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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 2, 1985)
Page 2, Portland Observer, January 2, 1985 Black history: Unions lead civil rights struggles Are You Tired of the Scary Curl, the Four Day Curl or the Now You See It. Now You Don't Curl? N E W B R U N S W IC K - Solemn seas of marchers on the roads to Sel ma, M ontgom ery and Washington; grotesquely twisted faces o f hecklers, spitting out hatred; bull-necked sher iffs and snarling police dogs; the sub lim e candences o f M a rtin Luther King. These are am ong the most vivid memories o f the civil rights explosion o f the early l96Os However, few may recall another force that energized the racial drama from o f f stage: the thousands of Black men and women from the ranks o f organized labor who engineered many o f the great marches and ra l lies and provided potent political in fluence for the civil rights cause. Indeed, Black la b o r’ s war on in justice predates the C ivil W ar — yet has been largely overlooked by his torians. The new A fro -A m e ric a n labor A rch ive at Rutgers U n iversity has rescued the Black w orker fro m un warranted obscurity. Located in Alex ander Library on the New Brunswick campus, the growing resource is the first comprehensive collection de voted solely to the history o f Black labor in America. “ U n til now , there has been no real systematic archival approach to A fro -A m e ric a n labor h istory,” ac cording to Joseph W ilson, an assist ant professor o f A frican a studies at Rutgers and (he director of the proj ect. “ Here, we have begun to locate, preserve and make accessible to schol ars all m a teria l relating to Black w orkers in the U .S . afte r the C ivil W a r ,” he explains. "T h e re w ill be particular emphasis on labor and civil rights, B lack-w h ite labor relations, working conditions for Blacks, and the position o f Black workers in the hierarchies o f the various trade unions.” The State University o f New Jersey collection includes the papers o f prom inent Black union leaders, as well as a host o f photographs and documents from various unions and labor organizations. One o f the most fascinating treasures of the archives is a series o f 240 audio recordings of meetings held fro m 1940-55 by the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, the famed pioneering Black union. D r. W ilson says that the Black labor m ovem ent has deep roots in A m erican history. “ A movement existed as far back as the age o f slav e r y ," he says. "T h e re were at least 230 docum ented slave revolts, and countless sitdown strikes. “ A fter the C ivil W ar, the Knights of labor attempted to organize Black workers in the N o rth and South, then-presidential cand idate, votes which were vital in that extrem ely tight electoral contest. O ther organizations represented in the collection include Fightback, which has battled fo r fa ir hiring in the construction industry; the Negro American Labor Council, organized by Randolph in the late 1950s, which pressured against discrim ination in industrial plants; and its successor, the C oalition o f Black trade U n io n ists, which Wilson calls the most visi ble force in Black labor today. The private papers of many prom inent Black labor leaders are, or are expected to be. part o f the Rutgers archive — men such as Hosea H u d son, James H a u g h to n , Ernest Thompson and Hilliard Ellis. "Rght Or Ba Slavas'* - Member« of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, the first successful Black labor union In the U.S.. proudly dis play their banner at a 1966 ceremony celebrating the organization's 30th anniversary. but these efforts eventually failed ,” W ilson points out. " I t wasn’ t until the emergence of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters after World War I that another successful effo rt was made.” The success o f the Porters, estab lished in 1925, was in large measure due to its fo un der, A . P h ilip R an dolph. some o f whose papers are in the Rutgers collection. “ R andolph was a fo rm id ab le , charism atic fig u re ,” says W ilson. “ W ith much opposition fro m the Pullman Company, he traveled across the national organizing the porters. He was a lifelong Socialist, founder of the radical Black Newspaper, The Messenger — later the voice o f the Porters — and generally championed the cause of oppressed people every where, regardless o f nationality or ed M artin Luther King to become in volved with the S C L C and with the M ontgom ery bus boycott o f 1957, which really launched his civil rights career. “ M ost people id en tify Ihe civil rights movement solely w ith the church,” W ilson adds. “ But labor was the cornerstone. It was Randolph who chaired the famous 1963 march on Washington, and it was largely the labor rank and file who organized the march and raised the funds for it.” Wilson says that Black labor lead ers influenced John F. Kennedy to make his celebrated telephone call in support o f King in I960 — and that the unions subsequently mobilized substantial Black backing for the Ellis is a particularly flam boyant figure. Having seen his blacksmith fa ther lynched by the Ku Klux Kian, he became a committed radical and rose to become president o f a United Auto Workers local in Illinois. While fight ing for his fellow workers, the fear less E llis defied both racists in the A F L -C IO and hoodlums in C h ica go’s organized underw orld. An ex boxer, he always carried two .38 cali ber revolvers under his jacket. He still serves as an unofficial U A W ad viser, according to Wilson. “ M uch more w ork has yet to be done, however,” he cautions, “ par ticularly in securing Black repre sentation on the national council o f the A F L -C IO . A great deal must also be done to improve the lot o f Black working women. W omen in general earn about 40 to 60 percent o f what men earn fo r the same jobs. Black women are at the b otto m o f that scale." WHIPS AND WAVES 4 8 0 N.E. Union Ph. 2493800 AND GET YOUR HAIR TOGETHER r*-' Curt................................35.00 Cuts................................ 10.00 Press ft Curts.................15.00 Facial.............................. 15.00 ACR Nai....................... 30.00 Makeup......................... 15.00 Colore............................. 25.00 Trrts................................17.00 Although the original playing cards came from 10th century AD China, the earliest to bear the four suits of the modern pack reputedly date from France in 1440 AD. The Eskimos have 12 words for “snow." race. “ At one point in the early 1920, the U .S . governm ent labeled him ’ the most dangerous man in Am erica*,** Wilson said. la te r, in 1939, Randolph organized a march on Washington designed to protest jo b d iscrim in atio n. Sched uled for 1940, the march was called o ff when President Franklin Roose velt agreed to establish the Fair Em ploym ent Practices Com m ission, which eventually gave rise to today's Equal Em ploym ent O p p o rtu n ity Commission. " T h e Porters — and Black labor generally — were crucial to the civil rights movement,*' Wilson says. “ The Southern Christian Leadership C on ference was organized with the Port ers* assistance: union leaders persuad TRY US France extended the vote to women in 1944. We do not do business w ith South Africa American State Bank AN INDEPENDENT BANK Head Office 2737 N. E. Union Portland, O'&gon 97212 Steve Kosokoff. professor at P.S.U. and M argot Beutler, director of Oregon Human SERVE, confer w ith Attorney Kathleen Heron, member of the N ational Lawyers' Guild C om m ittee w orking w ith POSAF on I <gal defense, after being chad for treepessing at the office of the hon orary South African Consul during the ongoing demonstrations against U.S. involvement In South Africa. (Photo: Richard J. Brown) 8e prepared for tax tim e Now is ihe time for Oregonians to begin gathering receipts and other records for their annual income tax returns, advises T . Blair Evans, Dis trict Director for the Internal Revenue Service in Oregon. These records will help taxpayers, particularly those who itemize, com plete accurate returns, Evans said. The records can also be used to back up various claims in case o f examin ation and can serve as reminders of possible overlooked deductions. When itemizing, taxpayers should bear in mind interest paid on loans AAÇ 99 GROUND BEEF;,.. T P A P E W E L J, SA V I jy BOUNTY TOWELS (lu t 2 A44lrt«w l At VAa 41 7 1 0 -0 4 5 C^»«a I 0 85 ONE and mortgages, as well as payments for medical insurance recorded on various in fo rm a tio n a l statements. M any statements are mailed to tax payers that detail payments made for the year These records should be re tained since they document expenses that are often deductible and easily overlooked. Medical expenses, union dues and ch aritab le con tribu tion s are a few other commonly-claimed deductions for which auditors often request sup porting evidence. King wing dedicated to Ford A wing at the M artin Luther King Facility B uild ing , 4906 N .E . Sixth Ave., Portland, will be dedicated to M r. Robert G . Ford, Oregon’s first Black elem entary and secondary teacher, in a ceremony to be held at the facility at 8 p.m ., on January 10. M r. Ford is being honored for dis tinguished service in the Portland Public School system at Old Eliot and H o lla d a y elem entary schools, and Roosevelt H igh School, from 1945 until his retirement in 1972. M r. Ford was selected Teacher of the Year 1970-71. The presentation is being made by former students, as a thank you for his inspiration and for the basic edu cation he gave them, as well as a sense of pride . A plaque w ill be perm anently placed at the facility. Sabrina's Hair B O U TIQ U E SE 20th ft O IV IS IO N F o i m I b r o w 2329 PACIFIC SE 72nd E» E lA V E L OroQonCitv 878M O LA L LA NE IB lh b F R E M O N T Canby 1051 S W 111 W B U R N S ID E •1 2 1 » ! LLOVO CENTER S A N RAFAEL W O NE lZ 2 rd 14410 SE O IV IS IO N TOM, SE ROWELL 74»K Et 0 1 IS A N M IL LSB O R O M O S E O A K 1-DQOnQDD LlL i of Beauty Specwkimg m «he lolaal traoda on a< rypee of heir Includoa hemneevmg. nene. tscieN curte, and 3601 N.E. Union - 2874978 MOOS It'» o v e n aa*lor. 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