The ceramics story belongs to workers as well as companies. An image of Hall decorators offers a close view of skilled production; a separate episode reveals women workers demanding better terms.
On March 23, 1910, women in several district potteries began a strike. By March 29 more than 600 had joined, according to the Museum of Ceramics.
What changed
The April settlement brought wage increases and a fifteen-minute lunch break at factories that lacked one. The women then formed the Ladies Independent Order of Pottery Workers of East Liverpool.
Read the photograph accurately
The Hall decorating photograph was made in 1937. It illustrates another moment in pottery work and is not evidence of the 1910 walkout.
