Image via Wikipedia
Under President Franklin Roosevelt the RFC (Reconstruction Finance Corporation) provided the financial underpinning of the New Deal. Jesse Jones was the brains behind the operation. As head of the RFC he was the most powerful fiscal officer since Alexander Hamilton….More>>
Image via Wikipedia
A.P. Giannini, the son of immigrants, loaned to immigrants when other bankers refused. In the 20th Century he built a vast Western banking empire, fueling California’s growth, and created a national system of branch banks to serve ordinary people. When most banks closed at 3pm, Giannini kept his banks open until nine or ten at night for workers.
After a disastrous earthquake and subsequent fires levelled much of his hometown San Francisco in 1906, Giannini created new confidence. He set up a temporary bank immediately, collecting deposits, making loans, and proclaiming to all that San Francisco would rise from the ashes. Then he made it happen… More>>
Posted in Biography, California, Essays, History, San Francisco
Tagged A.P. Giannini, California, San Francisco
Image via Wikipedia
Highlander has provided training and education for the labor movement in Appalachia and throughout the Southern United States. During the 1950s, it played a critical role in the American Civil Rights Movement. It trained civil rights leader Rosa Parks prior to her historic role in the Montgomery Bus Boycott, as well as providing training for many other movement activists including Martin Luther King, Jr., James Bevel, Bernard Lafayette, Ralph Abernathy and John Lewis in the mid- and-late 1950s. Listen to an NPR story about the school…
Bridges became the leader of San Francisco’s beleaguered dock workers and helped found the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU). In the 1934 maritime strike, Bridges displayed his steadfastness by surviving relentless slanderous attacks on his character and principles, which in turn inspired broad numbers of port workers to follow his leadership… More>>
Image via Wikipedia
Posted in Biography, California, Essays, History, Labor, Politics, San Francisco
Tagged Harry Bridges, International Longshore and Warehouse Union, Labor, San Francisco
BBC In Our Time The Guardian Talking Points Memo The Intercept France24 Media Matters For America Currently Reading Recently Read
