Ring in the New Year with these events

Ring in 2016 with these Twin Cities events featuring two epic films about American workers and a “sock hop” to help the homeless.

Jan. 15: 10,000 Black Men Named George
The continuing “Labor Movie Night” film series kicks-off in 2016 with a drama about the 1920s effort to organize a union of the black sleeping car porters of the Pullman Railway Company. The film “10,000 Black Men Named George” (USA, 2002, 95 minutes, Rated ‘R’) will be screened Friday, Jan. 15, at 6 p.m. at the Minneapolis Labor Centre, 312 Central Ave., Suite 356.

The film is the powerful true story of the effort to organize what became the first black-controlled union, the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters. Working as a black porter for the Pullman Rail Company meant taking home one-third the pay of white employees and working some days for free. Asa Philip Randolph, a black journalist and socialist trying to establish a voice for these forgotten workers, agrees to fight for the Pullman porters’ cause and helps form the first black union in America. Livelihoods and lives would be put at risk in the attempt to gain 10,000 signatures of the men known only as “George.” Admission is free, donations welcome. “Labor Movie Night” is sponsored by AFSCME Local 3800, AFSCME Council 5, AFSCME Council 5 Next Wave, AFSCME Locals 34, 552, 607, 1164 and 2822, IBEW Local 292, Teamsters Local 638, UNITE HERE Local 17, East Side Freedom Library and Minneapolis Labor Review.

Jan. 17: Sock Hop Social Party
The East Side Freedom Library and The Class & The Arts Network are sponsoring a “sock hop” social party Sunday, Jan. 17, from 4 to 6 p.m. at the Freedom Library, 1105 Greenbrier St., St. Paul. All are welcome to this event, being held in conjunction with the Woolgathering Project, a group that collects socks for homeless people. Admission to the sock hop is one pair of socks to be distributed to homeless women, men and children.

Jan. 18: At the River I Stand
To mark the commemoration of the birthday of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the Saint Paul Regional Labor Federation and the East Side Freedom Library are sponsoring a free screening of “At the River I Stand,” the dramatic, hour-long documentary on the historic sanitation workers’ strike in Memphis, Tenn., in 1968. Marching under the banner, “I Am A Man,” they demanded a living wage, respect and the right to bargain collectively. It was during this struggle that Dr. King was assassinated. The screening will be Monday, Jan. 18, at 7 p.m. at the Freedom Library, 1105 Greenbrier Street, St. Paul. It is free and open to all.