Students with murals at the California Labor School.
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Start ed in a loft on Turk Street\, the California Labor School eventually occup ied its own building at 240 Golden Gate Avenue\, today home to SEIU Local 87.
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Founded in 1942 as the the Tom Mooney Labor Sc hool\, the California Labor School’s history was brief but influential\, a ttracting teachers and students as diverse as Frank Lloyd Wright\, Pete Se eger and Maya Angelou.
\nFrom the San Francisco general strike of 1934\, a major cata lyst for national trade unionizing\, to the recent UC Berkeley academic wo rker strike\, the Bay Area has long been a hotbed of labor activism. Where this history intersects with the arts has been less apparent — but an exh ibition at the Tenderloin Museum sheds new light. “Education for Action: C alifornia Labor School\, 1942-1957\,” presented in collaboration with the Labor Archives and Research Center at San Francisco State\, focuses on the history of the eponymous trad e school\, which operated out of San Francisco’s Tenderloin neighborhood a nd featured a robust arts program as a cornerstone of its education model.
\nFo unded in 1942\, the school started in a loft on Turk Street\, but eventual ly occupied its own building at 240 Golden Gate Ave.\, today home to SEIU Local 87. The school was funded by over 100 unions to educate their growin g membership\, as an influx of workers from the American South entered the Bay Area to assist in the war effort’s shipbuilding and maritime industri es. In addition\, the school’s “cultural program” included classes in ever ything from drawing\, sculpture and literature to choral singing and moder n dance. A student there might have attended a W.E.B DuBois lecture\, stud ied with Frank Lloyd Wright and Pete Seeger or had Maya Angelou for a clas smate. And that’s to name only a few of the historical figures who passed through.
\nA slideshow of photogr aphs and ephemera included in the exhibition at the Tenderloin Museum\, co urtesy of the Labor Archives\, paint a vibrant picture of the school. The student body was evidently diverse\, the moral imperative decidedly Marxis t. An outdoor art exhibition might be mistaken for a rally\; a philosophy class for a political forum. One brochure features an illustration of a ma n in overalls reading a book\, alongside the slogan: “Education for victor y.” A flyer advertising painting classes reminds potential students that “ People are creative.” A poster boasting the slogan “Build democracy’s weap on\,” features an illustration of a multiethnic group of adults and childr en brandishing books.
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