Women’s History Month pt2
This post was adapted from a 3/26 weekly member email.
March is Women’s History Month and I didn’t want it to end without providing a few more writeups about influential women leaders from US Labor History. I already covered some of the major labor leaders (Mary “Mother” Jones, Lucy Parsons, Francis Perkins, Jessie Lopez de La Cruz, and Dolores Huerta) in my Women’s History Month email from last year - if interested, you can read it on our blog.
Kate Mullany (1845-1906): Kate was a daughter of Irish immigrants who worked in a collar factory in Troy, New York in the 1860s. Collar production was incredibly dangerous work, requiring use of boiling water and dangerous chemicals to produce the starched and finished product. Linens were pressed with giant heated iron presses that filled rooms with steam - while there are a few competing origins, some say these uncomfortable heated rooms were where the term “sweatshop” originated. Workers frequently experienced heat and chemical burns from the machinery and chemicals, workdays usually were 12-14 hours (with 6-day work-weeks), and if workers accidentally damaged a piece of clothing, they were required to pay for it out of pocket. After several years of terrible working conditions, Kate founded the Collar Laundry Union with coworkers Esther Keegan and Sarah McQuillan - this group is often considered to be the first wholly female labor union in the United States. The group grew to represent 300 women across the City of Troy, and after a 6-day strike they won a 25% increase in wages. Her work with this group led to her being appointed Assistant Secretary of the National Labor Union (NLU, a precursor to the Knights of Labor), which made her the first woman to sit on a national US Labor Board. Interestingly, Kate was originally appointed to the NLU as one of several regional Vice Presidents, but chose to step down when she realized another was from New York - it is believed she did so to guarantee greater representation from across the US. I couldn’t find a lot of information about Kate’s later life but did find some information about her work promoting worker co-ops, which she saw as an opportunity for workers to keep the full value of their earnings.
Velma Hopkins (1909-1996): Velma was originally an employee at the R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company in North Carolina, but she organized a walkout of employees and later a month-long strike after one of her peers died from the terrible working conditions of the local factory. She helped found Local 22, which negotiated better working conditions and pay for the employees - they addressed employee concerns like the sweltering production floors, the segregated work environment, and the high amounts of dust that employees were exposed to on a daily basis. The union went on strike several times throughout the 1940’s to address employee concerns - despite support from influential national celebrities like Woody Guthrie and Paul Robeson, the tobacco company fought back, and the union was ultimately decertified in 1950. Despite this, Velma went on to address other community issues, and spent the rest of her life registering voters, starting programs to address child hunger, and integrating local schools. As a result of her lifetime of service, many activists across North Carolina credit her as their inspiration for becoming involved in local politics or union activity.
Florence Reece (1900-1986): Florence was the daughter of Kentucky coal miners and is most famously known for writing the song “Which Side Are You On,” a union ballad which has been covered by or adapted by labor groups in various efforts for over a century. Florence claimed she originally wrote a version of the song at the age of 12 when her father was on strike, then updated it in 1931 during the Harlan County War, a near-decades-long conflict between coal mine owners and workers that led to dozens of deaths. Singer and songwriter Pete Seeger (best known for his covers of songs like “We Shall Overcome”) collected and covered union protest songs across America throughout the 1930’s, and released a cover of “Which Side Are You On,” in 1940. Dozens of song-writers released their own covers with subtle variations over the next 80 years, with major union events like the Delano Grape Strike each getting their own version.
I don’t want to ignore Florence’s role in all of this - though the song overshadows much of her successes, she was involved in union activity for most of her life and though I could only find limited information about this, I believe she spent many years trying to raise awareness about “Black Lung,” a lung condition caused by inhaling too much coal dust. She also made an appearance and sang her song in the 1976 documentary “Harlan County, USA,” which covers another coal strike in the area throughout 1973.