Our thirteenth pack of free fonts designed by the artists and cooperative members of Justseeds. This installment includes two labor movement derived fonts, Dual Unionist and Green Bans, both adapted by Shaun Slifer.
From Shaun:
“After the tumult of the Mine Wars era in Appalachia (1900-1921) and the treason trials that followed, the power of the United Mine Workers union (UMWA) declined tremendously, but later surged forward under the autocratic leadership of John L. Lewis. Many Leftist UMWA district presidents, folks who had originally built the power of the union, were forced by Lewis to resign and some formed the Reorganized United Mine Workers of America in 1930. This dissident union intended to oust Lewis and return district elections to the union rank and file. Frank Keeney and Fred Mooney, militant union leaders from the southern West Virginia coalfields who were principal actors during the Mine Wars era and the 1921 Battle of Blair Mountain, spearheaded this new union. This dual union lasted only a couple of years, later becoming the Progressive Miners of America (PMA) and gaining support from the American Federation of Labor (AFL), but today only the UMWA exists.
This font is derived from a hand-penciled flyer from 1930 (maker and provenance unknown) on exhibit in the West Virginia Mine Wars Museum, advertising a rally in Ward in Kanawha County, West Virginia. It is the only known poster of its kind.”
“Green Bans is taken directly from Pat Fiske’s 1985 film Rocking the Foundations, about the Green Bans led by the Builders Labourers Federation in Australia in the first years of the 1970s. The BLF, a progressive construction workers’ trade union, refused to work on development projects that local residents opposed, with particular focus on potential construction projects with negative environmental impact and those which would destroy existing urban communities. My friend Sam Wallman, who is busy making some of the wildest pro-labor political comics out there right now, told me that he credits this film as one of his earliest radical influences. I pulled these letterforms from screenshots of title cards throughout the film. You can watch the entire film here.”
All fonts are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International license (CC BY-SA). This Creative Commons license means that these fonts can be used, shared, and adapted; attributed when appropriate; and any adaptations must fall under the same license. This license enables reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format. If you remix, adapt, or build upon the material, you must license the modified material under identical terms.
These fonts can be used for activist projects of all sorts. These fonts can be used for liberatory social and cultural productions. These fonts are not for sale and must be shared freely.
These fonts are part of the Justseeds Open Type Project.
Justseeds Opens Type Project fonts are free! If you use fonts from the Justseeds Open Type Project and would like to donate, any donated money will go to the Justseeds general project fund. These donations help us fund art donations to political groups that are used for benefits and fundraisers, as well as special projects & site specific actions by Justseeds members and allied organizations. Any amount is appreciated. PayPal link here.
