Le Messager Newspaper, Lewiston, Maine, April 23, 1937. Courtesy of the Maine State Library.
Le Messager Newspaper, Lewiston, Maine, April 23, 1937. Courtesy of the Maine State Library.
The mural artist, Judy Taylor, included Lewiston-Auburn's French language newspaper in this panel. The headline that she painted never actually appeared in the newspaper and in English means: "Brutal police attack on a painter yesterday in Auburn."
A majority of the shoe workers were French Canadian. All the factory owners were Anglo American. The English language papers in Lewiston-Auburn aligned with the local power structure in condemning the strike. Le Messager newspaper, pictured above, took a more balanced view in reporting the events.