In 1881, Black laundresses in Atlanta led a strike weeks before the International Cotton Exposition came to town, demanding compensation of $1 per dozen pounds of laundry. The Atlanta Washerwomen’s Strike of 1881 was the first successful interracial, organized labor strike of the post-Civil War era.

"The Wash" has been in the National New Play Network's Rolling World Premiere program, which led to productions in Atlanta, St. Louis and Chicago...