African-American Women and the Struggle for Equality in the Meatpacking Industry, 1940-1960

Between 1940 and 1960, African-American women in the United Packinghouse Workers of America (UPWA) forged interracial coalitions to address race and sex discrimination in the meatpacking industry. Drawing upon experiences obtained in African-American community organizations, they took advantage of openings provided by the UPWA's progressive leadership to attack companies' discriminatory employment practices and break down workplace segregation. The racial integration of women's work spaces solidified interracial alliances and helped African-American and white women recognize shared interests based upon gender. With the help of UPWA-organized women's committees and conventions, women urged the union to confront wage differentials between male and female workers. In addition, they called the union's attention to the lack of women representatives in the union hierarchy and sexist behavior of male unionists.