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."
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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
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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.
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