Suzanne Goldenberg meets her, Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning. The crew invited her to watch them film a few scenes, and gave Jenson her own director's chair. United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, Hostile Advances: The Kerry Ellison Story, U.S. 8th Circuit Court of Appeals case documents, Class Action: What Happens When Employers Refuse To Remedy Sexual Harassment, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Jenson_v._Eveleth_Taconite_Co.&oldid=1142311149, Class Action: The Story of Lois Jenson and the Landmark Case That Changed Sexual Harassment Law (2003), This page was last edited on 1 March 2023, at 18:18. Five Square Stories. After a break, it resumed on May 22 and ended on June 13. In 1975, Lois Jenson, a single mother on welfare, heard that the local iron mine was now hiring women. Clint Austin/Forum News Service Jenson v Eveleth Mines In 1975, as a 27-year-old single mother, Lois Jenson began working at Eveleth Mines in Forbes. The retired federal magistrate permitted lawyers from the mine company to obtain medical records of all of the women for their entire lifetimes. In 1975, she was a single mother working to support her family. [4] The company was ordered to educate all employees about sexual harassment. This work was presented for display at Ellis Island. One woman was threatened with being thrown into the pit when she refused a co-worker's sexual advances. In the first ten volumes, every ten stories are preceded by a two-page illustration. As for the mine, litigation and negative publicity could have been avoided and millions of dollars saved if Oglebay Norton, Eveleth Mines, and the union would have addressed the womens complaints and taken steps to effectively rectify the situation and protect them. We will update this article soon. Proof of which you will find in their social accounts. Jenson's father, two brothers and a brother-in-law all worked in the mines. Podcast interview with Louis Jensen (in Danish). On her first real day on the job, she was working alone sweeping up dirt in an isolated section when a miner passed by. Lois Virginia Jensen Lois Jensen (1924 - 2006) Jump to: Biography Memories . The case was on its way to court again in 1998 when a deal was done. Among these women was a 27-year-old single mother named Lois Jenson. Dr. Lois A. Jensen is a preventive medicine physician in Chico, California and is affiliated with St. Joseph Hospital-Eureka.She received her medical degree from Tel Aviv University Sackler and . A federal court certified the case as a class action on behalf of all of the women who worked at the mine. In April 2006, the Hibbing, Minnesota, chapter of the American Association of University Women held a ceremony honoring the women workers at Eveleth Mines who filed the first class-action sexual harassment lawsuit. Well never share your email with anyone else, American Association of University WomenChapter and National Women's History MuseumHonor the Real Women of North Country, In April 2006, the Hibbing, Minnesota, chapter of the American Association of University Women held a ceremony honoring the women workers at Eveleth Mines who filed the first class-action sexual harassment lawsuit. Nooses were hung over work stations. Some of the women found semen deposited on their clothes when they returned to their lockers. Almost from the beginning, according to court documents, Ms. Jenson and other women were subjected to sexual. She had had enough, so she filed a complaint with the State Department of Human Rights in October of 1984. The rioting spread throughout the city (made worse by false rumors of attacks on blacks and whites) and resulted in the deployment of 6,000 Federal troops. Lois Jenson, on whom the character of Josey is based, actually began working at the EVTAC (from "Eveleth Taconite") mine in Eveleth, Minnesota, in 1975 and initiated her lawsuit in 1984, four years before the year in which the film begins. Jenson is believed to have been awarded close to $1m before taxes. She was a little more worldly than some of the other women. Lois A Jensen Lois Jensen (1910 - 2003) Jump to: Biography Memories . If you see something in this article that you think is incorrect, you can contact us to correct it. "New Versions of the Fantastic: Children's Books by the Danish Author Louis Jensen. Then in 1986, a few years before Lois Jenson (who inspired Charlize Theron's character in "North Country") brought her suit, the U.S. Supreme Court decided in favor of a bank employee who. One of the earliest and largest incidents of workplace activism occurred in 1836 when nearly 2,000 Lowell mill factory workers in Massachusetts went on strike, demanding better working conditions. Ahead of the trial, the plaintiffs endured long depositions that explored their personal lives in great detail. The eleventh and final book in the series, illustrated by Lilian Brgger and Maria Lundn, includes 134 pages of drawings, most of them in color. In most areas of the mine there were no bathroom facilities for women and the men and management took a deal with it attitude when the women complained, the men did not need bathrooms, why should the women. We will update this article soon. Experts say it's time to 'up our game', Eli Lilly plans to slash some insulin prices, expand cost cap, Utah Rep. Trevor Lee says 'government overreach' during COVID-19 led him to run for office, Storm's second wave heads for Utah, possibly adding 1-3 feet of mountain snow, Tank note: A high lottery pick may still be obtainable for the Jazz, Pennsylvania unseals search warrant in Idaho killings, Kobe Bryant family settles photo lawsuit for $28.5M, Greek stationmaster arrested in head-on train crash; 36 dead, Senator trying to change law that leaves Utahns with dead spouse's medical debt. He waited to speak until he was close to Jenson. ", For Jenson, the breaking point came in 1984 when, frustrated by the refusal of management or the union to intervene, she filed a complaint with the Minnesota human rights commission. We will update the name of Louise Jensons Brother soon. Where they would find themselves vulnerable to the men. "Talking to her gave me so much in terms of figuring out the complexities of the character. In 1975, Lois Jenson, a single mother on welfare, heard that the local iron mine was now hiring women. Following enactment of civil rights legislation, they seized the opportunity to be employed in jobs and industries that had traditionally been regarded as male occupations. Jenson v. Eveleth Taconite Co., 130 F.3d 1287 (8th Cir. He was kneeling over me. askART lists Lois Jensen in 0 of its research Essays. Your email address will not be published. Skyggebjerg, Anna Karlskov (2016). Severe droughts continued to hit the Great Plains and the dust storms devastated agricultural production as well as people's' lives for several years. Women that complained about the behavior would find themselves threatened or exiled to work in isolated parts of the plant. Now 57, she still lives in the Iron Range. Her character, though based on Jenson, borrows details from the lives of different women behind the suit - Jenson calls it a composite. National Women's History MuseumPresident Susan Jollie wrote a letter commending their efforts and the letter was read at the ceremony and each woman received a copy. Brgger began to add some color to the illustrations in the fourth book. Jenson says it was strange to watch a movie that resembled her story - and the story of the other female miners who were part of the class-action suit - but that also diverged from it. The numbers both indicate the scope of the 1001 story project, and, by identifying the order of the stories, they locate the reader precisely within it: "By assigning each story a unique place within the collection, the simple enumeration of stories places into tension the whole and the part, the general and the specific. Lois' immediate relatives including parents, siblings, partnerships and children in the Jenson family tree. The women who banded together to challenge the hostile environment at the Eveleth Mines are part of a long and proud tradition of women who have made America a better place to live. In 1943, at the age of only 9 years old, Lois was alive when on June 20th through June 22nd, the Detroit Race Riot erupted at Belle Isle Park. And in 1975 four women walked into the Eveleth Mines Forbes Fairlane Plant for the first time. Jenson remained disappointed with the lawyers for settling. Former miner Lois Jenson was the first woman to win a sex discrimination case in the US. "It was like a retraining process. The case was documented in the 2002 book Class Action and a 2005 fictionalized film version, North Country. Jenson first began working at the site in March 1975 and, along with other women, endured a continuous stream of hostile behavior from male employees, including sexual harassment, abusive language, threats, stalking and intimidation. Jenson took a job at the mines because it paid 3 times as much as she could earn anywhere else and she needed a job that would pay enough to support herself and her young son and provide benefits such as health care. "I'm close to the true story, but I'm hoping and I do think other people will understand how difficult it must have been to be artistic and to tell this story. According to Lise Kildegaard, these "ludic and lyrical" stories reveal Jensen's close observation of nature and his poetic appreciation of a world that combines in equal measure "familiarity and strangeness, commonplace reality and ecstatic vision. "I observed a scene at the Hippodrome (ice arena), a hockey scene, and I liked what I saw. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Our website offers detailed biographies of celebrities. We will update this article soon. Gyldendals Store Brnebogspris (Gyldendal's Major Children's Book Prize), 2009. Nrholm, Sara. The company agreed to adopt a sexual harassment policy but refused to pay any money. [15] In 2002, he was chosen by the Danish National Art Foundation to be included on the roster of 275 Danish artists who are awarded an annual stipend for their lifelong contributions to the arts and culture of Denmark. Lois Jenson didn't want a movie to be made of her life. The Mesabi Iron Range of northern Minnesota has the richest seam of ore on the planet, and the mines once produced almost all of America's iron and steel. Where was Lois born and where did she live? n the boxes of memorabilia that Lois Jenson keeps of her life as a miner there is a photograph showing a slim blonde woman almost completely obscured by grimy coveralls, hard hat, goggles and an innovation all her own: a bulky waistcoat. We are not allowed to share anyones data. Eveleth Mines was Jenson's employer. "Watching it, there were certain things that felt familiar," Jenson says. Script adaptation and directed by Vibeke Wrede, after an idea by Mie Brandt. Bookbird (54.4): 43. Updated: November 11, 2011 . The government should ban such obscene videos as it is wrong to tarnish ones image. It was intimidating.". "This was about sexual harassment and being able to go to work knowing you were going to come home safely, but also that you could go to work knowing that you would not be grabbed or raped, or have these verbal abuses," she says. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, women formed their own unions to better combat poor workplace situations, such as the Ladies Garment Workers Union and the Womens Trade Union League. The women were also a part of the union and it was unacceptable practice to rat on your union brothers, but as they women quickly found out, the union officials were also men and that fact superseded everything, even union loyalties. ", Skyggebjerg, Anna Karlskov. She also felt a sense of loss. Based on the square stories, translated by Lise Kildegaard. He described his mother's childhood in the biographically based book, "En historie om seks sstre" ("A story of six sisters," Gyldendal, 2009). She celebrates Her birthday in a big way and keeps sharing Her photos and videos on Her Twitter and Instagram, which Her followers like and comment on. becomes full It all came to a head in 1984 when Lois Jenson was stalked by a salaried co-worker who broke into her home and threatened her son. The stories were collected into volumes of 100 stories each; in 2016, he published his tenth volume of 100 stories, and an eleventh volume with a single, final story. Share highlights of Lois' life. "I don't like to take liberties and speak for the other women, but they had concerns as well, and, from what I've seen, I think (the movie people) listened," Jenson says. Now her 14-year battle has inspired a film, and could win Charlize Theron an Oscar. After school, Jenson took a secretarial job in what people here call "the cities" - Minneapolis and St Paul - 200 miles away. She had lost friends, worn out her family. Learn how and when to remove this template message, Nordic Council Children and Young People's Literature Prize, https://escholarship.org/uc/item/36x040bw, https://pubs.lib.uiowa.edu/iowareview/article/id/16142/, Kulturministeriets Brnebogspris (Danish Ministry of Culture's Children's Book Prize), "Prisbelnnet brnebogsforfatter rammer efter plet", "1001 firkanter--om Louis Jensens firkantede historier", "It's hip to be square: Louis Jensen 100 Meget Firkantede Historier", "2010 Hans Christian Andersen Awards Shortlist", "Louis Jensen: En historie om seks sstre (2009)", https://www.kristeligt-dagblad.dk/kultur/2014-10-21/og-de-nominerede-er-, https://ibbycongress2020.org/en/electives/hans-christian-andersen-award-nominees-2020/266-hans-christian-andersen-award-2020-nominees-illustrators-part-3, "Nordic Council Children's and Young People's Literature Prize 2014", https://www.youtube.com/user/365tekster/feed, http://ojs.statsbiblioteket.dk/index.php/passage/article/view/1413/1296, https://ir.uiowa.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=7123&context=iowareview, https://hopscotchtranslation.com/2022/05/08/keep-danish-weird/, https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/thebridge/vol37/iss2/11/, https://issuu.com/kunststyrelsen/docs/dlm_caya_spring_2017, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUgoX9EadRw&t=332s, http://whoop-dee-do.blogspot.com/search?updated-min=2011-01-01T00:00:00-08:00&updated-max=2012-01-01T00:00:00-08:00&max-results=13, https://www.ibby.org/fileadmin/user_upload/Louis_Jensen.pdf, http://politikenbogfolk.podbean.com/e/uge-9-frit-flet-prisvinder-louis-jensen/, http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/bkb/summary/v5046/46.3.rasmussen.html, http://bostontranslation.blogspot.com/2012/07/spectacular-square-stories-from-louis.html, https://itunes.apple.com/us/itunes-u/conversations-conversations/id407054074?mt=10, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q10Ld_8nP2w, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Louis_Jensen&oldid=1136173022, Bl kong serie (The blue king series): Dansklrerforeningen Forlag 2001, Drengen og kufferten serie [The boy and the suitcase series]: Dansklrerforeningen Forlag 2001, Engang var der serie (Once upon a time series): Dansklrerforeningen Forlag, 2002, Danskfidusen serie (Danish easy readers series): Dansklrerforeningen Forlag 2002. "I realised how vulnerable I was in that little room with no way out. Jenson quit working at the mine on January 25, 1992, and was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder a short time later. One woman found herself working at the top of a conveyor that was 6 blocks long and high above a pile of taconite. There she was surrounded by lush green farmland to the east and the majestic pacific coast on the west. She was born on January 12, 1981, in England, United Kingdom. "Square Stories." The women settled on New Years Eve 1997, but it was a hollow victory, many of the women were sick, exhausted, and bitter. "Fantastic Tales and Poetic Square Stories: Important Features in the Danish Author Louis Jensen's Literature for Children." Jenson is not in the movie, but she spent time on the set in Eveleth. 2008, 2009. In all these cases, women were confronting large companies run by men who did not want to change. Her family Children. so much in terms of figuring out the complexities the! 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