"Bread and Roses"- The Lawrence Textile Strike of 1912

98 High Street,Newburyport MA 01950

26 January, 2023

Description

In January 1912, nine days after striking workers had shuttered the Merrimack River valley’s textile mills, Lawrence city police arrested seven strike leaders, including a Syrian-born tailor, whom they charged with conspiracy to dynamite the mills. Sam Marad stitches together a vivid tableau of that historic drama and its pivotal role in the famed nine-week “Bread and Roses” Strike. It’s a tale of turpitude with a surprising twist, a story that Sam has uncovered through his study of archival records, contemporaneous newspaper reports, and his family’s mementos of their Syrian ancestor, Farris Marad. Sam Marad, a senior at The Governor’s Academy from Andover, is keen to learn about his family’s history. In his Advanced Placement U.S. History class last year, Sam chose to investigate his great-grandfather’s central role in the 1912 “Bread and Roses” strike of mill workers in Lawrence, MA.