African Americans and Labor -- 2025 Black History Month Theme

African Americans and Labor

The African Americans and Labor display celebrates the 2025 Black History Month theme - African Americans and Labor. We also commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters and Maids (BSCP) founded by A. Philip Randolph. In 1935, the BSCP became the first African American union to receive a charter from the American Federation of Labor (AFL). Africans, African Americans, and Africans in the Diaspora continue to organize and protest economic inequality and social  injustice.

Modern African American Union Leaders

Modern African American Union Leaders Karen Lewis, Chicago Teachers Union, Chris Smalls, Amazon Labor Union, and Jaribu Hill, Workers' Center for Human Rights, advocate for a living wage, workers benefits, and better working conditions. Modern union organizing involves traditional labor strategies, such as grassroots organizing, collective bargaining, and work stoppages, as well as 21st century use of social media.

Union Leaders

Karen Lewis - President Chicago Teachers Union (CTU), 2010 to 2018

Chris Smalls - President Amazon Labor Union (ALU), 2021 to 2024.

Jaribu Hill - Executive Director Mississippi Workers' Center for Human Rights, 1996 to Present.

Books

Arnesen, Eric. The Black Worker: Race, Labor, and Civil Rights since Emancipation. University of Illinois Press, 2007.

Todd-Breland, Elizabeth. A Political Education: Black Politics and Education Reform in Chicago since the 1960s. The University of North Carolina Press, 2018.

African American Labor Union Trailblazers

African American Labor Union Trailblazers Richard L. Davis, United Mine Workers of America, (UMWA), Bayard Rustin, American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations, (AFL-CIO), A Philip Randolph, Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters and Maids (BSCP), Rev. Addie L. Wyatt, The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW) prepared the way, for 21st century union organizing and social justice movements by, building coalitions with African American communities and organizations and by confronting discrimination in the workplace and unions.

Labor Union Trailblazers

Richard L. Davis - Member United Mine Workers of America, (UMWA National Executive Board in 1886 and 1897.

Bayard Rustin – Director American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) A. Philip Randolph Institute, 1965 to 1979.

A Philip Randolph – President Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters and Maids (BSCP), 1925 to 1968.

Rev. Addie L. Wyatt - International Vice President of the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW) 1976.

Books

Doppen, Frans H. Richard L. Davis and the Color Line in Ohio Coal: A Hocking Valley Mine Labor Organizer, 1862-1900. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers, 2016.

Kersten, Andrew Edmund, and Clarence Lang, editors. Reframing Randolph: Labor, Black Freedom, and the Legacies of A. Philip Randolph. New York University Press, 2015.

Early Labor Education Leaders

Early Labor Education Leaders Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune, Bethune-Cookman University, Lucinda Todd, Topeka National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), and Booker T. Washington, Tuskegee University, have varied educational philosophies and contributed to the vocational, industrial, and academic training of African Americans. Dr. Bethune believed in a well-rounded education based on activism and civil rights. Mrs. Todd fought to end racial segregation in schools.  Mr. Washington believed that Negro education should center around manual labor, economic development, self-help, and vocational school training.

Early Labor Education Leaders

Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune – President Bethune-Cookman University, 1923 to 1942.

Lucinda Todd, Field Secretary Topeka National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), 1950s.

Booker T. Washington, President Tuskegee University, 1881 to 1915.

Books

Jones, Jacqueline. Labor of Love, Labor of Sorrow: Black Women, Work and the Family, from Slavery to the Present. Basic Books, 2010.

Reich, Steven A. A Working People: A History of African American Workers since Emancipation. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2013.

Labor and Social Justice Leaders  

Labor and Social Justice Leaders Dr. W.E.B. Du Bois, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), and Dr. Angela Davis, Critical Resistance believe in organizing direct action for the equitable treatment of workers by expanding their rights and protections through laws and legislation.

Labor and Social Justice Leaders   

Dr. W.E.B. Du Bois - Editor National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) Crisis Magazine, 1910 to 1934. 

Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. – President Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), 1957-1968. 

Dr. Angela Davis – Member Critical Resistance, 1998 to Present. 

Books

Katz, Michael B. and Thomas J. Sugrue. W.E.B. DuBois, Race, and the City: The Philadelphia Negro and Its Legacy. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1998. 

Honey, Michael K. To the Promised Land: Martin Luther King and the Fight for Economic Justice. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2018. 

Conclusion

The 2025 Black History Month theme, “African Americans and Labor," encourages us to honor past achievements and reaffirm our commitment to advocating for workers’ rights, including a living wage, civil rights, workers' benefits, and better working conditions. This commitment can be achieved through grassroots organizing, community collaboration, collective bargaining, work stoppage, and supporting labor laws and legislation. Supporting union organizing for Agriculture workers, Fulfillment Center workers, Higher Education workers, Municipal workers, and Tech workers. Service workers, and Tech workers.