Mar 21, 2013 - Sale 2308

Sale 2308 - Lot 287

Unsold
Estimate: $ 600 - $ 800
(CIVIL RIGHTS.) United Textile Workers, Young Socialist League, etc.. Negroes Lead U.T.W. Activities. Large gelatin silver print photograph, 15-1/2 x 18-3/4 inches; small pieces of paper attached at the corners on the reverse. Np, circa 1930's

Additional Details

It is likely that this demonstration was part of the great strike of 1934. The Textile Workers' Strike of 1934 was the largest strike in the labor history of the United States at the time. It involved 400,000 textile workers from New England, the Mid-Atlantic states and the U.S. Southern states and lasted twenty-two days. From the signs carried here, it seem as though scabs and strike-breakers had killed one of the strikers. The placards carry a subtext of the Socialist Party. The Communist and Socialist Parties made significant attempts to rally the African American community during the decades of the Great Depression. Despite its support for black workers and civil rights in general, the American Communist Party was roundly rejected as "un-American" by the majority of the conservative African American community.