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Struggles in Steel
Tony Buba/Ray Henderson | USA | 1995 | 80 min. | documentary

When a local television station did a program about the closing of a major steel mill in Duquesne, outside of Pittsburgh, Ray Henderson, a former mill employee who had worked there for 15 years, couldn't help notice that not one black worker was shown. This despite the fact that African-American workers had formed a critical part of the labor force in western Pennsylvania for 125 years. With his old friend and independent filmmaker Buba, Henderson set out to collaborate on a history of African-Americans and their contributions not just to the steel industry, but to the labor movement itself. Through eloquent living witnesses and revelatory archival footage, Struggles in Steel presents a striking counterpoint to the stereotypical black male image.

DIRECTED AND PRODUCED BY: Tony Buba and Ray Henderson
CINEMATOGRAPHERS: John Rice, Billy Jackson, John Bick

Original language is English

New York Premiere, 1996 Human Rights Watch Festival. Distributed by Braddock Films Inc., 215 Fifth Street, Braddock, PA 15104, Tel: (412) 351-4808 Fax: (412) 351-4442.

Tony Buba (right)
Tony Buba is an active award-winning independent filmmaker and lifelong resident of Braddock, Pennsylvania. He has been directing since 1974. Lightning over Braddock: A Rustbowl Fantasy, was nominated as best first feature film by the Independent Feature Project/West, and voted Best Film at the Birmingham International Film Festival in England. The film played in theaters, museums, and film festivals across the country.

Buba's one-person shows include the Museum of Modern Art, Whitney Museum of American Art, the Carnegie in Pittsburgh, and more than 100 universities and museums. His awards include two NEA Fellowships, Guggenheim Fellowship, Rockefeller Fellowship, and many more.

Ray Henderson (left)
Raymond Henderson is a former steelworker who had 18 years of service in the Duquesne mills when the plant shut down. During his years in the mill, he was a grievance man, active in the civil rights movement and constantly working to establish equal rights for his co-workers. He began taking oral histories from African-American steelworkers in 1987. A long-time community activist, Henderson was Board President of the local NAACP chapter for 12 years. He also worked as a child advocate in the schools and as an outreach worker for Victims of Violent Crime.

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HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL