CALUMET, Mich. (WZMQ) – More than a century after she led miners through the streets of Calumet, Big Annie finally has a permanent place to stand.
Hundreds gathered today in downtown Calumet for the unveiling of a statue honoring Anna Klobuchar Clemenc, known as “Big Annie”, a towering six-foot-two labor activist who led strike marches during the 1913 Copper Country Strike. The statue, funded by community donors and backed by fifty business sponsors, stands at Calumet Greenspace Park and depicts Annie as she carried her flag through those very streets more than a hundred years ago.
She was the first woman inducted into the Michigan Women’s Hall of Fame in 1996.
U.P. Labor Federation Treasurer and bricklayer Brian Lantto says one detail about the statue’s foundation makes it especially meaningful. “The most unique thing about this project I think, is that we used 100 year old brick pavers from the old streets that Big Annie used to march on,” says Lantto. “We relayed them at the base of the statue, so around her are the same bricks that the parades used to take place on a century ago.”
Big Annie never returned to Calumet after the strike ended, but today, she’s home for good.
