There's Always Work at the Post Office: African American Postal Workers and the Fight for Jobs, Justice, and Equality PDF
Preview There's Always Work at the Post Office: African American Postal Workers and the Fight for Jobs, Justice, and Equality
THERE’S ALWAYS WORK AT THE POST OFFICE The University of North Carolina Press Chapel Hill THERE’S ALWAYS WORK AT THE POST OFFICE African American Postal Workers and the Fight for Jobs, Justice, and Equality PHILIP F. RUBIO ∫ 2010 The University of North Carolina Press All rights reserved Manufactured in the United States of America Designed by Jacquline Johnson Set in Baskerville MT by Keystone Typesetting, Inc. The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and durability of the Committee on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity of the Council on Library Resources. The University of North Carolina Press has been a member of the Green Press Initiative since 2003. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Rubio, Philip F. There’s always work at the post o≈ce: African American postal workers and the fight for jobs, justice, and equality/Philip F. Rubio. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. isbn 978-0-8078-3342-1 (cloth: alk. paper) isbn 978-0-8078-5986-5 (pbk.: alk. paper) 1. African American postal service employees—History. 2. African Americans—Employment—History. 3. Postal service—Employees—Labor unions—United States— History. I. Title. he6499.r82 2010 331.6%396073—dc22 2009049091 cloth 14 13 12 11 10 5 4 3 2 1 paper 14 13 12 11 10 5 4 3 2 1 TO EVERYONE WHO HAS EVER MOVED THE MAIL This page intentionally left blank CONTENTS Preface xi Acknowledgments xv Abbreviations xvii Chronology xix Introduction 1 ONE Who Worked at the Post O≈ce (before 1940)? 16 TWO Fighting Jim Crow at Home during World War II (1940–1946) 51 THREE Black-Led Movement in the Early Cold War (1946–1950) 74 FOUR Fighting Jim Crow and McCarthyism (1947–1954) 99 FIVE Collapsing Jim Crow Postal Unionism in the 1950s (1954–1960) 121 SIX Interesting Convergences in the Early Sixties Post O≈ce (1960–1963) 148 SEVEN Black Women in the 1960s Post O≈ce and Postal Unions (1960–1969) 171 EIGHT Civil Rights Postal Unionism (1963–1966) 191 NINE Prelude to a Strike (1966–1970) 207 TEN The Great Postal Wildcat Strike of 1970 233 ELEVEN Post-Strike (1970–1971) 262 Epilogue 275 Conclusion 286 Notes 287 Bibliography 409 Index 433 ILLUSTRATIONS William H. Carney 17 John W. Curry 21 Minnie Cox 24 Wayne Wellington Cox 25 Railway Mail Service clerk, 1913 31 Hubert Henry Harrison 35 James Cobb 52 nalc national convention in August 1974 in Seattle, Washington 66 National Alliance District One (Texas and Louisiana) Auxiliary convention, 1978 79 Rowena Hairston 80 Raydell Moore 84 Heman Marion Sweatt 93 Heman Marion Sweatt giving a speech at a National Alliance Fourth of July picnic 94 Bertram A. Washington 105 Letter carriers in Mobile, Alabama, 1956 118 National Alliance members lobbying members of Congress, ca. 1950s 127 nalc Memphis Branch 27 Marching Band in 1954 132 Arthur Ryland 147 President John F. Kennedy signs Executive Order 10988 on January 17, 1962 149 nalc Separate Charter Committee delivers its report on nalc integrating the remaining segregated branches at the nalc national convention in Denver, September 6, 1962 150 Sam Armstrong 158 Samuel Lovett 159 Eleanor Bailey 172 Workers in one of the main post o≈ces in New York City 173 Post o≈ce recruiting ‘‘job mobile’’ in 1968 in New York City 179 John Strachan 181 Gregory Wilson, Frederick John, and Joann Flagler 182 Carlton Tilley 183 John Adams 184 Evelyn Craig Brown 188 nalc Forty Branch 41 letter carriers apply for welfare at the Brooklyn Department of Social Services o≈ce, 1969 208 Clerks sorting mail by carrier route, 1969 212 Postal workers protesting ‘‘Nixon’s nothing’’ 4.1 percent raise, June 20, 1969 232 Cleveland Morgan 234 Richard Thomas and Je√ Perry 236 Vincent Sombrotto and Morris ‘‘Moe’’ Biller 238 Postal workers on strike in New York City, March 1970 242 Vincent Sombrotto, Al Marino, and Frank Orapello 244 mbpu npu Militants take over the stage at the New York City - strike meeting on March 18, 1970 245 Joseph Henry 250 Countee S. Abbott 264 The National Alliance picketing post-strike negotiations between the post o≈ce and postal unions, March 27, 1970 270 Robert White and John W. White before a congressional subcommittee 278 Twenty-first-century equipment 282 William H. Burrus Jr. 283 nalc Branch 142 stewards being sworn in, Washington, D.C., 2002 284
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