The National Urban League was founded in 1911 for improving the lives of African Americans in urban areas. During its early years, it focused particularly on helping African American migrants from the South transition to northern city life and find jobs and housing.
The Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) was an independent federation of unions established in 1938. The CIO was formed after the dissolution of the Committee for Industrial Organization, which had unsuccessfully attempted to organize unskilled workers within the American Federation of Labor (AFL) in 1935, by former members of the AFL who believed that unions should organize by industry rather than by trade. Though the Congress of Industrial Organizations and AFL were rival organizations for many years, they ultimately merged into...
The United Farm Workers of America (UFWA) is a labor union established in 1966 by the merger of the National Farm Workers Association (NFWA), founded by César Chávez and Dolores Huerta in 1962, and the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee (AWOC). With the leadership of Chavez, Huerta, and others, the UFWA organized various farmworker strikes and boycotts, including the grape strikes of the 1960s and 1970s, to improve conditions and increase wages.
Samuel Gompers (1850–1924) was the first president of the American Federation of Labor. Gompers came to the United States from England as a teenager and became a naturalized citizen in 1872. He became involved in labor movements while working as a cigar maker, and in 1886 he helped to establish the American Federation of Labor. As that organization’s first president, he sought greater rights for workers through tactics such as strikes and boycotts. Gompers was concerned with practical matters of labor like hours, pay, and working conditions...
Chester A. Arthur (1829–1886) became the twenty-first president of the United States upon the assassination of President James Garfield. Arthur was elected on the Republican ticket as Garfield’s vice president in 1880 and became his successor when Garfield was shot by Charles Guiteau in July 1881. During his presidency, Arthur denounced patronage in favor of merit-based government appointments and promotions, supporting the Pendleton Civil Service Act of 1883. He also signed the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act, suspending Chinese immigration for...
César Chávez (1927–1993) was an American labor organizer who cofounded the National Farm Workers Association. Born to Mexican American migrant laborer parents, Chávez’s youth was spent working harvests with his family through California and Arizona. He served in the US Navy for two years during World War II before returning to migrant work. Chávez first became involved with labor activism as an organizer for Saul Alinsky’s Community Services Organization (CSO) in the 1950s. By 1958, he was the director of the CSO. He resigned four years...
