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Americans have recognized black history annually since 1926, first as
"Negro History Week" and later as "Black History Month." What you might not
know is that black history had barely begun to be studied—or even
documented—when the tradition originated. Although blacks have been in
America at least as far back as colonial times, it was not until the 20th
century that they gained a respectable presence in the history books. Established
Journal of Negro History Woodson chose the second week of February for Negro History Week because it marks the birthdays of two men who greatly influenced the black American population, Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln. Firsts in Black Labor History
African American Labor History Africana.com: Labor Unions in the United States (Wayback Machine copy) Black Workers Remember — by Jacqueline Jones, The American Prospect, vol. 11, no. 15, June 19 - July 3 2000. The Power of Remembering: Black Factory Workers and Union Organizing in the Jim Crow Era — by Michael Honey, Organization of American Historians, 3/13/2001
Africana.com:
Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters Biographical Notes on A. Philip Randolph, 1889 - 1979 Africana.com: Asa Philip Randolph A. Philip Randolph - Biography — African American Publications; free registration required A. Philip Randolph Pullman Porter Museum - Union History Biographical Notes on Bayard Rustin, 1912 - 1987 Bayard Rustin - Biography — African American Publications; free registration required Brother Outsider: The Life of Bayard Rustin — PBS Brother Outsider: The Life of Bayard Rustin — Bayard Rustin Film Project Biographical Notes on Norman Hill Coalition of Black Trade Unionists William Lucy — founder and president of CBTU; International Secretary-Treasurer of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. Nelson "Jack" Edwards — United Automobile Workers organizer and first national treasurer of CBTU. Cleveland Robinson — President of District 65 Distributive Workers of America and first elected vice president of CBTU. Charles Hayes — International Vice President of United Food & Commercial Workers; first trade unionist ever elected to Congress (1983-1993); CBTU's first executive vice president. William H. Simons — President of Washington Teachers Union, Local 6; past vice president of the American Federation of Teachers; CBTU's first elected national secretary Isaac Myers, 1835-1891 — organized the Colored National Labor Union, first national black labor organization, in 1869 African American Miners in the United Mine Workers of America Benjamin H. Fletcher — African American labor organizer. In 1913, Fletcher organized black dock workers into the Marine Transport Workers Union in Philadelphia under the Industrial Workers of the World. The Story of Hosea Hudson: Lessons of a "Black worker in the deep South" still loom large — Communist Party member and CIO organizer in the 1930's Biography and Papers of Ernest Calloway, 1909-1989 — African American political activist and labor organizer, president of St. Louis NAACP. James Rapier — organizer for the Colored National Labor Union (Illinois Education Association/Wayback Machine copy) Earl George — first African American president of a union local in Washington State (ILWU Local 9); helped found the National Negro Labor Council in 1951.
Coleman Young, 1918-1997 — organizer and director for the Congress of
Industrial Organizations' United Public Workers in 1946; helped form the
National Negro Labor Council and served as the organization's only national
organizer; first African American mayor of Detroit. (Illinois Education
Association/Wayback Machine copy)
Rosina Tucker, 1881-1987 — founder and secretary-treasurer of the
International Ladies' Auxiliary and a force in the establishment of its
parent organization, the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters.
Lucy Parsons, 1853-1942 — Industrial Workers of the World leader Maida Springer-Kemp: Pittsburgher instrumental in labor unions in Africa — by Yevette Richards, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 2/28/2000. International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union organizer in the 1930s; first African-American business agent in the ILGWU; first African-American woman to represent the AFL internationally. Minnesota African American Labor History African-Americans in unions: Working towards power — by Mark Gruenberg, Workday Minnesota Frank Boyd — one of the founders of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters. Charles James — president of the St. Paul Trades & Labor Assembly in 1902. Nellie Stone Johnson — organizer and first female vice president of the Minneapolis Hotel and Restaurant Workers Union Local 665. Paul Robeson 1898-1976 — This educational packet contains considerable material on the singer's support of African American labor struggles, including the National Labor Conference for Negro Rights Frederick Douglass — abolitionist and vice president of the National Colored Labor Union in 1868. (Illinois Education Association/Wayback Machine copy) The Black-Labor Alliance: Strengthening the Partnership for Economic Justice by Tom Donahue, AFL-CIO League of Revolutionary Black Workers — by A.Muhammad Ahmad. African-American labor organization formed in Detroit in the 1960s Black Workers and the Labor Movement — Chapter 7 from Introduction to Afro-American Studies: A Peoples College Primer by Dr. Abdul Alkalimat Charleston on the Black Waterfront — by Howard Zinn, 1/20/2001: "Just after the Civil War, black dockers in Charleston and Savannah Georgia struck for wages and against a poll tax. The Charleston men had formed their own union, the Longshoremen’s Protective Union Association. ..." Atlanta Washerwomen's Strike — 1881 strike by the Washing Society, an association of African American washerwomen in Atlanta, GA.
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