Occupational Folklife

Hosts John Fenn and Stephen Winick discuss occupational folklife in general, and the American Folklife Center's Occupational Folklife Project in particular. Topics covered include occupational songs, labor scholar and activist Archie Green, and the Occupational Folklife Project's oral histories with American workers. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi provides a moving tribute to labor folklorist Archie Green. Other interviewees include American Folklife center director Betsy Peterson, who was a fieldworker on the Occupational Folklife Project, archivists who take care of the recordings, and the coordinator of the project, Nancy Groce. The program includes excerpts from three workers in the Port of Houston, and with one circus worker reminiscing about elephants. It also includes a mining song performed by Blind Jim Howard and two versions of the railroad song "Rock Island Line," one by Kelly Pace and the other by the popular singer-songwriter Billy Bragg.