New labor history plaza highlights Soderstrom, AFL-CIO

A statue of Reuben Soderstrom, part of a new labor history plaza dedicated last week in front of the state AFL-CIO headquarters in Springfield, shows the advocate for labor and civil rights pointing skyward.Soderstrom, a state lawmaker who went on to become president of the Illinois State Federation of Labor and state AFL-CIO from 1930 to 1970, struck that pose as he campaigned in Mendota in 1920 from the back of a flatbed truck with then-vice presidential candidate Franklin D. […]