March 24, 2017 Hello ,
I'm still giving away copies of FANNIE NEVER FLINCHED, music by union singer ANNE FEENEY and a SKYPE AUTHOR VISIT. Next drawing is tonight at midnight. Click here to enter bit.ly/2nINvNk
So excited today to interview Author Kate Moore talking about courage, and her soon-to-be-released-in-the-US book THE RADIUM GIRLS: THE
DARK STORY OF AMERICA'S SHINING WOMEN.
Audio book cover shown below.
The Dark Story of America's Shining Women
|
Young women hired to paint glow-in-the-dark numbers on wristwatches in the 1910-20s were (in)dispensable to United States Radium, a manufacturer
of one of the hottest new products of the era.
'The first thing we asked was, “Does this stuff hurt you?” And they said, “No.” The company said that it wasn’t dangerous, that we didn’t need to be afraid.’
Catherine Donohue and co-workers died of that "stuff." Their
courage established a precedent that led to workers' rights to hold their employers accountable
when their job makes them sick.
I asked Kate Moore, what was it like to uncover the details of these women's fight for acknowledgement of their
suffering?
Kate Moore: "Well, it was extraordinary. And a real privilege – to feel like I was learning what they’d been through. It was particularly striking because for nearly a century no one had listened to their voices and words that were there in the archives all along. It was shocking to realize how cruelly they had been treated. It was sobering to uncover what they’d suffered physically. And it was inspiring to learn that despite all
this they never gave up fighting and were always there for each other." During the WWI U.S. Radium produced a high-tech paint containing radium called Undark which allowed U.S. soldiers to read their wristwatches and instrument panels at
night.
After the war the company used Undark to manufacture a variety of products from buckles on bedroom slippers to gasoline gauges.
While scientists began to learn more about the dangers of radium, the corporation continued to tell the public it was safe in small quantities.
But the factory women were exposed to much higher levels. Their clothing often glowed when they arrived home from work, and some women painted their fingernails with the fizzy, shining paint. When they began to sicken and die, nobody believed them
when they said Undark was killing them.
New hires at U.S. Radium, many of them teenagers, were trained to suck the tip of their paintbrush to achieve a fine point in order to coat radium on the tiny numbers of wrist watches.
Like clockwork, they painted hands and digits on some 200 watches faces a day at five cents a
piece.
The tiny amounts of radium they swallowed before painting each numeral acted like calcium stored away in their bones, except it didn't strengthen their bones, it diseased them, bombarding radiation throughout their bodies. Kate (shown at left) learned in her research that male lab technicians working in the very same company must have known something the women didn't. Company chemists often used lead screens, masks, and tongs when working with the
paint.
Five women won their lawsuit against the company in the 1930s, but they were shunned by neighbors, and forty years later men at the company still believed they women had been lying.
Below: Associate Press photo of Catherine, her husband Tom Donohue and their two
children. Kate
Moore: I tried to empathise with the women as deeply as I could. Their letters and interviews obviously give an incredible insight into them. So I did feel, as best I could, that I knew Catherine. I had to, in order to write her story.
There were two things that struck me.
The first was how ordinary she was, in a way: a mother, a wife, a friend. A woman who got lonely when no one could visit her in a distant hospital. A woman who got worried when her husband couldn’t find work.
The second, of course, was how extraordinary she was: the way she kept fighting for her children, her husband, her friends.
Catherine Donohue fainted in court when a doctor described how she had no hope of recovering from radium poisoning. Later lawyers visited her at home, as she testified from her deathbed. Photo below courtesy Chicago Daily Times. Kate Moore:The photographs of her from June 1938, shortly before her death, show how emaciated she was, yet her spirit burned so strongly inside her, despite the weakening of her body.
She was determined never to give up. Journalists talked of their surprise at the passion in her voice because of the frailty of her body. She fought to the death for this cause. Catherine said her faith sustained her. I think a lot of it was also to do with friendship. She had seen friends die from the
same cause that had made her sicken and I think she was determined to hold the company to account.
What these women went through physically was horrific: losing their teeth and jawbones, constantly pus-seeping mouths, broken limbs and backs, huge tumors. They were crippled and killed. And they knew the company was to blame. So I think the sheer injustice of it also
fired their courage.
Thank you, Kate! I appreciate you taking the time for an interview.
Five dial painters sued the Orange, New Jersey defense contractor for $250,000 each, but couldn't wait for the slow moving court system. They were dying.
After initial hearings in
1927, the women accepted a mediated settlement, $10,000 per woman, plus legal and medical expenses, and a $600 per year annuity for as long as they lived. U.S. Radium ended up paying few annuities. Here are some photos from my trip to Chatham University in Pittsburgh this week.
It's gratifying to talk about Fannie Sellins in the place where she did so much great work and
is remembered with great admiration.
And it's inspiring to meet young women like Atiya Irvin Mitchell, managing editor of the student news source Chatham Communiqué. Also a great pleasure to meet Barbara Barnes and Candi Kaplan of the Coalition of Labor Union
Women. The CLUW is America's only national organization for union women. Members speak out and work for equal pay, child and elder care benefits, job security, safe workplaces, affordable health care, contraceptive equity, and protection from sexual harassment and violence at work. On a final note, look at this room where the lecture was held. It's the daylight basement of the
administration building, originally the mansion home of the Andrew W. Mellon family. This room was Mr. Mellon's bowling alley and indoor swimming pool, believed to be one of the earliest indoor pools in the nation. The mansion was donated to Chatham University in 1941. I'm still giving away copies of FANNIE NEVER FLINCHED, music by union singer ANNE FEENEY and a SKYPE AUTHOR VISIT. Next drawing is tonight at midnight.
Please pass the word! I'd
be so grateful if you would copy the words in red and email to friends, post on Facebook or tweet.
Until next week... Have you read a great book? Tell me about it. Have a burning question? Let me know. If you know someone who might enjoy
my newsletter or books, please forward this e-mail. I will never spam you or sell your email address, you can unsubscribe below anytime with a single mouse click. To find out more about my books, how I help students, teacher and librarians, visit my website at www.MaryCronkFarrell.com. My best, Mary
Questions? Comments? Contact me at MaryCronkFarrell@gmail.com. Click here to subscribe to this newsletter. |
|
