The songbook, “Talking Union: Eight Union Songs of the Almanac Singers,” published by the New Theater League, accompanied the Almanac Singers’ 1941 album of the same name, as well as performances by the group before unions in New York City and across the country. The Almanacs introduced the song “Talking Union” on May 1, 1941 in Madison Square Garden in front of twenty thousand striking members of the Transport Workers Union (TWU), and were met with loud applause. “Talking Union” reflected the group’s preoccupation with writing songs for labor following their first album, the controversial anti-war, “Songs for John Doe.”

This image accompanies the audio recording of “Union Maid,” one of twenty songs you can listen to in the exhibit Labor Sings! Songs from the 1930s and 1940s, featuring highlights from the extraordinary compact disc collection by Ron Cohen and Dave Samualson, Songs for Political Action.