2010.54.16049

Bread And Roses
1974
28.875 in HIGH x 22.875 in WIDE
(73.34 cm HIGH x 58.1 cm WIDE)
All Of Us Or None Archive. Gift of the Rossman Family.
2010.54.16049

"(c) 1974 Bread & Roses Bookshop, 273 South First Street, San Jose, California 95113" followed by the Printing Pressmen and Assistants union label, all in black centered on the bottom edge. "$1.50" handwritten in pencil on verso top left corner.

Poster has black text and black and pink images printed on beige paper. Image centered at the top shows a group of women in identical dresses and shawls holding a large banner that reads "We Want Bread And Roses Too" along with alternating "I.W.W" and "Strike" signs. Below the image, to the left and right, is the poster text. Two columns of a poem titled "Bread And Roses". Pink roses intermingled with stems of grain enclose the text and image at the left, right, and bottom.

Bread and Roses Bookshop was an important alternative presence in the San Jose area. It was founded in 1972 by James Robert "Bob" Lindsay, a Communist Party member and labor organizer, and his wife Barbara Sterne. Originally, the bookstore was near San Jose State College, where some progressive professors ordered their textbooks through the store and students came by to hear political speakers and authors. The store moved several times, always farther away from campus and the town center where students and walk-in customers could support it. Eventually the bookshop closed in 1992 because of Bob''s poor health and the store''s low profitability. [LMC]
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