For the People Hear Us Singing “Bread and Roses”

The Myth of a Poem Turned Labor Song

Authors

  • Marit van de Warenburg Utrecht University

Abstract

This article examines the afterlife of the 1911 poem “Bread and Roses,” that is commonly associated with a 1912 factory strike in Lawrence, Massachusetts, and showcases how a 1974 musical rendition of the poem ‘stuck’ in the cultural memory of (labor) activists. The article demonstrates that the invented story of the song’s creation, alongside its ‘catchy music,’ as well as a range of flexibly applicable values in the song’s lyrics, underpin the poem’s lasting mobilizing power. In doing so, the article points at the influence of creation narratives and the effective symbiosis of text and sound as key factors in the production of persistent and influential activist songs.

Author Biography

  • Marit van de Warenburg, Utrecht University

    Marit van de Warenburg is a PhD-candidate at Utrecht University. Her project “Between Adaptation and Appropriation: When Heritage Becomes Contested” (made possible by the NWO PhDs in the Humanities Program) focuses on cultural memory in debates on cultural appropriation. This article is based on her MA-thesis, which focused on the interplay between memory and protest music.

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Published

2022-12-22

Issue

Vol. 35 No. 2 (2022): Sounding Literature

Section

Article

License

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

How to Cite

van de Warenburg, M. (2022). For the People Hear Us Singing “Bread and Roses”: The Myth of a Poem Turned Labor Song. FRAME, Journal of Literary Studies, 35(2), 87-102. https://platform.openjournals.nl/FRAME/article/view/27123