By Laini Cassis
Staff Writer
Below is a stanza from the poem “Bread and Roses” by James Oppenheim. Published in the winter of 1911, these words recharged a movement that activists, feminists, and U.S. historians continue to celebrate today.
“As we come marching, marching, we battle too for men,
For they are women’s children, and we mother them again.
Our lives shall not be sweated from birth until life closes;
Hearts starve as well as bodies; give us bread, but give us roses!”
In fact, the Women’s and Gender Studies department is hosting its annual Bread & Roses event on Wednesday, March 19th.
So what’s all this talk about bread and roses?
The term “bread and roses” has grown to represent the historical intersection of the United States women’s movement and labor movement. Specifically, a textile mill strike of 1912 in Lawrence, MA was inspired by Oppenheim’s poems.
The workers, predominantly female, demanded higher wages to survive.
However, they believed it was not enough to merely get by from day to day, so they also fought for improved working and living standards – the roses of life.
Uniting workers across many nationalities, the 1912 Lawrence Textile Strike is also remembered as the Bread and Roses strike.
Over 100 years later, Simmons College will proudly continue to commemorate the women of 1912 who struggled on behalf of all women.
The Women’s and Gender Studies department will celebrate those who stood up in the face of injustice to advance the rights of women and improve the working conditions of laborers across the United States.
This year’s theme “Beyond the Classroom: Women and Work” will focus on the ways in which Simmons community members are continuing to fight for bread and roses across many issues.
As the program director, I invite you to attend this networking, socializing, and celebratory event where you can learn from an array of guest speakers about current social justice issues. Simmons students, faculty, and alumnae/i will be sharing their experiences in research, community service, internships, and work in the Boston area and beyond.
Bread & Roses will be held in the Kotzen Room at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, March 19, with a dinner provided. To attend, please RSVP to Melissa Kappotis by March 8 at Kappotis@simmons.edu.
