[Postal Workers’ Washington DC Protest]

In this footage, JoAnn Elam follows postal workers during a protest that their unions organized in Washington, D.C., in the late 1970s. Prominently featured are signs from representatives of the American Postal Workers Union (APWU) and the National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC), of which Elam was a member. Following the daytime protests, Elam also films a parade with a marching band, representatives from Kansas and Puerto Rico, and a float for the Chicago NALC chapter. This film appears to contain footage edited out (and vice versa) of ” [Postal Workers’ Washington DC Protest] ” (F.2011-01-0047).;JoAnn Elam worked as a letter carrier in Chicago at the time and this footage testifies to her involvement in the postal workers’ labor movement. Elam also collected a large number of print material related to postal workers, from articles about their difficult work conditions during Chicago’s harsh winters and their negotiations with the administration to documents about the history of the American post office and comic strips featuring letter carriers interacting with the people they serve. Before her death, Elam had also spent several decades working on an unfinished film devoted to letter carriers and titled Everyday People (1979-1990).