The steel was hard. The racism was harder. Meet the workers who broke both.
This documentary focuses on the Civil Rights Movement in the heavily segregated steel industry and its equally segregated union, The United Steelworkers of America (USWA), at the time when this industry—devastated by mismanagement and global competition—began to crumble. It is a powerful picture of black working-class life in the latter part of the 20th century, told in a combination of interviews and documentary footage. Through live testimonials and revelatory archival materials, Struggles shows the contributions of African Americans to the steel industry and to the labor movement more generally. (via cinema.indiana.edu)
Acting
Raymond Henderson's firsthand testimony—raw, unpolished, unforgettable.
Direction
Buba's working-class Pittsburgh roots bleed through every frame.
Editing
Archival footage woven like a scar—visible, necessary, lived-in.
Director
Raymond Henderson
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Tony Buba spent 15 years making this after his own mill closed—it's basically autobiographical grief work.
The USWA's eventual integration came only after federal pressure and Black caucus organizing—this film preserves that ugly, non-inevitable process.
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