An Honest Day’s Work: A Labor Day Special

In honor of Labor Day, September’s episode of Hidden Histories explores worker experience in San Antonio and throughout Texas—from the everyday to the extraordinary. The heart of this episode is a discussion with independent filmmaker Anne Lewis, director of A Strike and an Uprising (in Texas), an experimental documentary that tells the story of the San Antonio pecan sheller strike led by Emma Tenayuca and the Jobs with Justice March led by Nacogdoches cafeteria workers, groundskeepers, and housekeepers in 1987. Following discussion with Lewis on the making of this film, brief excerpts will be shown, in anticipation of the full screening on Friday, September 7 at 8 p.m. Finally, in an homage to Studs Terkel’s Working, September’s episode also presents a collage of short film interviews with a range of San Antonio residents on one question: What was your first job?

As part of the city’s calendar of Tricentennial arts activities, Hidden Histories is a monthly, magazine-format video series that pursues and preserves the stories, lives, and places that make San Antonio an inspiring cultural treasure. Over the course of 2018, Hidden Histories will premiere 12 monthly screenings live in our studio, free of charge. Each screening highlights archival interviews with community leaders; significant performances by musicians, dancers and poets; interactions with working artists; lost documentaries; forgotten narrative films; and vintage discussions of important community issues. Live screenings are supplemented by interviews and discussions with participants, family members of those featured, and field experts. Following each live screening, video segments are archived online for 24/7 access.