Paterson Silk Strike comes to life at Haledon museum

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A Victorian house on Norwood Street, a rallying point for striking Paterson silk workers and organizers in 1913, was again the scene of union organizers exhorting workers to fight for better conditions.
Sarah Klee reenacts a speech from the balcony of the Botto House in honor of the 100-year anniversary of the 1913 Paterson

From their perch on the second-floor balcony, two women in long-sleeved white blouses and khaki-colored skirts and two men in suits delivered speeches to an audience in the street.

A hundred years ago, thousands of workers would assemble on Sundays to hear speeches during the five-month Paterson Silk Strike of 1913, which shuttered the city’s 300 or so silk mills.

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“The people who went out on strike were immigrants and they represented nine countries,” said Angelica Santomauro, director of the American Labor Museum/Botto House. “Yet, they never looked upon one another as different. They knew they had to stick together for the cause and they looked upon on one another as brothers and sisters.”

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