The series kicks off this year on Tuesday, April 21, at 7 p.m., with speaker Jeremy Brecher and "Meeting Today\'s Crisis: What We Can Learn from Labor\'s History" at Macalester College, Weyerhaeuser Chapel, 1600 Grand Avenue, Saint Paul.

Brecher is a historian whose books include Strike!, Globalization from Below, and, co-edited with Brendan Smith and Jill Cutler, In the Name of Democracy: American War Crimes in Iraq and Beyond . He has received five regional Emmy Awards for his documentary film work. He is a co-founder of WarCrimesWatch.org. This event is co-sponsored by the Minnesota Fair Trade Coalition.

On Tuesday, April 28, 7 p.m., at the Rice Street Branch Library, 1011 Rice Street, Saint Paul, Arnold Alanen presents "Morgan Park: Duluth, U. S. Steel and the Forging of a Company Town.” Alanen, a professor at the University of Wisconsin – Madison, creates a fascinating tour through the signature community of Duluth’s industrial past in Morgan Park: Duluth, U. S. Steel and the Forging of a Company Town. The book presents vivid portraits of Morgan Park, the formerly company-controlled town that now stands as a city neighborhood, and the U.S. Steel plant for which it was built.

Thursday, April 30, 7 p.m., brings the film "Twin Cities Assembly Plant: A Job and A Family," at the Merriam Park Branch Library, 1831 Marshall Avenue, Saint Paul. Since 1925, Ford Motor Company has operated a manufacturing plant on the banks of the Mississippi River in Saint Paul\'s Highland Park neighborhood, employing thousands of workers. This new documentary by the University of Minnesota Labor Education Service tells the history of the Twin Cities plant, United Auto Workers Local 879 and the community they created both inside and outside the factory.

After the premiere of the film, join in a panel discussion that will include local historian Brian McMahon, videographer Randy Croce and a Ford worker. This event is co-sponsored by UAW Local 879.

Untold Stories continues on Thursday, May 7, at 7 p.m., with poet Mark Nowak who reads from his new collection, Coal Mountain Elementary, and a performance and sing-along with the Twin Cities Labor Chorus at the Rondo Community Outreach Library, 461 North Dale Street, Saint Paul.

Coal Mountain Elementary is a singular, genre-defying treatise from one of America’s most innovative political poets, Coal Mountain Elementary remixes verbatim testimony from the surviving Sago, West Virginia miners and rescue teams, the American Coal Foundation’s curriculum for schoolchildren, newspaper accounts of mining disasters in China, and full-color photographs of Chinese miners by renowned photojournalist Ian Teh. After the reading, the Twin Cities Labor Chorus will present labor songs in honor of the 100th anniversary of the “Little Red Songbook.”

On Tuesday, May 12, 7 p.m., Untold Stories and the Labor Education Service Labor & Community Film Series present the documentary "Con el Toque de la Chaveta" and a discussion with El Lector author William Durbin at the Riverview Branch Library, 1 East George Street, Saint Paul. The film “Con el toque de la chaveta” (With a Stroke of the Chaveta) takes viewers into the cigar factories of Cuba to witness the tradition of ‘la lectura de tabaqueria,’ the collective reading of literature, while tabaqueros roll habanos.

This poetic documentary leaves one wondering where to draw the line between ‘worker’ and ‘intellectual.’ After the film, award-winning author William Durbin discusses his recent young adult novel, El Lector, in which the thirteen-year-old protagonist Bella wants to be a lector, just like her grandfather.

On Wednesday, May 13, 7:30 p.m., at the Labor Centre, 411 Main Street, Saint Paul, join Minnesota high school students as they present their labor-related original displays, performances and films for History Day, on the topic of “The Individual in History: Actions and Legacies.” The program promotes the study of history by engaging students and teachers in the excitement of historical inquiry and creative presentation. Watch labor history come alive with these imaginative projects.

Untold Stories favorite Dave Riehle presents his annual labor tour on Saturday, May 16, 2 p.m., beginning at the Merriam Park Branch Library, 1831 Marshall Avenue, Saint Paul. Local historian Riehle leads a Teamster Strike Tour, commemorating the 75th anniversary of the 1934 strikes in Minneapolis. Space is limited, so please call The Friends at 651-222-3242 to reserve your seat on the bus. There is an optional Minneapolis start location at 2:30 p.m., at Central Library, by the bust stop on 3rd Street toward Hennepin. This event is co-sponsored by the Library Foundation of Hennepin County.

Untold Stories closes on Wednesday, May 20, 7 p.m. with a panel on the 1934 Teamster Strikes, at the Dayton’s Bluff Branch/Metropolitan State University Library, Ecolab Room, 645 East Seventh Street, Saint Paul. Join a panel of speakers for a discussion commemorating the 1934 Teamster Strikes, on the 75th anniversary. Panelists include Ben Fisher, currently working on a graphic novel about the strikes. This event is co-sponsored by Metropolitan State University.

Untold Stories events are free and open to the public. For more information, visit www.thefriends.org or call 651-222-3242.

Untold Stories is coordinated by The Friends of the Saint Paul Public Library. Co-sponsors include Coffee House Press, Library Foundation of Hennepin County, Macalester College History Department, the Department of Social Sciences at Metropolitan State University, Micawber\'s Books, Minnesota Association of Professional Employees, Minnesota Fair Trade Coalition, Saint Paul Area AFL-CIO Trades and Labor Assembly, Saint Paul Labor Speakers Club, Twin Cities Labor History Society, UAW Local 879 and the University of Minnesota Labor Education Service. This series is supported by an endowment created with grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and The Saint Paul Foundation.