Joey La Neve DeFrancesco is a public historian, organizer, and musician based in Providence, Rhode Island. He runs the labor history program at Slater Mill Museum and is a member of the band Downtown Boys.
The music industry is making money hand over fist, but life for average musicians remains incredibly precarious. But musicians aren’t temporarily embarrassed millionaires — they’re workers. And like any other worker, the solution to their problem is collective organizing.
This week 194 years ago, Rhode Island textile workers waged the first factory strike in US history. It was organized by young women.