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1268 Celebrates Black History Month
February is "Black History Month," a time to commemorate African-Americans who have changed the world.
Celebrating Black History began in 1926, when Dr. Carter G. Woodson, a Harvard Ph.D., initiated "Negro History Week." Dr. Woodson, a historian, chose the second week in February because it included the birthdays of Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln. In 1976, the Bicentennial (200th birthday) of the U.S.A., the week-long observance was extended to the entire month of February in order to have enough time for celebratory programs and activities.
Today Black Americans are the demographic group most likely to belong to a labor union: 17% of black wage earners are union members compared to 13% of the population as a whole. Blacks and organized labor are also close political allies in the Democratic Party. These facts are the mirror image of the case a century ago and indeed throughout most of American history, when black workers and organized labor were bitter antagonists. Union exclusion and job competition figured prominently in several American race riots.
Nelson "Jack" Edwards was the first African American to be elected to the UAW International Executive Board. Edwards began his union career during the big surge to unions in the 1930s. After going north, from a farm near Montgomery, Alabama, to industrial Detroit, Edwards was elected UAW union steward to represent workers in Chrysler's Foundry plant. Later, he became active in Local 900, where he was elected to the local's bargaining committee in 1944. The International UAW appointed him an International Representative based on Detroit's west side in 1947. He held this post for 15 <?xml:namespace prefix = w /><w:wrap anchory="line">years, until May 1962, when delegates to the UAW's national convention elected him Member-at-large on the UAW's International Executive Board. A year later, in May 1963, he was asked by UAW President Walter P. Reuther to go to Birmingham, Alabama to assist African Americans in their historic struggle for equality. Sadly, shortly after Edwards was elected CBTU's first national treasurer, he was slain in Detroit in November 1974. In honor of his long and distinguished career and his unflagging commitment to empowering black workers, CBTU established the prestigious Nelson "Jack" Edwards Award.
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1850 |
FIRSTS IN BLACK LABOR HISTORY
The American League of Colored Laborers, the first organization of black workers, was established in New York City. |
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1869 |
The National Labor Union is the first organization of white workers to advocate the creation of black labor unions and to allow blacks to attend its annual meeting. |
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1869 |
The first national black labor organization, the Colored National Labor Union, was formed. |
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1918 |
The Department of Labor's Division of Negro Economics, the first federal bureau to attempt to ease labor-related racial tensions caused by blacks leaving the South, was established. |
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1941 |
The Fair Employment Practice Commission, the first federal agency to promote fair employment practices, was established. |
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1945 |
The Ives-Quinn Act, the first state legislation prohibiting discrimination in employment on the basis of race, creed, or color, was passed. |
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1957 |
A. Philip Randolph, president of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, was elected as the AFL-CIO's first black vice president. |
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1964 |
The Civil Rights Act of 1964, the first federal fair employment legislation, was passed |
UAW Local 1268 is proud honored to recognize the contibutions and sacrifices made by African Americans to our country and to the labor movement.
