Monday, November 25, 2013

Addie Wyatt Succeeded Under Triple Jeopardy


By
Dr. E. Faye Williams, Esq.
11-15-13


Trice Edney Wire Service – I write this week to affirm my understanding that we don't have to wait for Women's History or Black History Month to talk about Black women.  In honor of Addie Wyatt and on the occasion of receiving the United Food and Commercial Workers Minority Coalition’s Addie Wyatt Award, I want to share information about this incredible woman whose life’s work lives on as a glowing example for women and of dedication to principles of civil and human rights, and service to her community.

Reflecting on the successes of numerous civil rights organizations and dedicated activists, I realize that more than a significant number of our achievements have origins that form under the influence of Addie and women like her.

Upon comparison, I was able to identify many common threads between Addie and me, and that is a source of great pride.  We’re both southern women and both are known to have no hesitation in speaking our minds.  We have both served on high-level Presidential Commissions and have both worked internationally for human justice.  We’re both ministers and both of us have been honored in our selection as Ebony Magazine’s 100 Most Influential African Americans.    

Addie worked for the UFCW and I was supported by them when I ran for Congress.  She helped to organize the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists and they were highly supportive of me, too.  As I developed personally and professionally, Addie served as a major role model in my life.

I’m sure that few who knew Addie in her early years would have imagined the woman she would become.  Although born in Mississippi, coming from humble beginnings, Addie’s story of achievement began in her adopted hometown of Chicago, IL.  Like many who relocated to the north during the era of the Great Migration, she took advantage of the available industrial jobs – hers in meatpacking.              

Also like many in that era, Addie was able to realize a measure of protection with her membership in a labor union.  Her union gave her a platform to demonstrate the strength of her character and leadership skills.  In the early 60’s, she was appointed to a position on the Labor Legislation Committee of the U.S. Commission on the Status of Women.  In 1976, her leadership skills led to her election as International Vice-President of the UFCW.

The strength of her leadership wasn’t confined to being in the labor movement.  Addie was ordained as a minister in the Church of God. Like so many ministers of that era, she used the authority of her pulpit as a vehicle to promote civil rights.  Supporting his fair housing initiatives in Chicago and the goals of the March on Washington, she was one of the thousands of unsung foot soldiers of Dr. King.  

Like many who wax sentimental about the departed, I also make assumptions about how Addie would’ve addressed contemporary issues.  Considering her commitment to racial and gender fairness, I believe the Marissa Alexander case would be a “hot-button” issue in Addie’s life.  I envision Addie speaking out and raising defense funds—but certainly not just talking about what others should do.

In an interview with Elizabeth Balanoff, Addie said, “I find myself as a black woman oft times fighting on three fronts – the worker’s front, the black front and the female front—trying to overcome all of these pressures…Sometimes I think it’s much more difficult as a black woman, because we have to carry the burden of all these problems….”

As a result of her work, and her influence on women of my generation, we have a duty to help women of a younger generation.  More of us must mentor and extend our experiences, knowledge and guidance to those who follow.

(Dr. E. Faye Williams, Chair of the National Congress of Black Women, Inc.  202/678-6788. www.nationalcongressbw.org)

Norm Hill: A Tribute to Bayard Rustin

Bayard Rustin and the Presidential Medal of Freedom: A Perfect Fit
By Norman and Velma Hill

Norman Hill
            In August, President Barack Obama chose civil rights leader Bayard Rustin to posthumously receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom. This recognition is long overdue. While the achievements of fellow recipients are related to the expansion of liberty in its broadest sense, this high honor fits Rustin to a tee.
             Beginning in the early 1940s, Rustin devoted his life and vast array of talents to the advancement of democracy and individual rights for all, at home and abroad. He was a fearless activist, an elegant writer, an astute thinker, a galvanizing speaker, a master strategist, a great organizer, and a mentor and friend.
            Consider this: In 1947, Rustin helped organize the first freedom rides for the cause of racial integration. He was arrested—one among the more than twenty times he was incarcerated for his civil rights activities—and spent 22 days on a North Carolina chain gang for participating in those rides. He wrote an absorbing account of his experience that became part of a successful campaign to abolish the state’s chain gangs, but not before he made the chain-gang he labored in more humane before he left it.
            Understanding that striving for freedom was a global struggle, Rustin visited India in the 1940s to learn more about Mahatma Gandhi’s principles and his anti-colonial movement. Rustin directly applied what he learned when he went south in 1955 during the Montgomery Bus Boycott against segregated seating. There, he advised Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on the full meaning of Gandhi’s pacifism, which barred the use of violence even in self-defense, something Dr. King came to famously and effectively embrace.
After the boycott’s triumph, Rustin convinced King to bring his civil rights struggle to the entire South. In 1957, Rustin played a major role in organizing King’s Southern Christian Leadership Conference, an organization of Southern black pastors pressing for civil rights.
Rustin’s extraordinary organizing abilities were in full display in 1963 when, in a few months, he organized the 250,000-person-strong March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, initiated by his mentor, the great African-American labor leader, A. Philip Randolph. Randolph was also considered the father of the modern civil rights movement. At the time, the march was the largest demonstration in American history, and it helped generate the political momentum for passage of the historic Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965.
            The march, whose 50th anniversary was marked in August, represents a fulfillment of the Randolph/Rustin vision. While Rustin believed in nonviolence, he did not believe that meant passivity. Nonviolence was an active tool for mass movement, grassroots action through which people liberated themselves.
            The Great March was based on the principle that freedom, as Rustin knew, was not given, but had to be seized by the oppressed. The march was also based on the principle of majoritarianism, which Rustin supported as a democratic principle and a practical strategy for racial minorities. He knew that as an oppressed minority, blacks had to initiate their own freedom struggle and that they also had to form coalitions with others to accomplish this.
            Consequently, Rustin reached out to many types of groups, including trade unions. Like Randolph, Rustin understood that blacks were exploited on the basis of class as well as race and, therefore, the best ally of blacks was organized labor, which, in fact, sent tens of thousands of its members to the '63 march.
            Not surprisingly, Rustin, an openly gay man, viewed discrimination against any minority groups as a threat to democracy, and unlike many on the authoritarian Left-Black- black and white- he opposed black racism just as he did the white variety. He also considered a black, go-it-alone strategy doomed to fail. He never stopped trumpeting freedom for all people, which prompted Rustin to stand against colonialism in India and Africa. And, unlike many radicals of his time, he condemned all dictatorships, those of the political left as well as of the right. This principled position moved him to defy those who made fashionable heroes of Mao Zedong and Fidel Castro.
            As close friends of Bayard who worked side-by-side with him in the planning of the 1963 March on Washington, we thank you, President Obama. You could not have chosen a more perfect recipient than Bayard Rustin for this year's Medal of Freedom. And while he died in 1987, he lives through the many of us who knew and loved him, and the millions more who are the beneficiaries of his tireless quest for racial equality, human rights, and worldwide democracy.

            Bayard Rustin will posthumously receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom on Wednesday November 20, 2013.
Bayard Rustin

Saturday, October 5, 2013

10,000 Men Named George: The Legacy of the A. Philip Randolph and the Pullman Porters


I was sitting at home watching college football this evening when I checked my Facebook page and came across a post by Charlie Benn that excited me. His post was a message informing people that 10,000 Men Named George, the movie that tells the story of A. Philip Randolph and the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, the first Black Union in America was on TV. In 1925 Randolph and the Porters began a long twelve year battle with the powerful Pullman company for the right to collectively bargain. Their fight set the civil rights movement in motion and helped transform the American Social and Political system. 

Charlie, one of the most dedicated trade unionists I have ever known, was recently awarded the A. Philip Randolph and Bayard Rustin Award, by the Philadelphia Chapter of APRI. He serves as the Assistant to the Executive Director of Council 13 of the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees - AFSCME. Congratulations Charlie Benn, you deserve to be recognized!


                              

10,000 Men Named George 

Charlie Benn




Friday, October 4, 2013

Celebrating National Hispanic Heritage Month through the Lens of Labor


On September 15, the nation began celebrating National Hispanic Heritage Month, which began as Hispanic Heritage Week when it was originally signed into being by President Lyndon Johnson in 1968. The celebration was created to recognize the contributions of Hispanic and Latinos and their roles in shaping American culture and heritage. The celebration runs through October 15.


During this month long celebration I thought it was important to highlight some of the Hispanic and Latino leaders within the Civil Rights and Labor Movement. While their work has had lasting impacts on our society, the individuals are often overlooked and left out of the mainstream discussions in American history. These leaders are to be commended for their vision, tireless dedication, and activism in helping to improve the lives of Hispanic and Latinos in this country.


As we continue this celebration, I invite you to join me in recognizing the achievements of the leaders listed below along with all of our Hispanic and Latino brothers and sisters who have fought in the struggles for dignity and respect.




Mario G. Obledo -   Considered the "God Father of the Latino Movement in the U.S", he founded the Independent Workers Association Union.

Delores Huerta -     Labor leader and civil rights activist who, co-founded the National Farm Workers Association, which later became the United Farm Workers Union (UFW).


Caesar Chavez -     American farm worker, labor leader and civil rights activist, who, with Dolores Huerta, co-founded the National Farm Workers Association which later became the United Farm Workers Union (UFW).


Bert Corona -    Mexican-American labor and civil rights leader who organized workers for the Congress of Industrial Organizations.


Ernesto Galarza -    Mexican-American labor activist, professor, poet and writer, a key figure in the history of immigrant farm worker organization in California.


Angel G. Luevano -     Mexican-American labor leader and activist who was the principal litigant in the class action suit Luévano v. Campbell.


Nelson Merced -      Massachusetts Latino activist and politician, the first Latino to serve in the Massachusetts House of Representatives and the first Hispanic to hold statewide office in the commonwealth.


Janet Murguia -      President and Chief Executive Officer of the National Council of La Raza (NCLR), the largest national Hispanic civil rights and advocacy organization in the U.S. 


Hilda Solis -     American politician who served as the 25th United States Secretary of Labor from 2009 to 2013.


Baldemar Velásquez -   American labor union activist. He co-founded and is president of the Farm Labor Organizing Committee.

Thomas Perez -     Civil rights lawyer, who is the current United States Secretary of Labor.




Mario G. Obledo


Dolores Huerta
Caesar Chavez 






Learn more about Hispanics and Latinos in the American Labor Movement at the Labor Council for Latino Advancement.

Friday, September 27, 2013

Pittsburgh's historic black musicians' union



Local 471 Historic Marker in Pittsburgh's Hill District
As a civil rights historian and labor activist I am always excited to learn about Blacks and their contributions to the Labor movement. Recently, while looking around the city to learn more about Blacks and their experiences within the powerful trade unions of Pittsburgh, I came across an article in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette, about Pittsburgh's Musicians Local 471, an all Black union featuring George "Duke" Spaulding. It was dated June 22, 2012.

Naturally the article stood out to me as something that would be very interesting to learn about. Yes, I was on cloud nine learning about Local 471, the musicians, entertainers, and all of the contributions they made to the Black culture in Pittsburgh. Their role often overlooked within the broader labor movement, had a tremendous impact on Pittsburgh's Hill District community, which has been called the "cultural center of African-American life in Pittsburgh." However, there was a deeper connection to this story than I had anticipated, one that is very personal. 

As I read more, I learned a great deal about Brother George "Duke" Spaulding, and while I am a die hard trade unionist, I am not referring to him as brother in that capacity. I am proudly calling him brother in the context of our Masonic connection. Brother Spaulding and I are members of the same Consistory, St. Cyprians #4 and also as Shriner's in Sahara Temple #2. I have sat with and interacted with brother Spaulding on numerous occasions and must say I never knew that he was so instrumental in Pittsburgh Black Musicians Local Union 471.

Hat's off to you brother Spaulding and all of those who were with you helping to pave the way!





 Sahara Temple #2 - Brother Spaulding left front row








Monday, September 23, 2013

Brother Outsider Screening and Discussion at the Monroeville United Methodist Church



Bayard Rustin
On Wednesday, September 18, I had the wonderful opportunity to participate in a discussion at the Monroeville United Methodist Church, on the life and legacy of Civil Rights Leader Bayard Rustin. Pastor Tom Barnicott, the organizer of the the screening of, 'Brother Outsider: the Life of Bayard Rustin,' said that the event, "was to follow up to the recent celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom," of which Rustin served as chief organizer. 

During my remarks, I emphasized the longstanding relationship that Rustin had with Civil Rights and Labor leader A. Philip Randolph. This relationship dated back to the 1940's, when they worked together on the first March on Washington, called the March on Washington Movement, pressuring President Franklin Roosevelt to issue Executive Order 8802 which barred racial discrimination in defense industry contracts and the federal government.

In addition to his work with Randolph, we also discussed his checkered working relationship with Dr. Martin Luther King. We examined his role in the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott and the creation of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference-SCLC. This allowed us to focus on his keen skills as an organizer and his dedication to the principles of non violence.Wrapping up the evening we talked about Rustin's sexuality and how he carried himself as an out and open homosexual. 

I extend my heartfelt thanks to Pastor Barnicott for the invitation and for allowing me the opportunity to participate in this wonderful experience with his church and the greater Monroeville community. I look forward to working with him in the very near future.


                                                            Trailer to Brother Outsider


Learn more about Bayard Rustin and the Brother Outsider film at Bayard Rustin

Learn more about the Monroeville United Methodist Church at Monroeville United Methodist Church




Monday, September 9, 2013

A. Philip Randolph, Labor Day Message September 5, 1966





A. Philip Randolph addressing
the 1961 AFL-CIO Convention.
Eighty-four years ago, in 1882, the Knights of Labor celebrated the first Labor Day in our nation's history. In the wake of the great Civil War, the Knights organized integrated union locals in the South and ran Negroes for Public office. Southern oligarchs finally used racism as a weapon to destroy those early southern trade unions.

It is only fitting that we pause today to recall the dream of the early movement. For that dream of a Negro-Labor Alliance is even more relevant today than it was eighty-four years ago.

We must pause to remember that the modern civil rights gains were based largely on the economic progress the Negro registered with labor's help in the 1940's and 1950's. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and  1965 could not have been passed if the labor movement had not worked around the clock - concentrating its expert lobbying on congressmen whose constituencies were not substantially negro. The Negro nonviolent movement owes a great deal to Gandhi and Thoreau, but it is also indebted to the American labor movement for much of its techniques - for example, the boycott, mass picketing and, most important, the sit-down strike.

Today, thanks to the monumental sacrifices of civil rights workers, the support of labor and religious groups, the Negro has at long last won his juridical rights. But in many areas of the South he is still too unorganized and too intimidated to use his vote effectively. He is also too poor to use integrated facilities, and too poor to buy homes in the newly integrated suburbs. In fact, twelve years after the historic Supreme Court decision outlawing segregated schools, more Negro children attend all-black schools than in 1954. Moreover, the slums are more dilapidated and joblessness among Negro teenagers is increasing.

The only institution in this society whose economic programs coincides with the needs of the civil rights movement is the labor movement. Full and fair employment, a higher minimum wage, housing subsidies and democratic economic planning are the answers to Negro impoverishment and, let me add, to white impoverishment as well. They are the basic plans of the AFL-CIO economic program.

The American Federation of Teachers is vigorously organizing Negroes, The AFL-CIO has guaranteed the funds needed to organize the migrant laborer, and the Industrial Union Department has opened community grievance office in Chicago to help Dr. Martin Luther King organize. Labor's fight for the repeal of Section 14(b) of the Taft-Hartley Act will help the Negro. In the "right-to-work" states, not only do Negroes earn less than white workers, but they are falling further and further behind.
In the area of political action the goals of the labor movement and the civil rights movement are one and the same. When both movements joined hands Dixiecrats were defeated in Tennessee and Virginia. When they were divided and did not coordinate efforts in Alabama, racist-reactionaries won.

And thus we see that social justice (the objective of the civil rights movement) and economic reform (the objective of the labor movement) have become inextricably intertwined in our lifetime. A separation between organized labor and the Negro struggle can only encourage the growth of reactionary currents in American political and cultural life. Alone, the civil rights movement cannot win jobs, better housing and decent schools. Alone, the labor movement does not have the power to defeat anti-labor legislation and to protect workers rights. 

The Negro-Labor alliance is our strongest weapon against the coalition of reactionary Republicans and Dixiecrats who deprive the Negro of his civil rights, who would repeal social progress. The political power of this reactionary coalition must be shattered. It must be shattered in Congress where the seniority system and he lingering disenfranchisement of Negroes enables it to exercise a strangle hold over Congressional committees. When Representative Howard Smith of Virginia was defeated, he was immediately replaced as Chairman of the House Rules Committee by an ardent Mississippi segregationist.

It must be shattered on the local level where right-wing groups are launching a reactionary counterrevolution against the civil rights revolution. It must be shattered in the right-to-work states where it perpetuates a permanent depression economy. The reactionary coalition which denies us a substantial minimum wage, which denies us rent subsidies and which diminishes and demeans the war on poverty, can only be smashed by a strong Negro-Labor alliance. For when the masses of white workers join black workers in the streets and at the polls we will be well on the way to the democratic political revolution which will free all Americans from minority rule.

We must not only proclaim the need for an alliance, we must prove to the advocates of black power, to the worker who fears his job and his home, to the depressed and alienated white poor, that progressive social change is possible. We must join in the fight for an end to poverty. 

Let me say here that too many Americans are ignorant of labor’s role in the fight against poverty, which is the fight for economic democracy. Between 1960 and 1965, after-tax corporate profits rose 67 percent, as compared with the rise of only 33 percent in wages, salaries and fringe benefits. Let these facts be borne in mind by those who were outraged by the airline strike and by the final settlement of 6 percent. I contend that the machinists' strike, which sought to divert enormous corporate profits into workers' wages and fringe benefits, struck a blow on behalf of the war on poverty. 

For when wages and salaries lag behind profits, income is distributed upward; consumer purchasing power falls behind productivity and the end result is rising unemployment and poverty. In the face of fantastic corporate profits, guidelines which would restrict wage increase to 3.2 percent endanger the whole economy and create special hardships for workers at the bottom of the ladder.

This is only one example of how our economic policies contradict the war on poverty. Training and community action alone will avail us little if the wage-profit gap continues to spread. Yet, the 1964 tax cut had an effect of increasing corporate after-tax profits by $3 billion -- more than the cost of the entire federal war on poverty. And still there are those who would tell us that we lack the resources for a war on poverty, that domestic social spending must be slashed because of the war in Vietnam. They would have this war borne upon the bent shoulders of the poor.

I am proud that these voices of reaction are most sternly resisted by the American labor movement - at the collective bargaining table and, when there is no other recourse, in strikes and picket lines.

At the planning meeting for the White House Conference "To Fulfill These Rights" I proposed a $100 billion Freedom Budget, a massive investment to destroy the slums and eliminate poverty.

The Budget attacks all of the major causes of poverty - unemployment and underemployment, substandard pay, inadequate social insurance and welfare payments to those who cannot or should not be employed, bad housing, deficiencies in health services, education and training, and fiscal monetary policies which tend to redistribute income regressively rather than progressively. The Freedom Budget leaves no room for discrimination in any form because its programs are addressed to all who need more opportunity and improved incomes and living standards, not to just some of them.

Let me interject a word here to those who say that Negroes are asking just for another handout and are refusing to help themselves. From the end of the nineteenth century up to the last generation, the United States absorbed and provided economic opportunity for millions and tens of millions of immigrants, these people were usually uneducated and a good many could not speak English. Yet the economy could profitably employ them. They had nothing but their hard work to offer, and they labored long hours, often in miserable sweatshops and unsafe mines. But the industrial revolution had need of muscle and immigrants could learn gradually and move up the ladder to greater skills. There were thus economic trends which helped people escape poverty. And then, perhaps the most decisive act of self-help on the part of the older generation was to organize the trade union movement. Unions not only struggled and won collective bargaining rights in the shop, they joined with the middle class reformists and the religious men of conscience and all partisans of social change.

Today, it is absolutely necessary that we go beyond the games of the past and guarantee a real right to work. For the American economy has become much more sophisticated than it was a generation ago; it needs scientists and engineers much more than muscle power.

Negroes, who have been driven off the farm into a city life for which they are not prepared, cannot be compared to the immigrants of old. The tenements which were jammed by newcomers were way stations of hope. The ghettos of today have become dead ends of despair. We must guarantee full and fair employment - it can no longer be a question of pious statements of public intent which lead only to deeper frustration. Twenty-two years late we must return to the idea of a legal obligatory guarantee of work. There have been too many vague promises.

The President's Commission on Automation reported that there are 5,300,000 public service jobs unfilled right now in health education, beautification, and the like. One of our top priorities should be training to fill them.

We have just had a debate over extending minimum wage coverage to the poorest of the poor. Opponents of that wage have said that if employers of stoop labor in the fields were required to pay a decent living wage, or if the salaries of hospital employees were raised, thee occupations would be destroyed because the employer would be motivated to mechanize. I see no reason why these occupations should be preserved so long as useful and humane work can be found for those displaced. Let us not treat the unemployed and underemployed as a burden, but as a reservoir of talent who, if only given a chance, could make this society a better place to live in for all.

I can anticipate arguments which say that this program of massive spending discriminates in the favor of the black man, or the poor generally. That is not true, It is only the first installment in giving those least able to pay at least the public assistance in housing that we have lavished on the rich.

After World War II, the GI Bill of Rights was instituted to help veterans for to school. It would be a wise social investment to pay the veterans of the ghetto to go to school today. And let us invest so that after we have torn down the slums and built new housing, schools and hospital aids, artist and actors and their apprentices. We can build new towns, but not as hideouts for the white middle class where social problems and responsibilities are ignored. We can plan new towns from the ground up as integrated, productive, productive communities.

We have before us the fantastic potential to celebrate the second century of America's existence by the abolition of ghettos and slums. 

And I submit that this glorious dream is possible only if the civil rights and trade union movement work together hand in hand.

Monday, August 19, 2013

Obama Awards Bayard Rustin -- the Man Behind the March -- the Presidential Medal of Freedom

Peter Dreier 
E.P. Clapp Distinguished Professor of Politics, Occidental College

Bayard Rustin reads the demands at the 1963 March on Washington


On Thursday, the White House announced that Bayard Rustin, the trailblazing civil rights activist, will be posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award in the United States.

The timing couldn't be better. Rustin was a key advisor to Martin Luther King and the primary organizer of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom -- a job he seemed to have prepared for all his life. Many Americans will be celebrating that event's 50th anniversary on August 28, and insisting that the country complete the march's unfinished business of economic justice, full employment, voting rights, and equal opportunity.



Honoring Rustin with the Medal of Freedom tells us something about how far America has come as a nation in the past 50 years. After all, he had four strikes against him. He was a pacifist, a radical, black and gay. Controversy surrounded him all his life.

Read the entire story at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/peter-dreier/bayard-rustin-presidential-medal-of-freedom_b_3731304.html


The Big Six 1963


The Big Six

The leaders of the most prominent civil rights organizations of the 1960's. 
Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee -SNCC, Negro American Labor Council -NALC, Urban League, Southern Christian Leadership Conference -SCLC, Congress of Racial Equality -CORE, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People -NAACP. 



   From l-r: John Lewis 23, Whitney Young 42, A. Philip Randolph 74,
Martin Luther King Jr. 34, James Farmer 43, and Roy Wilkins 62.


Tuesday, August 13, 2013

Gentle Warrior: A. Philip Randolph (1889 - 1979) | Communications Workers of America

The Communication Workers of America - CWA recognize A. Philip Randolph and his contributions to the American Labor and Civil Rights Movements.

"The words and deeds of A. Philip Randolph show us the unyielding strength of his life-long struggle for full human rights for the Blacks and all the disinherited of the nation. In his cry for freedom and justice, Mr. Randolph echoed the fury of all the enslaved. It is a fight for freedom with the kind of desperate strength that only deep wounds can call forth. With none of his words, however, does Mr. Randolph turn aside the help of others. From the day of his arrival in Harlem in 1911, Mr. Randolph was in the thick of the struggle for freedom for Black Americans."

Gentle Warrior: A. Philip Randolph (1889 - 1979) | Communications Workers of America

Saturday, July 20, 2013

Prince Hall Shriners - Who We Are and What We Stand For


2013 Sahara Temple #2 and Sahara Court # 9

1st Annual Joint Charity Ball



Noble Jamaal Craig and Illustrious Potentate Donald E. Palm

Visit our website at http://www.aeaonms.org/index.htm

History

The Ancient Egyptian Arabic Order Nobles Mystic Shrine of North and South America and Its Jurisdictions, Inc. has a long and colorful history. The order was established as an Imperial Council of Prince Hall Shriners on June 3, 1893, in Chicago, Illinois, by 13 Prince Hall Masons under the leadership of John George Jones. They met in the Apollo Hall on State Street where Palestine Temple was organized. On June l0, 1893, Jones and his associates organized the Imperial Grand Council of Prince Hall Shriners. Jones, who was an attorney, immediately went about organizing Prince Hall Shrine Temples in Los Angeles, California, Washington D.C., Jacksonville, Florida, Indianapolis, Indiana, Baltimore, Maryland, Kansas City and St. Louis, Missouri, New York City, New York, Cleveland, Ohio, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Providence, Rhode Island, Alexandria and Richmond, Virginia. In September of 1889, Isaac L.W. Holland, the Illustrious Potentate of Pyramid Temple in Philadelphia, sent out a call to members of Prince Hall Shrine Temples within the nation to meet with him for the purpose of reorganizing the Imperial Grand Council. On December 12, 1900, a meeting was held in Philadelphia with officers and members attending from Temples in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and from Alexandria, Virginia, At this meeting the Imperial Council was reorganized and the order adopted a new name: Imperial Council of the Ancient Egyptian Arabic Order Nobles Mystic Shrine of North and South America and its Jurisdiction, Incorporated.

The first annual session of the newly organized Imperial Council was held on September 25, 1901, in Newark, New Jersey, it was here that a Constitution was formally adopted, establishing the fraternity as it is today, and designating the Imperial Council as a charitable, benevolent, fraternal. and social organization, dedicated to the welfare and extension of Prince Hall Freemasonry, and decreeing that membership in the order be confined to regular freemasons who were members of lodges descended from African Lodge #459 (African Lodge #459 established on September 29, 1784, was formally African Lodge #l formed on July 3, 1776; Massachusetts).

The Worldwide Fraternal Shrine Family has a membership of approximately 35,000 in some 227 Shrine Temples and 200 Courts, its women's auxiliary, the Daughters of Isis, throughout the Continental United States, Canada, Germany, Italy, England, Spain, Hawaii, Japan, Korea, Guam, Thailand, Panama, and the Bahamas. The Ancient Egyptian Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine is primarily a benevolent, charitable and fraternal organization, Its membership is dedicated to the principle of fostering civic, economic and educational development programs throughout the world.

The Fraternal Order has fostered the following programs:

  • Annual grants of thousands of dollars to the Prince Hall Shrine Health and Medical Research Foundation.
     
  • Annual grants to several institutions of higher learning and to hospitals throughout the United States for Medical research.
     
  • A National Scholarship Grand Program for young ladies between the ages of 17-24 to attend college and universities of their choice,
     
  • Annual Educational Grants for economically deprived youths.
     
  • A program of financial aid to youth in their fight against drugs, crimes, and delinquency.
     
  • Annual grants to the N.A.A.C.P., the Legal Defense Fund, and the United Negro College Fund.
     
  • Support summer camps for youth,
     
  • Voter education and registration drives.
     
  • Establishment of and maintaining dialogue with White House officials, Congress men, and national leaders on various issues affecting African-Americans and others 

Wednesday, July 3, 2013

"The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro"

What Frederick Douglass had to say about commemorating the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

"What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? I answer; a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim. To him, your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sound of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your denunciation of tyrants brass fronted impudence; your shout of liberty and equality, hollow mockery; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanks-givings, with all your religious parade and solemnity, are to him, mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy -- a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages. There is not a nation on the earth guilty of practices more shocking and bloody than are the people of the United States, at this very hour."

~Frederick Douglass July 1852

Click here to read the entire speech:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4h2927t.html

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Celebrating Women's History Month - My Salute to Roz Pelles



Roz Pelles


Following on the heels of the Interfaith Worker Justice, a Civil Rights organization that “advances the rights of workers by engaging diverse faith communities into action, from grassroots organizing….” in celebrating Women’s History Month and honoring Roz Pelles, I, too, would like to take a moment to tip my hat to my dear friend and mentor and recognize her and all of her achievements as she enters this new phase of her life.
Roz, a trailblazer in the struggle for equality, has been a tremendous asset to the Civil and Human Rights Movement in many capacities. An attorney by trade, she has served as Executive Director of the National Rainbow Coalition and as a Special Assistant to Rev. Jesse Jackson. She is currently a member of the Board of Directors of the prestigious Highlander Research and Education Center located in Tennessee. This is the center where Civil Rights legends Septima Clark, Rosa Parks, Rev. James Lawson, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and many others trained. She also serves as the Board Chair of the Interfaith Worker Justice.
I was fortunate to meet and develop a relationship with Roz while she served as the Director of the national AFL-CIO Civil, Human, and Women’s Rights Department. Through her work there, she has done an exceptional job carrying on the legacy that Civil Rights and Labor Leader A. Philip Randolph and Bayard Rustin established in moving the AFL-CIO to the forefront of the American Civil Rights Movement.
Working for social justice and fighting for equality is no easy task.  The work requires us each to be a dedicated and loyal activist, with a strong commitment to serving others. We are often asked to make great personal sacrifices. In my experiences working with Roz, I have often seen her go well above the call of duty in this majestic struggle. Last fall we worked hand-in-hand in Pennsylvania, educating voters on the new rules regarding the repressive Voter ID Law that had been enacted. For the past five years, I have worked closely with her on the annual AFL-CIO Martin Luther King Holiday Observance. This year the festivities were held in Philadelphia, PA and I knew that it would be special because when you work with Roz, that is just how things flow. However, what I did not know is this year would be my last observance working with Roz as our leader. After a long, illustrious career, I hope that you enjoy your retirement my friend, my mentor, and my sister in the struggle. I salute you on a job well done!!! 

To read the article from the Interfaith Worker Justice on Roz click here:

http://www.iwj.org/blog/international-womens-day 



Roz and I at the 2013 AFL-CIO

Martin Luther King Holiday Observance



Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Celebrating Black History

By Rebecca Wells-Gonzalez

McKeesport, PA (February 22, 2013) –With
To celebrate Black History Month, ResCare
Workforce Services in McKeesport, PA,
invited civil rights historian and labor
rights activist Jamaal Craig to speak to the
youth about African American history and
the Freedom Riders.

holidays such as Groundhog Day, Valentine’s Day, Mardi Gras and President’s Day, February is truly a month to celebrate. It’s also a month to remember. Beginning in 1976, Black History Month is a time to celebrate and recognize the
contributions and important roles of African
Americans in our country’s history.

To celebrate, ResCare Workforce Services in McKeesport invited Jamaal Craig, a civil rights historian and labor rights activist, to speak to the youth in their program about African American history in the United States, specifically the Freedom Riders.


“The youth were quite surprised with the
information Mr. Craig provided and were
surprisingly unaware, before his visit, of many aspects of the civil rights movement,” Kathleen McGrath McQuillan, project manager for the ResCare Workforce Services operation, said. “Through his visits with us at Mon Valley Bridge and also the New Kensington site, he has become a valuable resource for our youth in all areas of civil rights, as well as history, politics and how all of it relates to them as individuals.”

Mr. Craig did such a wonderful job that he has been invited back to
share the movie “Freedom Riders” with the youth. After showing the movie, he will lead a discussion focused on how concepts from the movie relate to the youths’ lives today.

Mr. Craig left the display that he used for his presentation for students to read at their own pace. The display details information about the Freedom Riders and their stories. Kathleen McGrath McQuillan, project manager, was pleased that he left the display.
“Everyone who visits the Mon Valley Bridge will benefit from this display on the Freedom Riders,” Ms. McQuillan said.

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

African-American Literature that has Shaped Black Culture


As we continue to celebrate Black History Month I wanted to share some insight into the types of literature that have helped shape the way that I view race, class, and culture. I have listed my very own personal top ten most influential authors along with the specific work that has impacted me the most. It is no secret that the power and forces of bigotry in American society has inflicted many scars on black culture. These authors however, have been able to use their creativity to bring to the surface issues that we as a society both black and white have often times chosen not to confront and frequently have turned our heads the other way in. Their creative genius and literary talents have helped us define and discuss a wide range of issues that many people struggle with such as inferiority complexes, racial uplift, invisibility, rejection, religion, repression, sexism, educational disparities, and trauma. I invite you to take some time to learn more about these authors and their impressive contributions to literature and Black Culture.

·        Richard Wright - Native Son and Black Boy

·        Toni Morrison - The Bluest Eye

·        Ralph EllisonInvisible Man

·        James BaldwinGo Tell It on the Mountain

·        Paul Laurence DunbarWe Wear the Mask

·        Maya Angelou - I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

·        Claude McKayHome to Harlem

·        W.E.B. DuBois - The Souls of Black Folks

·        Zora Neal Hurston - Their Eyes Were Watching God

·        Michael Eric Dyson - Debating Race with Michael Eric Dyson