Additional Projects
ILLUMINATING HISTORY
Educational Tools
We are excited to be telling the stories of Harry Bridges and Thomas Paine to students, whom we consider to be our most important audience, in two specific ways:
Community Colleges
For a number of years Ian has been performing From Wharf Rats to Lords of the Docks and To Begin the World Over Again at Los Angeles County Community Colleges, funded by The Los Angeles County Department of Arts and Culture, the Dolores Huerta Labor Institute and the ILWU Credit Union. This support means that the performances are free to these colleges.
Ian is also offering on-line classes in which students watch one of the films followed by a Q&A. This program can take these stories to a much broader geographic audience of students than live performance. There can be small charges for this program depending on the location of the college.
Lesson Plans
Working with The American Federation of Teachers, with its 1.7 million members, we have created two Lesson Plans about Bridges and Paine for teachers to use in their classrooms. They use our films, divided into Chapters for individual lessons, to explore the life and times of these men.
These Plans are equally relevant to Community College students, which opens up our work to America’s 900+ colleges and 6 million students!
Radio Documentaries
Our work has also led us to many other stories about men and women fighting for social justice. Check out our CDS, and digital downloads below:
From Wharf Rats to
Lords of the Docks
THE LIFE AND TIMES OF HARRY BRIDGES
Stories of Harry’s life, from Australia to San Francisco, told by family, friends and union members who knew him, with rare labor music. Interviews and narration by Ian Ruskin.
A Wild Woman Sings the Blues
THE LIFE AND MUSIC OF BARBARA DANE
An extraordinary singer and political activist, Barbara sang with all the great folk, blues and jazz musicians, from Pete Seeger to Lightning Hopkins to Louis Armstrong. She was also part of so many pivotal events, from levitating the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. to long conversations with Castro in Havana to singing at the Valley of Jarama Spanish Civil War site. Two hours filled with great music and amazing stories that you won’t hear anywhere else!
From Piers to Plantations
A UNION IN HAWAI’I
A radio documentary that begins with Captain Cook and ends with today’s Aloha, hotels and island breezes. And it is filled with the voices of the dockworkers, the sugar and pineapple plantation workers, and the men and women who organized them into a union. It has narration by Karl Malden, Carroll O’Connor and Ed Asner and beautiful Hawai’ian music. Follow the story of these islands as they grew from immigrant struggles into America’s tropical paradise state.
Film Documentaries
More stories in the fight for social justice. Check out our DVDs and digital downloads below:
To Make a Long Story Short
THE LIFE AND TIMES OF SAM KAGEL
The story of the life and work of the “Father of Labor Arbitration”, a man who arbitrated 10,000+ cases in his 98 years. He was Harry Bridges’ best friend and drinking buddy, and has hilarious, profound and outrageous stories to tell, from negotiations in cigar-smoke filled hotel rooms to Billie Holiday at Café Society to the NFL vs. Barry Sanders case. To say that he had a unique negotiating style is an understatement, but he was the best in the business at “getting down to the nut-cutting.”
Captain Josh & the Drill Team
We all know about high school drill teams, but this is an entirely different animal! Lead for 45 years by "Captain" Josh Williams, this is a team that struts its stuff in labor marches, parades and festivals all over America, with chants, callouts, songs and longshore hooks in their hands. With a lot of funny stories thrown in. Captain Josh, and the Team, are forces to be reckoned with!