May Day was first celebrated in the U.S. when, in 1886, 300,000 workers walked off their jobs to demand an eight hour workday.You may not know that because while many countries officially recognize the holiday, and almost all countries celebrate it, the U.S. spends May first celebrating Loyalty Day, and National Day of Prayer. Church State non-separation and blind patriotism are a lot more palatable than workers’ rights, humane working conditions, an eight hour work day and other radical notions.
So I say, viewers of the world, UNITE! Celebrate May Day by watching great movies about the workers’ movement. Here are the top 10 May Day movies.

1. Bread and Roses (2000) directed by Ken Loach and starring Pilar Padilla, Adrien Brody, Elpidia Carrillo, Jack McGee, is the story about an undocumented woman from Mexico who becomes involved in a campaign to unionize the janitors in a sleek Los Angeles high-rise.

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Our second installation of the TakePart Top 10 Weekly Roundup is here give you the very best of Katie, Nicole, Giulia, Gina and Kerry! More blogs means more to love this Valentine’s Day week, and more social action means a healthier and happier world for everyone. Check out our most popular posts of the week, as well as a few TakePart blogger favorites.

Katie:

5 Ways to Take Action and Get Action On Valentine’s Day

Top 10 Guilt-Free Valentine’s Day Jewelry Gifts: Show Your Valentine You Have a Heart

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Nicole:

Kiva: Microlending to Change Lives

Top 10 New Releases to Inspire Social Change

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Giulia:

Alicia Keys Uses Grammys to Help Keep a Child Alive

V-Day Celebrates Its 10 Year Anniversary!

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Gina:

Top 10 Movie Characters That Make A Difference

Art As Politics In “The Silence Before Bach”

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Kerry:

Tap Project Gets Donations Flowing For Safe Global Water

Levon Helms’ “Dirt Farmer” Wins Grammy Gold

Celebrate 10 years of V-Day on April 11 ” 12, 2008 with V-Day’s mega two-day anniversary celebration in New Orleans at the New Orleans Arena and Louisiana Superdome.

For two days, thousands of women and men will harness their collective energy to mobilize V-Day, the worldwide movement to end violence against women and girls into the next decade. On both Friday April 11 and Saturday April 12 folks can gather at SUPERLOVE , a place to heal, gather, protest, celebrate and activate to change the story of women! There will be story telling, great art, mural making, spoken word poetry, singers, dancers, rituals and marches.

Saturday night, April 12th audiences can witness V TO THE TENTH takes place This once in a lifetime event will feature international performances of The Vagina Monologues, musical guests, V-Day activists from across the globe including Kenya, Afghanistan, Iraq, The Philippines, Democratic Republic of Congo, Eastern Europe , men standing up for women and much more. The show will include notable guests such as Salma Hayek, Oprah Winfrey, Jane Fonda, Jessica Alba,

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Movies can do a lot of things, they can entertain us, they can educate us, they can take us somewhere new and now and then they can inspire us - they can tell stories about people who did what was right, who stood up and made a difference.

In that spirit, I give you a list of my Top 10 Movie Characters that Made a Difference. For this list I only used films made in the English language - I’ll work on a foreign film list soon. Some of the folks listed are based on real people, some are made up, some are successful in their ventures, some are not - either way, their efforts, their desire to set things right, is a difference in and of itself. Sometimes two characters in a movie worked together, so I listed both (but counted them as one) - this just goes to show how powerful working together can be.

So read on and let me know if I’ve missed one of your favorite inspirational characters - lucky for us movie-goers there are a lot out there.

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1. Gregory Peck as Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird - I first saw this as a child, as many people do, and it changed the way I looked at the world, as I’m sure it does for many people. The story of a daughter recollecting her father’s defense of a black man who has been wrongly accused of rape is a true testament to doing what’s right. A clear example of standing up against injustice and prejudice, Atticus Finch is every little girl’s hero (and should be!)

to learn more about the rights defendants have, regardless of resources.

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