13 Labor Events And Organizers Who We Should Teach About During Black History Month

[Omaha Steve]

X post in GD & Socialist-Progressive

http://www.buzzfeed.com/aftunion/13-labor-events-and-organizers-who-we-should-teach-bwcv

As Black History Month draws to a close, we want to continue to share and celebrate a labor history that is often overlooked. Recognizing and honoring the important contributions that black people have made to American history matters. From notable women leaders to the desegregation of union organizing, here’s a list of important black contributions to labor history that should be taught all year long.

1. Bayard Rustin



Via media-1.web.britannica.com
Bayard Rustin has been described as the man homophobia almost erased from history. Rustin was an active member of the civil rights and labor movements and the primary organizer of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Rustin believed that economic justice and workers’ rights were a key part of the fight for civil rights for black Americans. Rustin became the first executive director of the AFL-CIO’s A. Philip Randolph Institute.
Here are free classroom resources on Bayard Rustin.

2. Pullman Porters



Via publications.newberry.org
In the late 1860s, George Pullman hired former slaves to work on his railroad sleeping cars. He exploited their labor, with each porter making the equivalent of about $22,000 a year (in today’s dollars) while working under unfair conditions, including 100-hour workweeks. These workers formed a union, the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters; in 1925, it became the first African-American labor union to receive a charter in the American Federation of Labor.

FULL story at link.