Duke Students Focus on Victory at Moncure Plywood

Personal stories from strike part of documentary studies presentation

The students of the class "Behind the Veil: Documenting African American Life in the Jim Crow South" will present the story of the recent strike at Moncure Plywood, as told by the workers themselves.

What: Presentation on Victory at Moncure Plywood (download the flyer)
When: Wednesday, April 29, 2009, 6:30 p.m.
Where: Center for Documentary Studies Auditorium, 1317 W. Pettigrew St, Durham, NC

Nearly 120 members of IAMAW Lodge W369 were on strike 24 hours a day, 7 days a week from July 20, 2008, to March 31, 2009, for their what they saw as their basic human rights. New management had demanded a 60-hour workweek, increases in health insurance premiums, and the elimination of seniority, but a deeper look at the situation reveals that the strikers, who were mostly African Americans, were protesting racial injustice as well.

Through the excerpts of Moncure Plywood workers' personal histories and other research, the "Behind the Veil" class will illuminate the long history and stormy present of the ongoing struggle for racial and economic justice amongst African Americans in the South.

Students of the "Behind the Veil" documentary studies class conducted a series of interviews with the Moncure workers and complied a multimedia presentation on the strike, including its sometimes subtle, but at other times overt racial overtones.

This event is co-sponsored by the "Behind the Veil" project, the Center for Documentary Studies, and the Triangle Labor and Civil Rights Working Group.

Dinner will be provided, so please RSVP to [email protected] if you plan to attend.