A Decisive Decade: An Insider's View of the Chicago Civil Rights Movement during the 1960s

2. Campaigns on the Employment Front

16 2. Campaigns on the Employment Front In Chicago, the racial division of the labor market, resulting from discrimination and segregation in the labor market, has created serious problems for both Negroes and whites. —Harold Brown and Bennett Hymer, “The Negro Worker in the Chicago Labor Market,” 1968 Throughout my career, the employment relationship between labor and management has been the central focus for research, teaching, and practice . Initially, my exposure to race relations in employment was very much academic. For example, my study (earlier described) of the unsuccessful effort by the labor movement to organize the nonprofessional workers (mostly black) at two hospitals in Chicago was undertaken as a traditional research project. I crossed the threshold and became active in the developing civil rights movement as a result of meeting Tim Black, also a member of the Unitarian Church. By day, Timuel Black was an inspired teacher at Hyde Park High School. He invariably found creative ways to motivate his students to move over the barriers that existed for black people in the labor market. Often he recruited alumni to speak to his classes; in a powerful way, they served as role models to challenge his promising students. Born and raised in Chicago, Tim was very active in the local Chicago chapter of the American Federation of Teachers. But by far his most important extracurricular work was with the Chicago chapter of the Negro American Labor Council (NALC). This organization was founded by A. Philip Campaigns on the Employment Front 17 Randolph, president of the Sleeping Car Porters Union—which was, important to note, the only all-black-led union in the AFL-CIO. At the national AFL-CIO convention in 1960, Randolph observed that, although there were some black members in the railroad industry (primarily porters and waiters in the union that he headed), very few blacks enjoyed the opportunity to work as skilled craftsmen. George Meany, president of the AFL-CIO, who had come out of the skilled trades, responded by asking, “Who the hell chose you to be spokesman for the Negro people?” This response created a stir, not only among the black trade union representatives attending the convention but also among the more liberal whites.1 As a result of this rebuff, Randolph called for an organizing conference in Detroit, and the NALC was formed, with Randolph as its first president. The stated mission was to create jobs in industry and government and to equalize opportunities for people of color. Tim Black became the first president of the Chicago chapter when Willoughby Abner, an official with the United Auto Workers (UAW), nominated him for this position. Some wondered whether it was wise for Randolph and other black leaders to form a separate organization. Whether it was wise or not, the move was certainly necessary to focus attention on the labor market conditions facing blacks. While some labor leaders (such as Walter Reuther, president of the UAW, and Ralph Helstein, president of the United Packinghouse Workers) were very outspoken on the subject of civil rights and the need to improve the economic position of blacks, in general the labor movement was indifferent or negative (as illustrated by Meany’s reaction to Randolph’s request for special action). While the AFL-CIO had taken action against several unions for being Communist-dominated or corrupt , resulting in these unions’ being expelled from the house of labor, no such action had been taken against unions that were known to be excluding blacks from membership, especially the craft unions.2 Lack of leadership in behalf of the “Negro issue” at the top of the AFL-CIO was very disheartening to Tim and the A. Philip Randolph, president of the Sleeping Car Porters Union and national president of NALC. LBJ Library, photo by Yoichi Yakamoto, file #A1070–14a. Campaigns on the Employment Front 18 other leaders of the NALC. Leaders taking a stand could make a critical difference , as had been illustrated in the 1940s by the integration of conductors and motormen working for the Chicago Transit Authority. Blacks in Chicago had long resented being unable to obtain jobs for which they were qualified in the transit industry. While large numbers of blacks used the transportation system as passengers, very few if any served as motormen or conductors. In August 1943, black action groups staged a series of meetings and demonstrations with banners demanding “Jobs for Negroes on the...