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June 12, 2023

At A Distance, Spring Is Green (2021) Episode 6

Allison Horrocks 00:00What does May Day mean to you? On Saturday, May 2, 2020, we gather together with community partners to talk about the history of Mayday, or International Workers Day. We began with a discussion of the erection of the first May pole in Massachusetts nearly 400 years ago. Then we talked about the events, Haymarket in Illinois in 1886. And came all the way up to the present with events that happened on May 1, 2020. We were joined for this discussion by two professors from UMass Lowell, Dr. Robert Forrant of the History department, and Dr. Elizabeth Pellerito, who's the director of the Labor Education Program. Because we held this program virtually, we recorded it through a platform called WebEx. You are going to hear varying degrees of audio quality that we've done our best to clean up for this recording. Thomas Morton is credited with the inspiration for the first May pole in what is today the United States. While living in what is now Quincy, Massachusetts. Morton worked with indigenous people to resurrect a tradition from his homeland England. Together they made an 80 foot pine May pole. Morton's story is a reminder that May Day is about the intersection and intertwining of two colors or two strands. Mayday is about the red. It is about labor protests and struggle. But it is also about the green, the rejuvenation that is supposed to come with spring. At this time of year that might feel especially poignant and difficult. In some ways more in story helps us to understand what Professor Forrant will talk about in just a moment. This first May pole did not go well. When this May Pole was completed in 1627, it was the start of a lot of problems for Morton in what would become the Massachusetts Bay Colony. He was ultimately evicted as many people were out of this colony. There was a kind of bacchanalian joy that came with the swirling of colorful strands around his maypole, the excitement of gathering and dancing after a long winter. This 80 foot pole was not ultimately welcomed, nor was his association with indigenous people in Merrymount, his colony. That's a great place to start with Mayday, because it has been and probably always will be contentious. So without further ado, Professor foreign to tell us more about May Day in the 19th century.