Today, we respect those who fought the fight to provide opportunities for so many of us.
There are so many things that we take for granted that were provided to us because of the Labor Movement.
40 hour week
Overtime
Safety requirements
No child labor
Any benefit that you can think of in the work place was provided because of the fights of unions.
Today we remember the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters.
The Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters (BSCP) was, in 1925, the first labor organization led by African Americans to receive a charter in the American Federation of Labor (AFL). It merged in 1978 with the Brotherhood of Railway and Airline Clerks (BRAC), now known as the Transportation Communications International Union.
The leaders of the BSCP—including A. Philip Randolph, its founder and first president, and C. L. Dellums, its vice president and second president—became leaders in the Civil Rights Movement and continued to play a significant role in it after it focused on the eradication of segregation in the Southern United States. BSCP members such as E. D. Nixon were among the leadership of local civil rights movements by virtue of their organizing experience, constant movement between communities and freedom from economic dependence on local authorities.
The Pullman Company
The campaign to found the union was an extraordinarily long one pitting it against not only the company but also many members of the black community. In the 1920s and 1930s the Pullman Company was one of the largest single employers of blacks and had created an image for itself of enlightened benevolence via financial support for black churches, newspapers and other organizations. It also paid many porters well enough to enjoy the advantages of a middle-class lifestyle and prominence within their own communities.
Working for the Pullman Company was, however, less glamorous in practice than it appeared. Porters depended on tips for much of their income and thus on the generosity of white passengers who often referred to all porters as “George”, the first name of George Pullman, the company’s founder (see also Society for the Prevention of Calling Sleeping Car Porters “George”). Porters spent roughly ten percent of their time in unpaid “preparatory” and “terminal” set-up and clean-up duties, paid for their food, lodging, and uniforms, which could consume up to half of their wages, and were charged whenever their passengers stole a towel or a water pitcher. Porters could ride at half fare on their days off — but not on Pullman coaches. They were not promotable to conductor, a job reserved for whites, despite frequently performing some of the conductor duties.
The company had squelched any efforts they made to organize during the first decades of the 20th century by isolating or firing union leaders. Like many other large companies of the time, the company employed spies to keep tabs on their employees; in extreme cases, company agents assaulted union organizers.
When 500 porters met in Harlem on August 25, 1925, they decided to make another effort to organize. During this meeting, they secretly launched their campaign, choosing Randolph, not employed by Pullman and thus beyond retaliation, to lead the effort. The union chose a motto to sum up their resentment over the working conditions: “Fight or Be Slaves”.
Organizing the union
At that time the African American community was estranged from organized labor. While the AFL nominally did not exclude black workers, many of its affiliates did. Many black workers saw their employers, whether it was Henry Ford in Detroit or Swift Packing in Chicago, as more sympathetic to them than either their white co-workers or the labor movement. In addition, the economic separation, deprivation, and marginalization of the black community forced by Jim Crow and the doctrine of advancement through self-reliance preached by Booker T. Washington led many black leaders to look with distrust on joining with whites on issues of common concern — and often denied that blacks and whites had any common interests at all. Furthermore, and foremost, white supremacy remained entrenched in most every institution that existed in the US, and these racist beliefs, both subtle and overt, precluded the white labor movement from recognizing the black workers or their organized fronts.
In the 1920s, as some elements within the AFL began to lower these barriers, while groups as diverse as the Urban League, the Socialist Party of America and Communist Party began to focus on the rights of black workers. Randolph himself was a prominent member of the Socialist Party. From its inception, the BSCP fought to open doors in the organized labor movement in the US for black workers, even though it faced staunch opposition and blatant racism. As BSCP co-founder and First Vice President Milton Price Webster, put it, “…any time we have an American institution composed of white people there is prejudice in it….In America, if we should stay out of everything that’s prejudiced we wouldn’t be in anything.”
As early as 1900, efforts were put forth by various collectives of Pullman porters to organize the porters into a union, each effort having been crushed by Pullman. In 1925, in the early days of organizing the BSP union, Randolph was invited, by BSCP union organizer Ashley Totten, to address the Porters Athletic Association, in New York City in 1925. Exhibiting a sound understanding of the plight of the black worker and the need for a genuine labor union, Randolph was asked to undertake the job of organizing the porters into a bona fide labor union. The Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters was launched on the night of August 25, 1925.
Key to the success of the union was to galvanize membership by way of a national membership drive, with three of the Pullman companies three biggest terminals being most important stops—Chicago, Oakland, and St. Louis. The man to see in Chicago was Milton Price Webster. He was the son of enslaved parents from Clarksville, Tennessee, who, after successfully purchasing their own freedom, eventually moved to Chicago, where Webster was raised. A former Pullman Porter of twenty years, and a devoted husband (Louie Elizabeth Harris) and father of three, Webster had been fired by the company for attempting to organize porters in the Railroad Men’s Benevolent Association.
Webster was a man of strong convictions. As a Lincoln Republican and a tenured, highly respected captain of Chicago’s Sixth Ward black Republican machine, Webster was a stern, but gregarious leader of men who was well connected throughout the Chicago politic. Not the orator of Randolph’s skill, and not college educated, Webster devoured books and the news of the day, and was a stalwart back room negotiator. He captured his audience with his command of the subject, his keen wit and sharp intellect, and his commitment to alleviating the struggles of the working man.
Although skeptical of Randolph’s socialist affiliations, on the recommendations of fellow union organizer John C. Mills of Chicago, Webster facilitated a series of public meetings for Randolph and Chicago porters, nightly for two weeks. At the initial meeting, after hearing Randolph speak, Webster turned to Mills, agreeing that Randolph was the man to head the organization of the new union. For the next two weeks, nightly meetings were held, with two speakers campaigning for Chicago chapter membership—Milton Webster opening and A. Philip Randolph closing—effectively launching the Chicago division of the Brotherhood.
The Pullman Company’s response was to denounce, with support from the ministers and African American newspapers whom it had cultivated (or bought), the new union as an outside entity motivated by foreign ideologies, while sponsoring its own company union, variously known as the Employee Representation Plan or the Pullman Porters and Maids Protective Association, to represent its loyal employees. Local authorities, such as Boss Crump in Memphis, Tennessee in some cases helped the company by interfering with or banning BSCP meetings.
For the first several years of its existence, the union continued fighting the Pullman Company, its allies in the black community, the white power structure, and rival unions within the AFL that were hostile to its members’ job claims. They also successfully fought efforts by communist to infiltrate the BSCP. The BSCP also tried to involve the federal government in its fight with the Pullman Company: on September 7, 1927 the brotherhood filed a case with the Interstate Commerce Commission, requesting an investigation of Pullman rates, porters’ wages, tipping practices, and other matters related to wages and working conditions; the ICC ruled that it did not have jurisdiction.
While it had organized roughly half of the porters within the company, the union was seemingly no closer to obtaining recognition than it had been in 1925. By 1928 BSCP leaders decided that the only way to force the issue was to strike the company. The leadership was, however, divided on what a strike could accomplish: some rank-and-file leaders wanted to use the strike as a show of strength and an organizing tool, while Randolph was more cautious, hoping to use the threat of a strike as the lever to get the federal National Mediation Board established pursuant to the Railway Labor Act to bring the Pullman Company to the table while mobilizing support from supporters outside the industry.
After secretly meeting with the Pullman Company, the NMB refused to follow precedent it had set in the case of a group of white railroad workers, and refused to act in behalf of the BSCP. The NMB argued that the brotherhood was incapable of disrupting the Pullman sleeping car service. Although the union had voted for a strike, the Pullman Company convinced the NMB that the union did not have the strength in numbers or resources to pull it off. In July 1928, the NMB formally retired the case and Randolph called off the strike just hours before it was scheduled to begin. Randolph, Webster, and the leadership of the BSCP recognized, in the end, that a strike at that time would have seriously crippled the brotherhood, agreeing that the union was still not strong enough to carry off a strike against the powerful corporate giant like Pullman.
That provoked an internal crisis, deepened by the Great Depression, paucity of funding for the union, and perpetual reprisals against the porters by the Pullman company, which led to a sharp drop in BSCP membership. The union might have disappeared altogether if it had not been for the vigilance and dedication of Randolph, Webster, Totten, Mills, C.L. Dellums, Bennie Smith, S.E. Grain, E.J. Bradley, Paul Caldwell, George Price, C. Francis Stratford and Roy Lancaster, who formed the initial organizers and board members of the BSCP.
The relationship between Randolph and Webster, the long-standing first vice president of the BSC and the head of the Chicago Division, was centered on their common devotion to a common cause. Differences in personal style, politic and perspective gave way to comradeship, mutual admiration, and a deep and abiding trust and friendship. Both formidable leaders, where Randolph mastered theoretical, economic, and political discussions, Webster mastered the rules, regulations and working conditions of the laborers. Together they had a mutually aggressive and genuine commitment to the imperative that the black worker be organized to improve the working conditions, workers rights and the lives of black workers, their families and their communities.
By 1933, BSCP membership dropped to 658, and the headquarters lost telephone and electric service because of nonpayment of bills.[1] In 1934 the Roosevelt administration, however, amended the RLA, then passed the Wagner-Connery Act, which outlawed company unions and covered porters, the following year. The BSCP immediately demanded that the NMB certify it as the representative of these porters. The BSCP defeated the company union in the election held by the NMB and on June 1, 1935 was certified. Two years later the union signed its first collective bargaining agreement with the Pullman Company
Y’all deserve a treat tonight.
https://twitter.com/LexLeone9/status/772914591449743361
https://twitter.com/PMagouirk/status/772865359821045760
https://youtu.be/nnz9657g13Q&rel=0
“Uploaded on Feb 11, 2010
Floyd Clown and Don Red Thunder, great grandsons of Old Man Crazy Horse, recount the death and burial of Crazy Horse. This is a clip from the feature documentary “The Authorized Biography of Crazy Horse and His Family Part Four: Surrender, Death, and the Family Lives”
https://twitter.com/wordsofapwale/status/772877199057838080
https://twitter.com/ABC/status/772625871832092672
Happy Labor Day 3Chics!
Thanks for your continued coverage of the North Dakota protests. You’d think they’d be all over our local news but nooo. State Fair ya know. Have a great day all.
https://twitter.com/DancingTurtleHQ/status/722196859163447297
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2x4vIRbxj1k
LMAO.
NEGROES LNING UP FOR MASSA’S CRUMBS
http://i.imgur.com/CZZy4n2.gifv
OMG, now that is hysterical. :)
https://twitter.com/Heather28df/status/772821543684636672
My potato salad, pasta salad & broccoli & rice casserole is made. We’re having a cookout at Josh’s house. We’re having sausage, brisket, chicken, ribs, boudin, mac and cheese casserole, baked beans.
YUMMY! Send me a plate please.
Enjoy the day with family, SG2.
delicious
https://twitter.com/Mediaite/status/772807010970693636
https://twitter.com/kileykroh/status/772811021627101184
TRUTH. They want CK to TAY IN HIS LANE
https://twitter.com/BleacherReport/status/772814137185357825
I love this photo. And the kneeling (started by CK) has good optics. It is NOT disrespect. It means that the nation is in crisis, and it is time for the DENIAL to end and the crisis to be faced.
https://twitter.com/NatUrbanLeague/status/772809222874656768
https://twitter.com/SamChamblee/status/772750962649862146
https://twitter.com/thehill/status/772806752140136449
PBO:
“I’d rather have young people engaged in the argument and trying to think through how they can be part of our democratic process than those who are just sitting on the sidelines.”
and this LAME-ASS Clinton VP pick, right HERE
Read President Obama’s Open Letter to America’s Hardworking Men and Women
To America’s hardworking men and women:
When workers raise their voices for a fair wage and dignity in the workplace, they sustain the story of America: the idea that if you work hard, you should be able to get ahead, retire with dignity, and leave something behind for the next generation.
At the beginning of the last century, American workers came together to fight for dignity and justice in the workplace. They stood up, marched, and raised their voices for a 40-hour workweek, overtime pay, a minimum wage, and the right to organize for better pay and benefits. They fought to make dangerous jobs safer, whether working in a plant or fighting a fire. These hard-fought victories became the cornerstones of the greatest middle class the world has ever known.
Today, we again face a changing economy. Since I took Office, we’ve made extraordinary progress together. We have steadily come back from the worst economic crisis in generations. But too many American families don’t yet feel like they’ve gotten their fair share. That’s why Americans need a voice at work.
For years, labor unions have been the driving force for raising that voice. But as union membership has fallen, inequality has risen. It’s not hard to understand why. It might be easy to dismiss or even punish a lone employee coming forward and asking for a fair wage. But when folks come together—when it’s not just one voice but a chorus—they’re impossible to ignore. That’s a key reason why Americans in unionized jobs still make roughly 26 percent more than their non-union peers.
As I’ve said before, if I were looking for a good job that lets me build some security for my family, I’d join a union. If I saw a problem in my workplace, I’d organize my coworkers to do something about it. Especially because today, more workers than ever need a stronger voice—from pipefitters and fast food workers to journalists and tech workers.
So in today’s economy, we should make it easier, not harder, for you—America’s workers—to make your voices heard. We know that when employees come together and start a conversation about how to build a better workplace, we all benefit. That’s why whether you’re a union member, an organizer, an activist, or just an employee ready to speak up, I’m proud of the work you do to continue and grow that conversation.
You have the right to join together, speak up, and win a seat at the table. You have the right to talk to your coworkers about how much you make or how you’d change your workplace, as long as you’re not doing it while you’re supposed to be working. And the law says an employer can’t fire you, demote you, or change your shift because you’re talking to colleagues about advocating for yourselves, whether that’s through a union or through some other means.
History shows that working families can get a fair shot in this country—but only if we are willing to organize and fight for it. So whether you simply talk to your coworkers or supervisors about what matters to you, or take the step of joining a union, the power ultimately rests with you.
If folks like you keep up the fight, I have no doubt that America will always be a nation where if you work hard you can get ahead and build an even better life for your children. That’s why I started my career as an organizer all those years ago—and it’s why I believe in you.
Sincerely,
Barack Obama
https://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2016/09/04/president-obama-letter-americas-hardworking-men-and-women?utm_source=email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=email634&utm_campaign=LaborDay
Genuine or not, why Lena Dunham’s apology to Odell Beckham Jr. matters
THIS RIGHT HERE:
If she really wants to clear her conscience, LD should try reviewing the history of black men murdered and brutalized for innocently looking in the direction of a white woman before she ever gets upset at one for ignoring her ever again. To follow the history of lies, Emmett Till is a good start followed by George Stinney Jr.
http://blavity.com/lena-dunhams-apology-odell-beckham-jr-lena-dunham/?ct=t(Blavity_Daily_Newsletter_9_5_169_4_2016)&goal=0_b53d5e9f25-a1283ee976-206100893&mc_cid=a1283ee976&mc_eid=6ca89fc2f4
How 1 Black-Owned Ga. School Is Revolutionizing Education for the Gifted
When Claire Anderson could not find adequate resources for her gifted son, Caleb, she founded her own school to help her son and others like him.
BY: BREANNA EDWARDS
Posted: September 4, 2016
Claire Anderson’s son, Caleb, started reading at 8 months. By 18 months he was in the first grade.
Realizing that Caleb was gifted, Anderson, who lives in Metro Atlanta, was determined to ensure that he would have the best resources available so that he would remain intellectually stimulated and challenged. And so she went on a search for those resources for him, but she found that nothing suited her child’s educational and social needs.
She recalls people being shocked that Caleb was a black boy and gifted. She notes how one psychologist told her to stop teaching him, and eventually other children would catch up. She and her husband, desperate to find something for their son, tried several schools—some private, some public—only to discover that most schools did not have adequate resources or simply did not find it financially beneficial to have a gifted program.
Well, you know what they say: If you want something done right, do it yourself.
That’s exactly what Anderson, who has a master’s degree in education and had previously launched a program to teach children to read before the age of 3, did. In 2012 she founded the Atlanta Gifted Academy in Marietta, Ga., with the intention of revolutionizing education for gifted children.
“My main goal is to provide them with the best education out there for them. I always tell people that I want my students to have the best resources. I want them to be prepared to go to any Ivy League college of their choosing,” Anderson told The Root. “I want to make sure that they have the best curriculum, the best teachers … at their fingertips.”
Right now the AGA’s student body—which includes Caleb—is majority African American, a group of children who often have to deal with extra scrutiny and poorly concealed racial disparities, even within their very places of learning.
“Having a school like this that appropriately challenges and creates opportunities for gifted students of color is essential and timely. Black families, in particular, raising gifted children nationwide are disenfranchised from traditional gifted-education programs and lack equitable access to programs like the one provided here,” Joy Lawson Davis, a board member with the National Association for Gifted Children, said of the AGA. “This school has the potential to serve as an exemplary model for the nation. The founders are applauded for their initiative and perseverance in developing this service for Atlanta-area families raising gifted and high-potential students.”
https://twitter.com/RealMuckmaker/status/769921167738015745?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
https://twitter.com/civilrightsorg/status/772452473969795072?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
https://twitter.com/RawStory/status/772476149163237378?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
https://twitter.com/EricBoehlert/status/772493747061788672?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
https://youtu.be/nSxl1blHa30
https://twitter.com/TimeLordJeff/status/772404886721945601?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
https://youtu.be/EB8u1yy9Tbc
https://twitter.com/Dr_G_Enigma/status/772615850696269824?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Good Morning, Everyone :)
Good Morning, Rikyrah & Everone.
Great post Rikyrah. Rich history of our authentic drive to work, grow and thrive as a people.
Good morning. Happy Labor Day!