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The Children of the Keweenaw explores the human impact of a single, unexpected, tragic event -- specifically, the "Italian Hall disaster" of 1913, chronicled in newspapers and newsreels around the world and in Woody Guthrie's famous song. 74 people, 60 of whom were children and young adults, died in a stampede during a Christmas Eve party for the families affiliated with the Western Federation of Miners (WFM) who were striking against the Lake Superior copper mining companies. Many accounts of survivors describe a man, or men, who cried "Fire!," causing the stampede. But other stories survive as well, describing everything from explicit murder of children by "deputies," to a simple linguistic misunderstanding leading to a terrible accident. Neither a formal inquiry by the U.S. Congress nor a local coroner's inquest were able to arrive at a single clear account of what happened. But as I began to talk to elderly people in the community and descendents of victims and survivors of the party, I was moved by the passion that survived as they shared their stories. And I became sure that this disaster had touched every person and every family deeply, and that the divisions of that time, among ethnic groups, religions, classes, and between labor and management, striker and scab, had prevented a complete mourning by the entire community of those who were lost.
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