Official Lawrence History Center video provided by http://www.MasterPeaceProductions.com ©2012

The year 2012 marked the 100th anniversary of the Bread & Roses Labor Strike and offered a significant opportunity for the City of Lawrence and the wider region to educate its people about the city's past and the roles that immigrant labor played in the city and the entire nation. Lawrence was a community in crisis long before payday on January 11, 1912 when workers, realizing yet another wage reduction, ran through the mills shouting “short pay!” and “strike!” The Strike prompted the nation to confront conflicting visions of community identity and struggle, civic culture, immigration and industrialization. It influenced public policy, helping construct some of the current social safety nets.

To commemmorate the strike, the Lawrence History Center was pleased to present a bilingual exhibit:

"Short pay! All out!
The Great Lawrence Strike of 1912
~ Bread and Roses Centennial ~

The exhibit was free and open to the public Thursday through Saturday from 11:00 a.m.to 3:00 p.m. and by appointment until Labor Day, 2012 on the 6th floor of the Everett Mill, 15 Union Street, Lawrence, Massachusetts.

Short pay! All out! The Great Lawrence Strike of 1912 opened its doors on January 12, 2012 with a Ribbon Cutting and Commemoration that was attended by nearly 500 people! Please visit http://www.lawrencehistory.org/node/18625 for information about our opening day and to view video of the program.

In 2012, the Lawrence History Center's exhibit, "Short pay! All out!" acted as a cultural space ideal for hosting lectures, meetings, exhibits, performances, and community gatherings relevant to the themes of the strike of 1912. Also, be sure to visit the DPLA Exhibition: Bread and Roses Strike of 1912: Two Months in Lawrence, Massachusetts, that Changed Labor History.

Short pay! All out! was sponsored by the Lawrence History Center and funded in part by Mass Humanities, the Nathaniel and Elizabeth P. Stevens Foundation, Everett Mills Real Estate, the Rogers Family Foundation, UMass Lowell, Lawrence Cultural Council, and the Bread & Roses Centennial Committee.