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LETTER TO THE CIVIL RIGHTS DEPARTMENT
Boris Shiskin & H.L. Mitchell
National Agricultural
Workers Union
2140 P Street, N.W.
Washington 7, D.C.
Birmingham, Ala.
March 7, 1956
Mr. John Livingston,
Director of Organization
AFL-CIO
901 Massachusetts Ave.,
N.W.
Washington 1, D.C.
Dear Jack:
Enclosed is a copy of a letter I have sent to Boris
Shiskin concerning the infiltration of trade union by the White Citizens
Councils. Paul Christopher whom I saw on my way down here, told me you
were quite concerned about this matter. I am to see Lew Rhodes in
Atlanta before returning to Washington. He too is quite concerned with
the rapid developments, especially here in Alabama.
I shall be in Washington the first of next week and
hope I can see you.
Fraternally yours,
H. L. Mitchell
President
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Birmingham, Ala.
March 7, 1956
Mr. Boris Shiskin,
Director
AFL-CIO Civil Rights
Committee
901 Massachusetts Ave.
N.W.
Washington 1, D.C.
Dear Boris:
As you can see by the newspaper clippings, President
Meany has become one of the figures in the controversy here in Alabama
as a result of the statements made in Miami about the White Citizens
Councils. It is unfortunate that his office did not accept the
registered letter sent by 200 members in Bessemer.
There is substantial disaffection among all of the
trade unions both here in Birmingham and in Montgomery and it is being
exploited to the fullest extent by the leaders of the White Citizens
Council movement. I am also told that this extends throughout the state
and is beginning in other areas. So far, I have not found conclusive
evidence of an independent union movement actually being organized, but
there is talk of such being done. For instance, Dial Murphy, Southern
Director of the Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers told me of a local
union composed of 1,200 workers employed in several plants in
Montgomery, whose officers advised him that all of the members were
withdrawing from the union. With the greatest difficulty he persuaded
the officers to retain their posts. How long they will continue in
office with their membership pulling out, is a question. There are no
lines of communication between the white and Negro workers. Men working
side by side on the job no longer even talk to each other.
In Unions which have no Negro members--telephone
workers, railway, printing and others--there is also talk of getting out
of the national and international unions and establishing a southern
federation of labor based on segregation.
So far, I have not found out what the situation is in
the United Steel Workers which appear to be the center of activity of
the White Citizens Councils. The entire staff of the Steel Workers Union
is in Chicago this week, attending the wage policy committee meeting.
The State Federation people are away on trips too.
I have been in touch with J.L. Rhodes, AFL-CIO
Regional Director, who was out of his office for a week or so due to
illness and a death in his family. Lew told me he is quite worried about
what is going on here and elsewhere. I am to see him in Atlanta
tomorrow.
Here is what I think should be done, and the reason
for this letter. This situation should be called to the attention of
President Meany and Organization Director Livingston immediately. They
should alert the AFL-CIO regional directors and their staff and the
presidents of the national and international unions whose members are
involved. Staff organizers or officials who know the union leaders
personally should come into Alabama, meet together and agree on a
procedure. They should then contact or call together local union
officers where this disaffection exists and put on a campaign to hold
the loyalty of the local union officers and secondly, conduct mass
meetings of the membership wherever that is possible. They should
approach this matter on the basis that the WCC leadership is anti-labor
and is using the trade unions to further their own political ambitions.
The integration issue will have to be handled very carefully.
The next thing is to get approval of the project we
worked out for a long range research and educational program on the
civil rights issue. It should be recognized that what we have in the
southern labor movement is a mass of uneducated workers who are willing
to pay dues to the unions in return for the high wages they receive. The
vast majority of them are from rural areas and they do not understand
the first principles of trade unionism.
I shall return to Washington the end of this week,
but let me urge that this matter be called to the attention of the
officers of AFL-CIO immediately.
Sincerely and fraternally,
H.L. Mitchell
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Malcolm X
A Life of Reinvention
By
Manning Marable
Years
in the making-the definitive biography of
the legendary black activist.
Of the great figure in twentieth-century
American history perhaps none is more
complex and controversial than Malcolm X.
Constantly rewriting his own story, he
became a criminal, a minister, a leader, and
an icon, all before being felled by
assassins' bullets at age thirty-nine.
Through his tireless work and countless
speeches he empowered hundreds of thousands
of black Americans to create better lives
and stronger communities while establishing
the template for the self-actualized,
independent African American man. In death
he became a broad symbol of both resistance
and reconciliation for millions around the
world. |
Manning Marable's
new biography of Malcolm is a stunning achievement.
Filled with new information and shocking revelations
that go beyond the Autobiography, Malcolm X unfolds a
sweeping story of race and class in America, from the
rise of Marcus Garvey and the Ku Klux Klan to the
struggles of the civil rights movement in the fifties
and sixties.
Reaching into
Malcolm's troubled youth, it traces a path from his
parents' activism through his own engagement with the
Nation of Islam, charting his astronomical rise in the
world of Black Nationalism and culminating in the
never-before-told true story of his assassination.
Malcolm X will stand as the definitive work on one of
the most singular forces for social change, capturing
with revelatory clarity a man who constantly strove, in
the great American tradition, to remake himself anew.
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Sister Citizen: Shame, Stereotypes, and Black Women in
America
By Melissa V.
Harris-Perry
According to the
author, this society has historically exerted
considerable pressure on black females to fit into one
of a handful of stereotypes, primarily, the Mammy, the
Matriarch or the Jezebel. The selfless
Mammy’s behavior is marked by a slavish devotion to
white folks’ domestic concerns, often at the expense of
those of her own family’s needs. By contrast, the
relatively-hedonistic Jezebel is a sexually-insatiable
temptress. And the Matriarch is generally thought of as
an emasculating figure who denigrates black men, ala the
characters Sapphire and Aunt Esther on the television
shows Amos and Andy and Sanford and Son, respectively.
Professor Perry
points out how the propagation of these harmful myths
have served the mainstream culture well. For instance,
the Mammy suggests that it is almost second nature for
black females to feel a maternal instinct towards
Caucasian babies.
As for the source
of the Jezebel, black women had no control over their
own bodies during slavery given that they were being
auctioned off and bred to maximize profits. Nonetheless,
it was in the interest of plantation owners to propagate
the lie that sisters were sluts inclined to mate
indiscriminately.
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The White Masters of the
World
From
The World and Africa, 1965
By W. E. B. Du Bois
W. E. B. Du Bois’
Arraignment and Indictment of White Civilization
(Fletcher)
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Ancient African Nations
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If you like this page consider making a donation
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Negro Digest /
Black World
Browse all issues
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Enjoy!
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The Death of Emmett Till by Bob Dylan
/
The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll
/
Only a Pawn in Their Game
Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson Thanks America for
Slavery /
George Jackson /
Hurricane Carter
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The Journal of Negro History issues at Project Gutenberg
The
Haitian Declaration of Independence 1804
/
January 1, 1804 -- The Founding of
Haiti
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posted 24 July 2008
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