04/29/2026
Celebrate Labor History Month with us this May with this presentation by Ben Schacht and Matthew Schlerf on their research into German-Jewish labor relations in Chicago at the turn of the twentieth century.
This presentation offers context for Chicago Shpatz’s Summer 2026 walking tours on Chicago’s German-Jewish labor history, created with support from the Goethe-Institut Chicago.
Their guided Randolph Street tour uses street theater and historical reenactment to show how Jewish immigrants and activists moved from the background of the 1886 Haymarket Affair to the forefront of the 1910 Chicago Garment Strike.
Topics include the political and industrial revolutions of 1848, German and Jewish immigration to Chicago, the Civil War and the Great Chicago Fire, the role of Turnverein (Turner Halls) and Hull-House as hubs for social activism, Chicago’s German and Yiddish press, the eight-hour day movement, and the class divide and lasting historical biases between machers and shnorrers in Chicago’s early Jewish community.
Join us to explore this fascinating chapter of Chicago history and see how these stories continue to shape the city today.
Free RSVP: https://www.goethe.de/ins/us/en/sta/chi/ver.cfm?event_id=27267715
This program is presented in partnership with the , the , and the .
Image 1: A bilingual English-German broadside advertising a Haymarket Square labor meeting, Chicago, Illinois, May 4, 1886. Courtesy of Chicago History Museum.
Image 2: Image of riot after police raid furniture workers' meeting in the first Vorwaerts Hall from Harper's Weekly, August 18, 1877. Courtesy of the Chicago Historical Society.
Image 3: Front cover of booklet titled ‘The Chicago Riot: A Record of the Terrible Scenes of May 4, 1886’ by Paul C. Hull, illustrated by True Williams. Published in New York and Chicago by Belford, Clarke & Company in 1886. Courtesy of the Chicago Historical Society.
Image 4: Broadside authored by August Spies calling for his fellow workingmen to take up arms after the riot at the McCormick Harvesting Machine Company plant, Chicago, Illinois, May 3, 1886. Courtesy of the Chicago Historical Society.
