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  • roig roig @lemmy.world
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    Frida Kahlo (1907 - 1954) Frida Kahlo, born on this day in 1907, was a Mexican artist and revolutionary communist known for her folk-art inspired style paintings, touching on themes on gender,...

    Frida Kahlo (1907 - 1954)

    Sat Jul 06, 1907

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    --- Frida Kahlo, born on this day in 1907, was a Mexican artist and revolutionary communist known for her folk-art inspired style paintings, touching on themes on gender, race, class, self-perception, indigenous culture, and chronic pain.

    Although she had always sketched as a hobby, she did not consider visual art as a career until a severe bus accident at the age of eighteen left her bedridden for three months and with a lifetime of chronic pain. Confined to her bed, Kahlo's mother provided her with a specially-made easel, which enabled her to paint while lying down.

    With a mirror placed such so that she could see herself, Kahlo began to paint self-portraits, stating "I paint myself because I am often alone and I am the subject I know best".

    Inspired by Mexico's popular culture, she employed an accessible, folk art style. In 1943, Kahlo accepted a teaching position at the Escuela Nacional de Pintura, Escultura y Grabado, the "La Esmeralda." She encouraged her students to treat her in an informal and non-hierarchical way and taught them to appreciate Mexican popular culture and folk art, and to derive their subjects from the street.

    Frida Kahlo was a member of the Mexican Communist Party and committed to radical anti-capitalism throughout her entire adult life. In 1951, she stated:

    "I have a great restlessness about my paintings. Mainly because I want to make it useful to the revolutionary communist movement...until now I have managed simply an honest expression of my own self...I must struggle with all my strength to ensure that the little positive my health allows me to do also benefits the Revolution, the only real reason to live."

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  • roig roig @lemmy.world
    BOT
    March of the Mill Children (1903) The March of the Mill Children was a three-week trek from Philadelphia to New York by striking child and adult textile workers, led by Mother Jones, launched on...

    March of the Mill Children (1903)

    Tue Jul 07, 1903

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    Image: Mother Jones surrounded by striking child mill workers. Source: Library of Congress [zinnedproject.org]

    --- The March of the Mill Children was a three-week trek from Philadelphia to New York by striking child and adult textile workers, led by Mother Jones, launched on this day in 1903. At the time, approximately one out of six children under the age of sixteen were employed, according to the 1900 census.

    The march began when Mother Jones tried to get newspapers to report on the conditions of child workers and they informed her that they would not run the stories about child labor because of the mill owners holding stock in the papers. Jones replied "Well, I've got stock in these little children and I'll arrange a little publicity."

    The march successfully won that publicity, bringing national attention to the plight of working children. On July 29th, Jones and fellow marchers arrived at Roosevelt's Sagamore Hill summer home, where he refused to meet with them.

    Although the strike was initially a failure, it galvanized support for anti-child labor laws to be passed on the national level, which finally occurred with the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938.

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