Inheritance Matters

What comes to mind when you hear “Inheritance”? For most of us, it’s cash, a house, maybe a family heirloom.  I used to think I hadn’t inherited much at all—other than the basics like eye color, hair color, and blood type.

But this week, I realized I was wrong.

Passing It On
A colleague recently shared lyrics from a 1960s union song called Pass It On. I was struck by the words—carrying a truth that felt timeless:

Freedom doesn’t come like a bird on the wing
Doesn’t come down like the summer rain
Freedom, freedom is a hard-won thing
You’ve got to work for it, fight for it, day and night for it
And every generation has to win it again…

I wanted to know more. Who wrote this song? Who sang it? With a little digging, I found the answer—the song was featured in the 1964 documentary The Inheritance, sponsored by the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America for its 50th anniversary. Curious, I watched the film.

In less than an hour, it sweeps through the story of immigrant labor in America—Ellis Island arrivals, sweatshops, coal mines, textile mills filled with children, the Depression, the rise of unions, and the civil rights movement. Director Harold Mayer stitched together newsreels, photos, and folk songs to tell the story of working people fighting for dignity and safety.

And the voice singing Pass It On? A then-unknown, young Judy Collins.

Threads of the Past
The film reminded me of my own family’s story. In 1915, my grandmother, a 15-year-old orphan, worked long hours in a Rhode Island textile bleachery—hot, damp, and filled with dust and chemicals. Mills like hers depended on child labor, with kids as young as eight enduring dangerous 12-hour days, six days a week, for low wages—often at the cost of their health and schooling.

Decades later, my dad faced his own demanding work as a member of Asbestos Workers Local 25—working in sweltering power plants, in the frozen tundra of Alaska on the pipeline, and with asbestos that was only later revealed to cause serious disease.

Through years of struggle, organized labor and its allies fought for—and won—greater economic security, health, and safety for workers.

Labor Day at a Crossroads
This Labor Day arrives at a pivotal moment. Many of the protections workers fought so hard to win—like those secured during the New Deal—are being weakened or dismantled. Union rights are under pressure, with collective bargaining eliminated for federal workers at the VA, NASA, and beyond. Cuts to federal health and safety agencies, combined with ongoing deregulation efforts, threaten to put workers at greater risk on the job.

At the state level, some lawmakers are even trying to roll back child labor laws—laws originally created to end the exploitation of kids in mills and factories. Meanwhile, wages for millions of workers have not kept up with the rising cost of living. All of it is a stark reminder that unions and labor protections remain as essential today as ever.

The True Inheritance
At the end of The Inheritance, a father sits with his daughter, watching children sledding, and reflects:

“Sometimes I get thinking if I could only protect her from all the problems in this world—discrimination, poverty, war. But the best I can do is let her learn to be strong and stand up for a decent life. That’s her inheritance.”

Those words capture the essence of what’s passed from one generation to the next. The rights we inherit aren’t sealed in stone—they’re living, breathing promises. Each generation shapes fights for their time, and carries them forward.

This Labor Day, let’s remember: what we safeguard today becomes tomorrow’s inheritance. Pass it on.

Happy reading,
Suzanne Daniels

Enjoy the weekend!

Best,
Suzanne
Suzanne Daniels, Ph.D.
AEPC President
P.O. Box 1416
Birmingham, MI 48012
Office: (248) 792-2187
Email: [email protected]