derbyhats

Apparently, there were two barbers' strikes in the era covered by most of these Bain collection photographs. There was the Brooklyn barbers' strike of 1913, and there was the New York barbers' strike of 1914. Having searched the New York Times' accounts of the era, I suggest that the occasion shown in this photograph is Joseph J. Ettor speaking to the striking Brooklyn barbers at Union sqaure on May 16, 1913. Here is the New York Times account from printed the following day: query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9F00E5DF143FE633A... In that account, it also states that, "There were not many mottoes displayed at the gathering, but one of those displayed read, "We were slaves. Now we want to be free." Another read: "The Industrial Workers of the World lead this strike. This means success."." This second slogan, "The Industrial Workers of the World lead this strike. This means success." can be made out on the sign at left of photograph just behind the column. I'll put a note on the pic highlighting that. For what little it is worth, here is the wikipedia bio of Joseph J. Ettor: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Ettor The photograph of Ettor at that wikipedia page also helps to identify him in this photograph.

Fascinating! We'll add the date to the source data and reload the description. Thanks!

This photograph is featured in the Indicommons.org post Labor Day.




Sweet info update!

Hi, I'm an admin for a group called IWW - Industrial Workers of the World - "Wobblies", and we'd love to have this added to the group!

the same thing is true today - IWW means victory for the workers

George W. Wickersham en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Wickersham and ?

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_F._Sheehan

In 1914, the date of this photo, Wikersham was President of the New York Bar Association, and Sheehan was a prominent New York attorney.

Thank you victuallers2 and buckeye616 for the additional information on these men. We will add some of it to the record for this image when we update.

Awesome!..photographer unknown?

come as you are. strange elevated track?

293 Bowery @ Houston, looking north along the short block to E. 1st Street. There's some kind of garden and a glassed-in apartment building called the Avalon there now (Google Street View). A little more about the buildings on the right: "Between 1884 and 1932, the Bowery YMCA, housed for a time at Wesley Hall (291-293 Bowery), also provided mission-style services and housing. Today the building houses a Tibetan Buddhist meditation and teaching center. McGurk’s Suicide Hall at 295 Bowery also became a rescue mission for a time during the early 20th century." www.placeinhistory.org/projects/bowery/?page=10 50 years earlier (1863), the same spot was the location of a huge hotel fire covered in the NY Times. The building next door (295 Bowery) was a tobacco warehouse heavily damaged by water during the fighting of the fire.

I like the el tracks in the upper left-hand corner. I'll use this shot in a lesson for my 8th graders in our New York City Unit.

Yes, the elevated tracks you can see in this pic were narrow because they were one-way -- the uptown el ran on one side of the street above one sidewalk and the downtown el on the other side of the street above the other sidewalk. Bowery is a wide street and had several parallel streetcar lines on the street in between the two el trestles, as seen here. The Bowery el was built in 1878 and torn down in 1955. McGuirk's Suicide Hall, at the location of the "RESTAURANT" seen in this pic, was a notorious theater/saloon sort of establishment that supposedly acquired its nickname because so many young women committed suicide there. Some of these buildings actually lasted until 2005 when they were torn down for the Avalon. Next block up is where CBGB's used to be.