Red Jacket Readers

The Red Jacket Readers book club will discuss We Kept Our Towns Going, by Phyllis Michael Wong.

The book tells the stories of the Gossard Girls, women who sewed corsets and bras at factories in Ishpeming and Gwinn from the early twentieth century to the 1970s. As the Upper Peninsula’s mines became increasingly exhausted and its stands of timber further depleted, the Gossard Girls’ income sustained both their families and the local economy. During this time the workers showed their political and economic strength, including a successful four-month strike in the 1940s that capped an eight-year struggle to unionize. Drawing on dozens of interviews with the surviving workers and their families, this book highlights the daily challenges and joys of these mostly first- and second-generation immigrant women.

The book club is open to everyone.  The library has multiple copies of the book to check out, and it is also available for purchase in independent bookstores.

This event is sponsored by the Friends of the Calumet Public Library.
For more information, visit the library or call 337-0311 ext. 1107
(In case of bad weather, when school is cancelled, all library programs are canceled.)