In January 1912, nine days after striking workers had shuttered the Merrimack River valley’s textile mills, Lawrence city police arrested seven strike leaders, including a Syrian-born tailor, whom they charged with conspiracy to dynamite the mills. Sam Marad stitches together a vivid tableau of that historic drama and its pivotal role in the famed nine-week “Bread and Roses” Strike. It’s a tale of turpitude with a surprising twist, a story that Sam has uncovered through his study of archival records, contemporaneous newspaper reports, and his family’s mementos of their Syrian ancestor, Farris Marad.

Sam Marad, a senior at The Governor’s Academy from Andover, is keen to learn about his family’s history. In his Advanced Placement U.S. History class last year, Sam chose to investigate his great-grandfather’s central role in the 1912 “Bread and Roses” strike of mill workers in Lawrence, MA.