Struggles In Steel: A Story Of African-American Steelworkers (DVD)

When a local television station ran a program about the closing of the major steel mills in the Pittsburgh region, Ray Henderson, a former mill worker who had worked in the mills for 18 years, couldn’t help notice that not one black worker was shown, despite the fact that African-American workers had formed a critical part of the labor force in western Pennsylvania for 125 years.

With his old friend Tony Buba, Henderson set out to collaborate on a history of African-Americans and their contributions not just to the steel industry, but to the labor movement itself. Through eloquent living witnesses and revelatory archival footage, Struggles In Steel presents a striking counterpoint to the stereotypical black male image.