.

Sunday, May 10, 1 p.m.
Underground Railroad Walking Tour
Visit the sites of a slave sale, the pressroom of a radical abolitionist newspaper, & the workplace of the activist who led the best organized underground railroad station in New York State. Meet at Albany Area Heritage Visitor’s Center at Quakenbush Square. $10/under 16 free!/Moms walk for free! 518.432.4432. info@ugrworkshop.com

Wed., May 13, 7 – 9 p.m.
10,000 Black Men Named George
Screening/panel discussion: 89-minute documentary about A. Philip Randolph & the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters. Randolph came to be known as “the most dangerous man in America.” Discussion will follow, led by Paul Cole and Terry Melvin. Dessert & coffee will be served. Service credit is available to teachers through the GCRTC. Free! New York State United Teachers. 800 Troy-Schenectady Rd., Latham, NY 12110. Sign up early – seating is limited. ALSCRegistration@aol.com

Sat., May 16, 10 a.m. – 12 noon
Labor Lyceum: Rochester’s International Labor Solidarity
Panel discussion: on Rochester’s sister cities, including Waterford, Ireland — where redundant glass workers have been occupying their closed plant. Discussion of labor solidarity in a world economy in crisis. Free! NYSUT Hall, 30 North Union Street, Rochester, NY 14607. www.rochesterlabor.org

Sat., May 16, 1:30 p.m.
(Repeats Sun., May 17, 1:30 p.m.)
Bridge City: Truss Bridges
Ages 5+ demonstrate the importance of the triangle in the construction of bridges – & build their own simple truss bridges. $5/$3 srs. & children 3-17. New York Transit Museum, corner of Boerum Place & Schermerhorn St., Brooklyn Heights, NY 11201. 718.694.1600.

Wed., May 20, 7 – 9 p.m.
Mother Jones: America’s Most Dangerous Woman
Screening/performance: 24-minute documentary recalls the oppressive working conditions that spurred Mary Harris “Mother” Jones to travel the country mobilizing workers to fight for justice. Then, Mother Jones (played by Peggy Orner) tells her own story. Dessert & coffee will be served. Service credit is available to teachers through the GCRTC. Free! New York State United Teachers. 800 Troy-Schenectady Rd., Latham, NY 12110. Sign up early – seating is limited. ALSCRegistration@aol.com

Thurs., May 21, 6 – 8 p.m.
New York’s Economic Recovery: A Fair Shake for Working Women?
Jane LaTour, author of Sisters In The Brotherhoods, & Susan Eisenberg, tradeswoman activist & artist of Equality Works! discuss what New York’s economic recovery can mean for you. Free! Cornell I.L.R. 16 E. 34 St., NYC 10016. Contact: Francine Moccio 212.340.2836. moccio01@aol.com

Thurs., May 21, 6:30 p.m.
A Glance at New York
Staged reading: Benjamin A. Baker’s 1848 hit is the comical yet insightful story of a “greenhorn” from the country who comes to make it in the big city – presented by America-in-Play. Free! Lower East Side Tenement Museum. 108 Orchard St., NYC 10002. RSVP: events@tenement.org. 212.982.8420

Wed., May 27, 7 – 9 p.m.
Solidarity Forever: Organizing & Teaching with Labor Songs
Tom Juravich sings & leads discussion of Union Maid, Babies in the Mill, Which Side Are You On, Solidarity Forever and other labor songs. Free! New York State United Teachers. 800 Troy-Schenectady Rd., Latham, NY 12110. Sign up early – seating is limited. ALSCRegistration@aol.com