Struggles in Steel
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
Tony Buba
John Bick
Tony Buba
Tony Buba
Tom Dubensky
Wayne Gaines
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
Ray Henderson was outraged when a local television station did a program about the closing of a major steel mill just outside Pittsburgh. Henderson, who had worked for eighteen yeras at the mill was angry that the images and the voices of a significant group of workers were absent. No blacks appeared on the program, even though African American workers had formed a critical part of the labor force in Wetsren Pennsylvania for 125 years. A civil-rights worker and fighter for equal rights on the job, Henderson approached his white school friend, Tony Buba, now a noted independent filmmaker, to collaborate on a history to recognize the contribution of blacks to not only the steel industry, but to the development of solidarity itself. Buba and Henderson began interviewing black steelworkers, including some women, who had experienced and continually fought the deep racism pervading both the industry and the union. The mills were not segregated until 1974!
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Miscellaneous Notes
Released in United States Winter January 1, 1996
Shown at Black Harvest International Film and Video Festival at School of the Art Institute of Chicago July 1996.
Shown at Contemporary African Diaspora Film Festival in New York City November 28 - December 14, 1997.
Shown at Human Rights Watch International Film Festival in New York City (Walter Reade) June 12-27, 1996.
Shown at Sundance Film Festival (American Spectrum) in Park City, Utah January 18-28, 1996.
16mm from videotape
b&w and color
Released in United States Winter January 1, 1996
