16 Tons is one of the more popular songs associated with the American Labor Movement. The song mentions a lot of the aspects about the movement in a catchy way. This made it very easy for people to remember the song lyrics. | To view a PDF about ALM child labor art, click here. "I've Been Working on the Railroad" and songs like it helped workers to pass time as they endured hard labor. |
Below is Harold Lehman's Railroad Repair (1943) Even though officials discouraged political sentiments in New Deal murals, Harold Lehman empathized with laborers by including union buttons on workers’ caps.