The overthrow of Jacobo Árbenz by Julio David Menchú for Historia GT
Speech:

Resignation Speech

Speaker:

Jacobo Árbenz

1941 - 1960 / Labor Justice and National Security
Born on September 14, 1913, in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala, Jacobo Árbenz Guzmán grew up in a society marked by economic and social inequalities. The son of a Swiss-German pharmacist and a Guatemalan schoolteacher, Árbenz grew up in a country shaped by deep divisions in wealth and political power.  Read more.
Dolores Huerta in black and white, speaking in front of a podium labelled "Kennedy"
Speech:

Speech to CLUW National Executive Board and Conference on Family Issues

Speaker:

Dolores Huerta

1981 - 2000 / Gender Equity and Labor Justice
Dolores Clara Fernandez, later known as Dolores Huerta, was born on April 10, 1930, in Dawson, New Mexico. When she was a toddler, her parents divorced and her mother moved with her three children to Stockton, California. Her mother served as a role model for Huerta as she provided for her family as a single parent. The family’s financial situation changed when her mother remarried and the couple decided to invest in a hotel that allowed the family to experience a middle-class lifestyle.  Read more.
Lyndon B. Johnson in a black and white photo in front of an American flag, holding up a peace sign, in front of a podium and sign that says, "7th Annual Convention, Illinois State"
Speech:

Address to the AFL-CIO Building and Construction Trades Department Conference

Speaker:

Lyndon B. Johnson

1961 - 1980 / Civil Rights and Labor Justice
Lyndon Baines Johnson was born on August 27, 1908, in the middle of the Hill Country in Stonewall, Texas. Johnson’s father, Sam Ealy Johnson Jr., was an elected representative in the Texas legislature, fashioning himself as a populist and “man of the people.” LBJ’s mother, Rebekah Baines Johnson, was the highly-educated daughter of an attorney. Johnson’s parents moved to a small farm in Texas. Life on the farm was not as easy as the standard of living his parents were accustomed to. Indeed, Johnson would frequently tell of the difficulties his family faced growing up and his own work in the cotton fields. While these hardships were likely exaggerated by Johnson, he nevertheless developed “a natural sympathy for the poor and oppressed.” During his late teens, Johnson also worked with Latinx and African American laborers while building and repairing roads.  Read more.
John Brademas portrait in black and white, with a nametag that reads, "The Honorable John Brademas"
Speech:

Rehabilitation Act of 1973

Speaker:

John Brademas

1961 - 1980 / Disability Rights and Labor Justice
The first time John Brademas ran for Congress, he lost. When he tried the second time, he lost again. It was not until his third bid in 1958 that he was elected as a Democrat representing the Third Congressional District of Indiana. In the House of Representatives, Brademas earned a reputation for being “one of the key men in Washington” on education policy; he also worked to expand access for arts education and disability rights. Many students still benefit from his work today through their right to a 504 Plan that gives them necessary disability accommodations.  Read more.
Chavez at National Press Club in a yellow-tinted photo, speaking in front of a microphone and podium in a crowded room of mostly men
Speech:

Speech at the National Press Club

Speaker:

César Chávez

1961 - 1980 / Labor Justice and Social Justice
César Estrada Chávez was born near Yuma, Arizona on March 31, 1927, to Mexican-American parents, Librado Chávez and Juana Estrada Chávez. César’s mother was “a person of great faith” who modeled self-sacrifice and the necessity of helping others. Chávez’s father, Librado, owned a store and pool hall until debt and the Depression forced him to sell the properties, eventually causing his family with five children to lose their home.  Read more.
Chavez in Filipino Hall in Delano announcing victory for farmworkers; Black and white photo in front of a microphone, smoking a cigarette and holding a piece of paper
Speech:

Speech at Graham Memorial Chapel

Speaker:

César Chávez

1961 - 1980 / Labor Justice
César Estrada Chávez was born in Arizona’s North Gila Valley on March 21, 1927. Chávez was the son of farmworkers, Librado and Juana, and spent much of his youth working in the fields after the loss of the beloved family farm. Following the harvest from Arizona to California, Chávez was exposed to the harsh conditions of migratory labor and the rampant discrimination that Mexican farmworkers faced. At an early age, Chávez learned about the tactics of organizing from his mother, Juana, who showed him how to create community and care for others. Chávez eventually became the Executive Director of the Community Service Organization (CSO). At the CSO, he worked with renowned activists, Saul Alinsky and Fred Ross, to protect voting rights for Mexican immigrants in particular.[note]Susan Ferriss and Ricardo Sandoval, The Fight in the Fields: César Chávez and the Farmworkers Movement (New York: Harcourt Brace & Company, 1997), 37-68.[/note] But the CSO’s lack of attention to farmworker needs propelled him to resign in Spring 1962, launching instead the National Farm Workers Association (NFWA).[note]Peter Mathiessen, Sal Si Puedes: Cesar Chavez and the New American Revolution (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1969, 2014).[/note] Chávez moved his wife, Helen, and their eight children, from Santa Barbara to Delano, where they mobilized the farmworker movement, el moviemento, forever changing the agricultural landscape of California. Building on his predecessors’ legacies, Chávez partnered with farmworker activist Dolores Huerta. Together, they created the NWFA to adequately address the vast needs of farmworkers and their families.[note]Ferriss and Sandoval, The Fight in the Fields, 67.[/note] Huerta was an experienced organizer and had co-founded the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee (AWOC) in 1959 that attracted membership from mostly Filipino farmworkers. In 1964, Huerta left AWOC to join Chávez at the NFWA in order to better organize Mexican farmworkers.[note]Ibid., 70-72.[/note] In 1965, the Delano grape strikes would put in motion the merger of AWOC and NFWA to form the United Farm Workers (UFW). Under the leadership of Larry Itliong, AWOC initially organized a strike of Filipino grape pickers in Delano for an increase in wages. Itliong approached Chávez to support the strike and prevent Chicano workers from being hired as “scabs,” or strikebreakers, who cross the picket lines to work. Chavez had strong reservations on aligning with such a young organization, but on September 16, 1965, the NFWA voted to join AWOC’s efforts, significantly strengthening the numbers and diversity of the workers on strike.[note]Ibid., 87-88.[/note] While strikers picketed and recruited in the fields, Chávez developed a rhetorical career that would capture public attention, eventually leading to a global boycott of grapes. In March 1966, Chávez and 70 other strikers walked 340 miles from Delano to Sacramento, the California state capital, to pressure the Schenley corporation, a major grape grower, to sign a union contract. Along the march route, NFWA members recruited tens of thousands of supporters and generated national media coverage. In his speeches, Chávez urged people everywhere to support the farmworkers by boycotting non-union grapes. Union volunteers traveled to cities across the country to picket grocers selling non-union grapes and encourage union-friendly groups to publicly join the boycott.[note] John C. Hammerback and Richard J. Jensen, The Rhetorical Career of César Chávez (College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 1998), 92.[/note] With so much pressure mounting, the growers eventually conceded to a temporary contract, modestly increasing wages and modestly increasing profits on grapes picked. However, the success of the strike only fed the confidence of farmworkers, instilling faith in the possibility of a union. One year after their first joint efforts as partner organizations, the NFWA and AWOC merged to become the United Farm Workers Organizing Committee (UFWOC) on August 22, 1966.[note]Ferriss and Sandoval, The Fight in the Fields, 87-88.[/note] In the early 1970s, Chávez and the UFW were once again drawn into confrontation with growers in the Salinas Valley over contracts with lechugeros, or lettuce cutters. Corporate growers were alarmed by the strength of the farmworkers movement and attempted to suppress any efforts that would legalize the farmworkers’ right to organize. The UFW had won key contracts with grape growers and improved the lives of grape pickers throughout California without a law to enforce their rights. The UFW facilitated a strike of lechugeros and a national boycott of lettuce beginning in 1970.[note]Ibid., 174-189.[/note] This speech by Chávez was delivered on February 1, 1973, at Graham Memorial Chapel on the campus of Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. Chávez’s speech is typical of his rhetorical career. Chávez was not a fiery speaker, but rather unpretentious and soft-spoken. He was modest to the point of using self-deprecating humor and projecting a persona that aimed to identify with his audiences. The Catholic Church provided Chávez’s moral grounding for his ideas and his resolute commitment to non-violence. Chávez’s goal was to help audiences identify with the movement, and build their confidence so that they felt empowered not just to join, but to lead and organize as well. He used plain speech to articulate the goals of the movement in a way that his audiences understood by making clear that his experiences reflected their experiences.[note]Hammerback and Jensen, The Rhetorical Career of César Chávez, 11-24.[/note] In the months following this speech, the UFW would endure vicious and violent attacks by the Teamsters resulting in multiple deaths and thousands of arrests.[note]Ferriss and Sandoval, The Fight in the Fields, 184-189.[/note] The Teamsters worked with growers to fight unionization efforts and create contracts with laborers that would preserve grower profits. Between 1973 and 1975, millions of Americans would boycott non-union grapes and lettuce. In his dress, speech, and actions, Chávez embodied the life and views of Chicano people, cultivating his identity as the “Father of all Chicanos."[note]Ibid., 252.[/note] Chávez died in his sleep on April 22, 1993, in San Luis, Arizona.[note]Ibid., 253.[/note]  Read more.
Black and white photo of Samuel Gompers looking into the camera with glasses and a suit
Speech:

Speech by Samuel Gompers on World War I

Speaker:

Samuel Gompers

1900 - 1940 / Labor Justice and National Security
Samuel Gompers was a founding member and the first president of the American Federation of Labor (AFL). He served as president of the AFL for nearly 40 years, beginning December 8, 1886 and ending when he died on December 13, 1924. Gompers is often regarded as one of the most important leaders in U.S. labor history.[note]His almost 40 year run as president was interrupted by a year-long absence from the position in 1895. Melvyn Dubofsky, “Were Gompers and the AFL Radical?,” Labor: Studies in Working Class History of the Americas 10 no. 4 (2013): 89-90, http://web.b.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail/detail?vid=5&sid=7c592c4f-d550-46a9-ab10-eb3422a7c026%40pdc-v-sessmgr04&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#AN=93299609&db=31h.[/note] Born to a Dutch-Jewish family in London, Gompers spent his early life working in his family’s cigar business and studying the Talmud. Facing economic hardships, his family immigrated to New York City when he was 13. Soon after his arrival, he became involved with a local debate club as well as labor unions representing cigar makers in the city.[note]Gerald Emanuel Stearn, Samuel Gompers:Great Lives Observed (New Jersey: Prentice Hall, Inc., 1971), 18-20.[/note] From his beginnings, Gompers would become the face of American labor activism, bargaining for higher wages, shorter hours, and better working conditions. Despite his support of socialist ideas early in his career, Gompers became an ardent opponent of socialism as he aged.[note]Dubofsky, “Were Gompers and the AFL Radical?,” 89-90.[/note] In one of his final essays, he told socialists that “economically, you are unsound; socially, you are wrong; industrially, you are an impossibility.”[note]U.S. Congress, Senate, Final Report and Testimony Submitted to Congress by the Commission on Industrial Relations, 64th Cong., 1st sess., S. Doc. 415, 2 (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1916), 1526–1529.[/note] The majority of his efforts were focused on economic reforms, including wage increases and shorter working hours. Gompers also willingly cooperated with state and federal governments to further labor reforms. Gompers, for example, maintained a nearly decade-long correspondence with President Woodrow Wilson, where the two discussed political leaders and public policies.[note]Woodrow Wilson, Letter to Samuel Gompers, AFL Office of the President, Samuel Gompers and Woodrow Wilson Correspondence, August 8, 1917, 0029-LBR-RG1-013, Special Collections and University Archives, George Meany Memorial AFL-CIO Archive, College Park, MD. http://hdl.handle.net/1903.1/42502.[/note] Once the United States entered World War I in 1917, Gompers actively supported America’s war efforts. Gompers had long been critical of the autocratic militarism that dominated the governments of Germany and Austria-Hungary. Adding labor to the mix, Gompers argued in 1915 that such an autocratic system “forced a war which brings grievous wrongs, losses and misery upon the wage workers of Europe . . . and to the wage-earners of all the world.”[note]Samuel Gompers, “European War Influences upon American Industry and Labor," The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 61 (1915): 4-5, www.jstor.org/stable/1012991.[/note] Gompers was also a fierce opponent of the Bolsheviks—Russian communists and socialists who gained considerable influence in Russia following its defeat to Germany. Gompers would later call the Bolshevik successes in Russia a “plague” on the American labor movement.[note]Stearn, Samuel Gompers, 81.[/note] In a series of speeches and essays, Gompers promoted labor’s interest in the war, stressing the importance of Allied victory for the American worker.[note]Samuel Gompers, American Labor and the War (New York: George H. Doran Company, 1919), 20-23.[/note] Recognizing Gompers’s ability to mobilize support for the war, President Wilson appointed him as an official advisor for the Council of National Defense. This Council was created for the explicit purpose of coordinating labor and industry for the war effort.[note]"Title 50: Chapter 1: Council of National Defense," U.S. House of Representatives, U.S. Code, January 2, 2006, https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?path=/prelim@title50/chapter1&edition=prelim.[/note] This role gave Gompers the ability to involve the AFL in war mobilization efforts; the organization would grow to three million members by the end of the war.[note]Wendi A. Maloney, “World War I: Workers Greet Labor Day 1918 with Optimism,” Library of Congress Blog, Library of Congress, last modified August 30, 2017, https://blogs.loc.gov/loc/2017/08/world-war-i-workers-greet-labor-day-1918-with-optimism/.[/note] In his speeches, Gompers associated autocracy and militarism with Germany and Austria-Hungary. Stressing that their victory would destroy American democracy, Gompers dubbed the global conflict “labor’s war,” whose outcome would be determined by the American worker.[note]Samuel Gompers, “Samuel Gompers on WWI,” 1918, AFL-CIO Collection, RG97-002 Audio-Visual Media, Information Department, Analog Recordings, George Meany Memorial AFL-CIO Archive, College Park, MD, Gompers-1918-Speech-AFL-CIO-RG97-002-temp-084782-0001-prod (2).[/note] Praising both the workers and the republic in which they lived, Gompers’s speeches lionized the efforts of Americans as making the world safer for democracy. Gompers’s speech on World War I was one of many he gave in 1918 as the United States escalated its involvement in the war. Gompers celebrated this increase in U.S. involvement in his speech, where he made a case for the war’s necessity, especially in securing the expansion of “the spirit and the method of democracy” around the world.[note]Gompers, “Samuel Gompers on WWI.”[/note] Gompers made the case that Allied victory was dependent on the participation of workers and labor unions in the war effort. The need for sacrifice from workers represented a major theme in his speech—sacrifices he viewed as an unquestionable duty of all Americans.[note]Ibid.[/note] Gompers’s speech tours and activities continued until the war’s end. Following the war, Gompers continued his work with the AFL, writing frequently about the dangers of socialism and the Industrial Workers of the World.[note]Samuel Gompers and William English Walling, Out of Their Own Mouths: A Revelation and an Indictment of Sovietism (New York: E. P. Dutton & Company, 1921), vi-ix.[/note] In his final days, Gompers collapsed during a visit to Mexico. Reportedly expressing a desire to die on American soil, he was rushed to the border and died days later in San Antonio, Texas.[note]"Death Of Samuel Gompers," Times (The Times Digital Archive), December 15, 1924, p. 16, http://tinyurl.gale.com/tinyurl/CR7sw3.[/note]  Read more.
Black and white portrait of George Meany with glasses and a suit, looking off to the side
Speech:

Legislative Conference, Coalition of Labor Union Women (CLUW)

Speaker:

George Meany

1961 - 1980 / Labor Justice

Former plumber from the Bronx, George Meany (1894 - 1980) became president of the New York State Federation of Labor in 1934. In one year alone, he helped pass over 72 pro-labor bills in Congress. Elected president of the American Federation of Labor (AFL) in 1952 after the death of William Green, Meany merged the AFL with the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) in 1955. [note]Martin Weil and Warren Brown, “Labor Leader George Meany Dies of Cardiac Arrest at 85,” Washington Post, January 11, 1980, https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1980/01/11/labor-leader-george-meany-dies-of-cardiac-arrest-at-85/1efcac53-8ab0-4e76-82e7-061d61cb2d60/?utm_term=.393f061a9712.[/note] As president, Meany dubbed the AFL-CIO the “people’s lobby” because it spoke for average citizens and helped build a democratic society by lobbying politicians and combating corruption.[note]"George Meany," AFL-CIO America's Unions, 2019, https://aflcio.org/about/history/labor-history-people/george-meany.[/note]

Meany also addressed the state of women and unemployment in the labor movement’s political agenda. The Coalition of Labor Union Women (CLUW) was founded in 1974 to help women attain leadership positions in the workforce. Shortly after its formation, the CLUW worked with the AFL-CIO to advance women’s rights in the labor movement with a focus on passing the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA). After the AFL-CIO endorsed the ERA in 1975, Meany was derided as a “closet feminist."[note]A.H. Rankin, "Archive: Growing Acceptance for the Coalition of Labor Women," New York Times, October 19, 1977, https://www.nytimes.com/1977/10/19/archives/ah-raskin-growing-acceptance-for-the-coalition-of-union-women.html.[/note]

The public was divided over the ERA leading up to Meany’s 1977 address on women and labor. Pro-ERA organizations like the National Organization for Women (NOW) and ERAmerica, a coalition of 80 organizations, helped make Indiana the 35th state to ratify the ERA.[note]Equal Rights Amendment: A Workshop Guide (District of Columbia: National Commission on the Observance of International Women's Year, 1977), https://search.alexanderstreet.com/view/work/bibliographic_entity%7Cbibliographic_details%7C2520160.[/note] But prominent opposition to the ERA included, among others, Phyllis Schlafly’s STOP ERA, the National Council of Catholic Women, and the Daughters of the American Revolution.[note]Alyssa Samek, "Mobility, Citizenship, and 'American Women on the Move' in the 1977 International Women's Year Torch Relay," Quarterly Journal of Speech 103, no. 3 (2017): 207-229.[/note] Others opposed the ERA because they believed women needed protective labor laws that the ERA might erode.[note] Timothy J. Minchin, Labor Under Fire: A History of the AFL-CIO Since 1979 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2017), 34-35.[/note]

Meany’s address was delivered at the Washington Hilton Hotel in Washington, D.C., on September 16, 1977. Despite the fact that the speech was given before the CLUW, Meany emphasized the goals and future directions of the labor movement in general. Meany praised the organization for its commitment to “all working people”[note]George Meany, "Legislative Conference, Coalition of Labor Union Women (CLUW)," para. 31.[/note] and argued that the AFL-CIO and the CLUW must work together for “full employment, minimum wage, labor law reform, pregnancy benefits, [and] national health insurance.” He argued that these were “not women’s issues,” but “labor issues, trade union issues."[note]Ibid., para. 29.[/note] Meany stood out at the time for taking women’s labor issues and the ERA so seriously.[note]"Gender Equality," United Nations, n.d., https://www.un.org/en/sections/issues-depth/gender-equality/. [/note] Meany used humor in expressing solidarity with feminists in his response to criticism that he was a “closet feminist”: “If supporting a living wage for all workers makes me a feminist, move over, sisters. I’ve been called a lot worse."[note]Meany, "Legislative Conference," para.11.[/note]

In addition to the ERA, Meany expressed strong support for Carter’s Labor Reform Bill in this speech. The country was facing an economic recession through much of the 1970s. Carter’s Labor Reform Bill would have made it more difficult for employers to compete against unions. Meany believed that Carter’s support for pro-union policies would punish the employers who “made a mockery” of the National Labor Relations Act passed 42 years before his address.[note]Ibid., para. 21.[/note] The bill would guarantee that workers could freely join unions and collectively bargain. Yet, Carter’s bill ultimately failed in the Senate.[note]Charles W. Baird, "Labor Law Reform: Lessons from History," Cato Journal 10, no. 1 (1990): 176.[/note]

On July 9, 1978, a year after the CLUW speech, Meany spoke at the national ERA march and rally in favor of the ERA, promising that the AFL-CIO “will continue – at the national and state level – to fight for ERA."[note]George Meany, "National ERA March and Rally, 1978 Jul 9," AFL-CIO Record, Office of the President George Meany Files (1940-1980), Box 85, Folder 78, George Meany Memorial AFL-CIO Archives, Special Collections, Hornbake Library, University of Maryland, College Park, MD.[/note] At this time, 35 of the 38 states needed to ratify the ERA had passed the amendment, but ERA supporters were almost out of time to secure the votes. The amendment had to be ratified within seven years of its introduction. Women’s organizations such as NOW worked to repeal the seven-year deadline, and on October 2, 1978, Congress extended the ratification deadline to June 30, 1982. Despite the extension, support for the ERA lost momentum and the ERA fell three states shy of ratification.[note]Allison L. Held, Sheryl L. Herndon, and Danielle M. Stager, "The Equal Rights Amendment: Why the Era Remains Legally Viable and Properly Before the States," William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice 113, no. 3 (1997): 117.[/note]

Although the ERA failed, Meany is remembered for his various reform efforts and as the “personification of the American labor movement."[note] Weil and Brown, "Labor Leader George Meany Dies of Cardiac Arrest at 85."[/note] He died at age 85 from cardiac arrest at George Washington University Hospital in Washington, D.C.[note]Ibid.[/note]

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Wohlforth with activists holding a sign that says, "An Injury to One is an An Injury to All" with a "Pride at Work" symbol
Speech:

Stop the Hate

Speaker:

Nancy Wohlforth

1981 - 2000 / Labor Justice and LGBTQ+ Activism

Nancy F. Wohlforth (1945 - present)—a union leader and labor activist—was known for her fierce commitment to social justice issues. She was especially known for her work to secure fair treatment of labor rights for gays and lesbians. Her upbringing was influenced by socialist parents whose lives were affected greatly by the insecurity of the Great Depression. Born in June 1945, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, her family provided her with a foundation of labor politics at an early age.[note]Nancy Wohlforth, interview by Miriam Frank, April 11, 1995, “Out in the Union,” transcript, Gays and Lesbians in the Labor Movement, Miriam Frank Oral History Collection, OH 039, Box 5, Tape 48-49, Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives at New York University. [/note] While a student at Columbia University in 1968, Wohlforth participated in student-labor alliances and sit-ins on behalf of anti-war and anti-segregation protests. After she earned a degree in U.S. history, Wohlforth went on to do clerical work for the Office and Professional Employees International Union (OPEIU).[note]Ibid.[/note] In the mid-1970s, Wohlforth moved to San Francisco and served in various roles as an international union official. Prior to coming out as a lesbian, Wohlforth married fellow labor activist and author Tim Wohlforth. The two remained close after their divorce in 1977.[note]Ibid.[/note]

Some of Wohlforth’s most notable work involved the fusion of LGBT history and labor politics that began with the Coors boycotts in 1977. Known for their union-busting practices, the Adolph Coors Company also resisted the calls for grape boycotts from Dolores Huerta and César Chávez of the United Farm Workers a decade prior. Additionally, the company’s hiring practices appeared discriminatory toward many groups, including women, gays and lesbians, as well as black and Latinx workers.[note]Cole B. Erin and Allyson Brantley, “The Coors Boycott: When A Beer Can Signaled Your Politics,” Colorado Public Radio, October 3, 2014, https://www.cpr.org/2014/10/03/the-coors-boycott-when-a-beer-can-signaled-your-politics/.[/note] The International Brotherhood of Teamsters union (IBT) credited employment discrimination as the reason for the alliance between gay rights and labor rights. The LGBT coalition was especially troubled by Coors’ hiring practices because the company asked about applicants’ sexuality and pro-union support on its employment application. Applicants were barred from employment if they self-identified as lesbian or gay and if they expressed support for unions.[note]Press Associates, Inc., “Teamsters Pride At Work: A Look Back At The Coors Boycott,” Teamsters, June 2, 2017, https://teamster.org/blog/2017/06/teamsters-pride-work-look-back-coors-boycott.[/note] In 1977, the AFL-CIO joined a boycott against Coors, and Wohlforth introduced a resolution before the OPEIU to boycott Coors. She joined forces with Harvey Milk and other activists in the 1970s to drive Coors beer out of every gay and lesbian bar in the city of San Francisco.[note]Ibid.[/note] In 2017, Wohlforth recalled the drama of the moment: "The gay bartenders marched out with the bottles of beer and dumped them in the sewers. Coors was anti-gay, and racist and anti-Latino. And to this day, you can’t find Coors in a gay bar in San Francisco."[note]Ibid.[/note]

The boycott lasted a decade before negotiations between the AFL-CIO and Coors were finalized, but the alliance between labor and LGBT causes encouraged gays and lesbians in unions to branch out to other issues. After the Coors boycott, Wohlforth co-founded the Lesbian and Gay Labor Alliance (LGLA) in 1980. The LGLA aligned with other LGBT labor caucuses to leverage their power with the AFL-CIO to oppose same-sex discrimination and to support domestic partner benefits in 1983. They also opposed anti-gay-rights initiatives proposed in 1993.[note]Nancy Wohlforth, interview by Miriam Frank.[/note]

Experienced unionists from LGLA and other LGBT interest groups joined forces under Wohlforth’s leadership to found Pride at Work (PAW) in 1994.[note]The name “Pride at Work” originated as the title of an organizing handbook published in 1990 based on the formation of many different gay coalitions in several unions. Desma Holcomb and Nancy Wohlforth, "The Fruits of Our Labor: Pride at Work," New Labor Forum, no. 8 (2001): 18.[/note] PAW’s founding mission was to address cases of workplace mistreatment against gay and lesbian people. Prior to their formation, all discrimination issues were handled locally by the union. In 1997, the Executive Council of the AFL-CIO voted unanimously to incorporate PAW as an official constituency group.[note]Stefen Styrsky, “Lesbian Assumes a Top AFL-CIO Role,” Gay City News, September 21, 2005, Updated July 20, 2018, https://www.gaycitynews.nyc/stories/2005/19/lesbian-assumes-a-top-2005-09-21.html.[/note]

In 1999, Wohlforth delivered a speech at a panel on hate crimes at the annual AFL-CIO convention in Los Angeles, CA. There, she used the highly publicized murders of James Byrd Jr., a black man murdered by white supremacists, and Matthew Shepard, a gay man murdered for his sexuality, to advocate for hate crime legislation that included sexuality protections.[note]Benjamin Bradley, “Nancy Wohlforth: Uniting the Labor and LGBT Movements,” University of Maryland Special Collections & University Archives, June 29, 2017, https://hornbakelibrary.wordpress.com/2017/06/29/nancy-wohlforth-uniting-the-labor-and-lgbt-movements/.[/note] Without proper legislation, there was no clear way to track violence against LGBT people. To build solidarity, Wohlforth’s address featured vivid analogies between the LGBT community and other disempowered groups (e.g., immigrants, people of color, and women). Wohlforth sought to prove that hate represented a common enemy to the labor movement as a whole. She ended her speech with the rallying cry from the Industrial Workers of the World, “An Injury to One is an Injury to All!”[note]William Dudley Haywood, The Autobiography of Big Bill Haywood (New York: International Publishers, 1929), 186.[/note]

Wohlforth also served as the international vice president, business manager, and secretary treasurer of OPEIU. Her position as vice president in the OPEIU earned her recognition as the first “out” lesbian international official in any union. In 2005, she was elected to the executive council of the AFL-CIO.[note]Nancy Wohlforth, OPEIU Website, Archived July 7, 2011, Internet Archive, https://web.archive.org/web/20110717025818/http://www.opeiu.org/AboutOPEIU/OurNationalLeaders/NancyWohlforth/tabid/122/Default.aspx.[/note] After she retired, Wohlforth stayed in the Washington, D.C. area with her partner, Denice Lombard,[note]Johanna Li, “50 Years After Transplant: The Oldest Living Kidney Donor Pair Are Still Going Strong,” Inside Edition, April 4, 2017, https://www.insideedition.com/headlines/22602-50-years-after-transplant-the-oldest-living-kidney-donor-pair-are-still-going-strong. Few articles have been written about Wohlforth and Lombard’s life since retirement, but the anniversary of Lombard’s kidney transplant brought attention to the pair’s whereabouts in 2017, including the fact that they live together in Washington, D.C.[/note] where she served as the National President Emerita of PAW. She received a Solidarity Award in 2018 for her career in fighting for both worker and LGBT rights.[note]Terrance Heath, “Meet the Woman Who Quietly Made Sure Democrats Became LGBTQ Friendly,” LGBTQ Nation, September 19, 2018, https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2018/09/meet-woman-quietly-made-sure-democrats-became-lgbtq-friendly/.[/note]

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Paul Robeson black and white portrait in a suit looking off to the side
Speech:

Forge Negro-Labor and Unity for Peace

Speaker:

Paul Robeson

1941 - 1960 / Labor Justice and Race Equity

A renowned singer, athlete, actor, and activist, Paul Robeson was perhaps one of the most prominent African American public figures from the 1920s to the 1950s. Born on April 9, 1898 in Princeton, New Jersey, Robeson displayed prodigious academic and athletic talent early in his childhood. Enrolling at Rutgers University at the age of 17, Robeson was top of his class as well as a two-time All-American football player. Robeson also dedicated himself to the “call” of advancing African American equal rights. In his Rutgers valedictory address, for instance, he declared, “We of the younger generation especially must feel a sacred call to that which lies before us . . . We of this less-favored race realize . . . [t]hat neither the old-time slavery, nor continued prejudice need extinguish self-respect, crush manly ambition, or paralyze effort.”[note]Scott Ehrlich, Paul Robeson (New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1988), 32.[/note]

After graduation Robeson moved to New York City and quickly immersed himself in the cultural revival of the Harlem Renaissance. He found numerous outlets for his abilities. While studying law at Columbia University, he worked part-time preparing legal briefs, acted in theatrical productions, performed musically, and played professional football. In 1921, he married Eslanda Goode, a chemistry student at Columbia who later served as his business manager. Robeson’s artistic career and advocacy efforts put in him dialogue with many intellectual figures of the time such as Albert Einstein, W.E.B. DuBois, Emma Goldman, James Joyce, and Ernest Hemingway. While his international success as an entertainer continued to grow, he maintained a continued interest in the complex issues of racial and economic equality.

Throughout the 1930s and 1940s, Robeson spoke out on behalf of many activist causes, including the American labor movement. According to Henry Foner, Robeson “marched on picket lines, assisted in organizing drives, sang in union halls, and was awarded honorary lifetime memberships in more unions than any other public figure of his time.” Robeson’s public activism also played a “decisive role” in the 1940 campaign of the United Automobile Workers in their dispute with Ford Motor Company.[note]Henry Foner, “Foreword: Keynote Address from the 1998 Long Island University Paul Robeson Conference,” in Paul Robeson: Essays on His Life and Legacy, ed. Joseph Dorinson and William Pencak (London: McFarland & Company, 2002), 2.[/note] Robeson’s celebrity also helped advance the cause of racial equality. In 1946, he personally led a delegation that met with President Harry S. Truman to advocate on behalf of anti-lynching legislation.[note]Foner, “Foreword,” 2-3.[/note]

For Robeson, the causes of racial and economic equality were inextricably linked to the decolonization of the European empires after World War II. In addition to advocating on behalf of the rights of workers and African Americans, he also supported national liberation movements in European-controlled territories in India, Africa, Vietnam, the Middle East, and elsewhere.[note]Specifically, Robeson supported pre-WW II African nationalists in London. This meant he mingled with pro-Ethiopian expatriate factions during the Italian invasion of 1935-36, a future leader of independent Kenya (then under British control) in Jomo Kenyatta, and West African trade union organizer I.T.A. Wallace-Johnson. See: Shelia Tully Boyle and Andrew Bunie, Paul Robeson: The Years of Promise and Achievement (Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 2001), 320. Within the Middle East, Robeson visited Egypt, was exalted as a model by Kurdish nationalists, and expressed solidarity with the Jewish people following the horrors of World War II. See: Metin Yüksel, “Solidarity Without Borders: The Poetic Tributes to Paul Robeson of Goran and Cegerxwîn,” Journal of Postcolonial Writing 51 (2015): 556-573; Jonathan Karp, “Performing Black-Jewish Symbiosis: The ‘Hassidic Chant’ of Paul Robeson,” American Jewish History 91 (2003): 53-81.[/note] However, in the context of a rapidly developing cold war between the United States and the Soviet Union, these political commitments were seen by many as subversive. Indeed, American defense planners such as George Kennan warned, “it is not Russian military power which is threatening us, it is Russian political power.”[note]John Lewis Gaddis, Strategies of Containment: A Critical Appraisal of American National Security Policy During the Cold War (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005), 39.[/note] For Kennan and others, this meant that the true threat to the United States and its allies came from Soviet encouragement for revolutionary movements across the globe more than the risk of a Soviet military attack.[note] During the late 1940s, Soviet oppression taking place in Eastern Europe was not well understood in the United States. See: Anne Applebaum, Iron Curtain: The Crushing of Eastern Europe 1944-1956 (New York: Doubleday, 2012), 10, 18-21, 66-67, 193-194.[/note] As a result, American labor and decolonization activists such as Robeson were often suspected for serving as a “fifth column,” unwittingly disseminating Soviet propaganda if not taking direct orders from Moscow. In fact, congressional committees held over one hundred hearings investigating communist links to the American labor movement from 1946 to 1956.[note]Ronald L. Filippelli and Mark D. McColloch, Cold War in the Working Class: The Rise and Decline of United Electrical Workers (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1995), 1.[/note] Robeson himself would eventually be questioned by the House Un-American Activities Committee in 1956 over his ties to the Communist Party and the Soviet Union. He would also be subjected to an extensive blacklisting campaign that effectively ended his entertainment career in the United States.

Delivered on June 10, 1950, Robeson’s speech, “Forge Negro-Labor Unity for Peace and Jobs,” reflects many of these political tensions. He gave this speech during the National Labor Conference for Negro Rights in Chicago; he later published the speech as a pamphlet. This address gave voice to Robeson’s “working class internationalism,” or, his “conviction that there was a powerful commonality in the experience of working-class people that crossed lines of color and nationality.”[note]Mark D. Naison, "'Americans Through Their Labor': Paul Robeson’s Vision of Cultural and Economic Democracy,” in Paul Robeson: Essays on His Life and Legacy, ed. Joseph Dorinson and William Pencak (London: McFarland & Company, 2002), 190.[/note] Robeson’s intellectual commitment to this cause, as well as his skill as a speaker honed over his brilliant theatrical career, are visible in this speech.

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