Chicago Labor History Tour: Pullman/ Steel Makers 1:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m.

Pullman Town/ Steel Memorials

1:00-5:00 p.m.

FEE: $30 per tour (covers lunch and docents)

Pullman

Visit the former Gilded Age company town, where luxury train cars were built, providing good jobs and the best amenities, but no local democratic institutions. By 1894, workers suffered under the weight of the latest depression and went on strike. The strike soon evolved into a convulsive nationwide boycott involving 250,000 railroaders across 27 states, with Chicago coming under martial law for most of the summer of 1894. Some historians believe Labor Day emerged as a federal holiday as a result. Learn about the separate history of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters and the Women's Auxiliary organizing drive, under the leadership of A. Philip Randolph in the 1920s and ‘30s.

Sites: National Park Service Visitors Center, Historic Pullman Foundation Exhibit Hall and a brief walk around the town, now a thriving neighborhood in Chicago

Steel Memorials

For nearly a century, Southeast Chicago and Northwest Indiana produced the most steel in the world. Learn about the events surrounding the 1937 Memorial Day Massacre, when 10 people were killed and scores injured when Chicago Police opened fire on strikers attempting to form a picket line at Republic Steel. Occurring at the height of the organizing drive in steel mills across the country, this tragedy would play a role in the eventual founding of the United Steelworkers five years later.

Fast forward to the 1970s, when the USWA women's caucus brought steelworker women together to fight for equal rights on the job, and against racial, gender, and pregnancy discrimination. Women found innovative ways, through health and safety campaigns, to build bridges with their male coworkers.

Sites: The Steelworkers Memorial Statue, located near the former site of the Republic Steel Mill, and Steelworkers Park, situated on the former site of U.S. Steel Southworks

REGISTRATION DEADLINE: September 11, 2025

Pick up and drop off location: McCormick Place – 2301 S. Prairie

Bus tour service provided by AFL-CIO

Host or Publisher Chicago Women in Trades