The Civil Rights History Project: Survey of Collections and Repositories

Coalition of Black Trade Unionists records

Repository: Wayne State University. Walter P. Reuther Library

Collection Description (CRHP): In addition to extensive written records, this collection includes taped interviews with members of the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists.

Collection Description (Extant): The Coalition of Black Trade Unionists was founded at a conference in Chicago in 1972 attended by more than 1,200 black union officials and rank-and-file members. By 2001, CBTU counted more than fifty chapters, including one in Ontario, Canada. The organization committed itself to using political action and union organizing campaigns to increase black participation and influence in the labor movement and insure social and economic progress for working people and the poor. The collection contains correspondence, meeting minutes, reports, convention material, speeches, publicity and other items documenting the national CBTU's and its chapters' lobbying activity for labor and civil rights issues, support for strikes, involvement in the anti-apartheid movement and sponsorship of projects to develop leadership and improve the quality of life within the African American community. Subjects include:labor and civil rights movement, anti-apartheid movement, affirmative action programs, African-American political activity.

Collection URL: http://www.reuther.wayne.edu/node/2379

Date(s): 1972-1995

Existing IDs: 1754

Extent: 11 linear feet

Language: English

Related Archival Items: Among other collections, see related interviews in the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Records.

Interviewees: Robery Massey, Harold Jones, Evelyna U. Washington, Alfred (Al) Edden, Portia Given, Kathleen Jackson, Randolph Burke, Cordellia Lewis Burke, Mujahid B. Majeed, Reverend James E. Orange, William Simons, Dennis Serrette, Anita Patterson, Doreen Robinson, William Lucy, Dwight Kirk, Sidney Brooks, Willie Baker, Rose Daylie, Jim Davis, Tony Hill, Mary Jones, Oliver Montgomery, Leamon Hood, Henry McCoy, Lou Moyle, Josephine LeBeau, Ron Reliford, Harold Rogers, Nat LaCour, Robert Simpson, Robert Wilson, Dorothy Townsend

Rights (CRHP): Contact the repository which holds the collection for information on rights

Subjects:

Affirmative action programs
African American labor union members
African American political activists
African Americans--Employment
Anti-apartheid movements
Civil rights--Economic aspects
Coalition of Black Trade Unionists (U.S.)

Genres:

Interviews
Manuscripts
Sound recordings