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Solidarity Works poster by artist Jerry W. McDaniel, 1991 Special Run Artist signed copy of Official AFL-CIO poster for 1991 Labor March on Washington. Art work in the permanent collection of:
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STORY OF THE POSTER
I was commissioned by AFL-CIO to design and illustrate the official poster “Solidarity Day ’91” for the August 31st 1991 March on Washington, DC.
I was happy to have been chosen for that commission. I think, my grandfather on my mother side, George Thompson, would be proud of this achievement. Growing up in Southern Ohio I was told that George, a coal miner at the Racoon Mines, and a member of the United Mine Workers of America, was a friend of John L Lewis, the leader of organized labor who served as president of the UMW from 1920 to 1960.
I know that to commemorate the ’91 March on Washington, DC, AFL-CIO re-produced numerous prints of my poster and distributed them. A group of Union members and their kids painted a large copy of the poster, about 40ft x 30ft and a film while they were painting was produced. I was not aware of this banner with my poster design. A friend of mine, Lou Stoller, the then and long-time President of the Union (UCE) at FIT/State University of New York, where I was a professor, told me that he saw the banner with my poster design at one of the AFL-CIO events. FIT had a very strong union. Later it was brought to my attention that this huge banner was hung during the August 31 1991 event between two buildings in Washington, which I assume were the Union Offices. I was told the original poster was on a wall of the then AFL-CIO President’s Office, Lane Kirkland.