How the Program Came About
The idea for Struggles In Steel began with Raymond Henderson, an ex-steelworker who had toiled for 18 years before his mill, Pittsburgh's Duquesne, shut down. During those years, Ray served as a "grievance man," was active in the civil rights movement and was constantly working for equal rights for his co-workers.
When a local TV station aired a documentary about steelworkers who had lost their jobs and never once made reference to the African-Americans among them, Ray was outraged. For Ray, that program negated the very important, valuable contributions that African-American men and women had made to the steel industry.
He called his friend, award-winning local filmmaker Tony Buba, to discuss ways in which they might be able to set the record straight. They wrote letters to the TV station and the newspapers but did not get a satisfactory response. Ray then suggested that they make their own program and Tony agreed. Henderson and Buba based much of the factual history on the landmark book Out of the Crucible: Black Steelworkers in Western Pennsylvania, 1875-1980 by Dennis C. Dickerson, Ph.D., who also served as associate producer, scriptwriter and consultant.
Struggles In Steel has had a national PBS broadcast and has played at major film festivals around the country including Sundance, Philadelphia Festival of World Cinema, ASPENFEST and Human Rights Watch International Film Festival at Lincoln Center in New York City. Struggles In Steel has also been shown at film festivals in Africa, France and Italy.