Struggles in Steel

A Story of African-American Steelworkers

The current angry debates around affirmative action too often ignore their historical roots: how, prior to government intervention, African Americans were confined to the most back-breaking, dangerous and low paid work. STRUGGLES IN STEEL documents the shameful history of discrimination against black workers and one heroic campaign where they won equality on the job.

Over 70 retired black steelworkers tell heart-rending tales of struggles with the company, the union and white co-workers to break out of the black job ghetto. They retrace a century of black industrial history - the use of blacks as strikebreakers against the all-white union during the 1892 Homestead Strike, the Great Migration of fieldworkers to the North in World War I, the racial divisions between workers during the Great Steel Strike of 1919 and the ultimate success of the CIO organizing drives of the 1930s.

"An outstanding job!...Provides a vitally important historical foundation for the current debates about race and affirmative action." - Bruce Nelson, Dartmouth College

"Heartbreaking and enlightening...A shameful story full of sound and fury." - ***Pittsburgh Post-Gazette ***

"Intelligent and informative...The filmmakers cull revealing and often deeply moving commentaries from interviews with more than 70 steelworkers...An effective teaching tool." - Variety