[Ohio-Talk] {Spam?} Re: Happy Labor Day Weekend!

[William Turner]

 Thanks Cheryl that was a very good article. John Green and Congressman
Stokes became success stories when others said they couldn't.

I think this is a message to our Federation family we can live the lives we
want despite what others may think or say.

William

On Sat, Sep 5, 2020, 5:21 PM Cheryl Fields via Ohio-Talk <
ohio-talk at nfbnet.org> wrote:

> Happy Labor Day! Thinking about what this holiday represents and
> decided to share the article below with all of you. I had the pleasure
> of meeting the late Historian, Booker T. Tall and participating in a
> memorial serverce held at the grave of John P. Green some years ago.
> Hope you enjoy reading this! Cheryl
>
> John Patterson Green, father of Labor Day in Ohio, and his enduring
> legacy (with photo gallery) - cleveland.com
> Updated Jan 12, 2019; Posted Sep 01, 2014
>
> By Olivera Perkins, The Plain Dealer
> CLEVELAND, Ohio - John Patterson Green is called the Father of Labor
> Day in Ohio.
> It was 1890, near the beginning of a wave of state legislatures
> passing bills making Labor Day a state holiday.
> In stepped state Rep. Green, Republican of Cleveland, sponsoring
> legislation making Labor Day a state holiday. First elected to the
> Ohio House in 1882, he was the city's first black lawyer.
> The bill passed April 28, 1890. The legislation is little more than a
> paragraph, beginning with: "Be it enacted by the General Assembly of
> the State of Ohio, That the first Monday in September of each and
> every year, shall be know as labor day."
> Congress would eventually make Labor Day a federal holiday in 1894.
> It was not surprising that Green would be the lawmaker to introduce
> the bill creating the holiday in Ohio, said John Grabowski, a Case
> Western Reserve University history professor and senior vice president
> for research and publications at the Western Reserve Historical
> Society.
> "His constituents are going to be workers and laborers," he said. "I
> think that is what John Green is looking at when he sponsors the
> legislation. He is coming from the chief industrial city in Ohio.
> Dayton has industry. Cincinnati has industry, but where are the craft
> unions centered? Where are the people like Max Hayes, a major labor
> leader, centered? Where are the bulk of workers centered? It's
> Cleveland."
> This Labor Day offers an opportunity to reflect on how the Father of
> Labor Day's actions continue to reverberate with each celebration of
> this holiday in Ohio -- even if his is a name lost to history. Here is
> a look at the man, Cleveland's place in early labor history and the
> 11th Congressional District Community Caucus Labor Day Parade, whose
> founding 43 years ago - as a show of black political power - serves as
> testament to Green's enduring legacy.
> "I see a very real and direct correlation upon the John Green legacy
> and what the 11th Congressional District parade and picnic has stood
> for," said retired U.S. Rep. Louis Stokes, one of the event's
> founders. "What John Green promoted in terms of being the father of
> Labor Day here in Ohio, and then tying the community and all of its
> concerns and needs together in that Labor Day celebration, is a
> natural extension of his legacy," Stokes said.
> Trailblazer
> Green was born in New Bern, North Carolina in 1845 to a free black
> family. His father, who died when Green was 5, was born into slavery,
> but purchased his freedom at 21 for $1,000. In 1857, his mother moved
> the family to Cleveland, as conditions for free black families in New
> Bern worsened due to racial hostility, according to a paper about
> Green by Booker T. Tall, the late history teacher, who was passionate
> about chronicling the history of Cleveland's black community. The
> paper is part of the Western Reserve Historical Society's archives.
> The family endured financial hardship in Cleveland, forcing Green to
> leave school. Determined to get an education, he returned to school at
> 21, enrolling in Central High School, where he would graduate three
> years later. He would later graduated from the Union Law School of
> Cleveland.
> In 1873, Green was elected Justice of the Peace, becoming the first
> black person to serve in Cleveland's judiciary branch. Less than a
> decade later, he would be elected to the Ohio House. In 1892, he was
> elected to the Ohio Senate, becoming the body's first black member.
> "It is historically accurate that the Cleveland lawyer was the first
> Black American to serve as state senator north of the Mason-Dixon
> line," Tall wrote.
> Green supported or sponsored 21 major bills on behalf of labor, Tall
> wrote. He wrote that other notable areas of legislation Green lobbied
> for included funding for the Soldiers and Sailors Monument on Public
> Square, the public park system and the historically black Wilberforce
> University.
> Green was also a strong supporter of civil rights, Tall wrote.
> "Although Green did not introduce the Ohio Civil Rights law, he
> maneuvered support as senator to preserve it and prevent its
> emasculation," wrote Tall. "In addition, the first black senator
> mustered the votes to defeat the infamous McDermott Bill, which was
> introduced to provide separate schools for black and white children in
> Ohio."
> Green moved to Washington, D.C. in 1897 after President William
> McKinley appointed him to the newly created position of U.S. postage
> stamp agent. He served a brief stint as acting superintendent of
> finance in the Post Office Department. Green returned to Cleveland in
> 1906, where he resumed practicing law, according to "The Encyclopedia
> of Cleveland History".
> In 1920, Green's autobiography, "Fact Stranger than Fiction," was
> published. His other writing pursuits included authoring articles for
> the Afro-American News Syndicate.
> Green's contributions didn't go unnoticed in Cleveland. April 2, 1937,
> Green's 92nd birthday, was declared John P. Green Day in Cleveland,
> according to Tall.
> Green died in 1940, after being fatally struck by a car on St. Clair
> Avenue in Cleveland, not far from his East 107th Street home,
> according to Tall.
> It was Sept. 1 - the day before Labor Day.
> Early labor movement in Cleveland
> In order to understand Green's support of the labor movement, one must
> understand him in the context of his times.
> He lived during the period when the early labor movement began taking
> hold in northern industrial cities.
> Tall wrote that the Haymarket Riot and "serious labor problems" in
> Cleveland served as motivation for Green to introduce Labor Day
> legislation. Also known as the Haymarket Affair, the event served as
> impetus for the Labor Day state holiday movement.
> The riot in Chicago in 1886 became a pivotal symbol in the labor
> movement's struggle for workers' rights, including an eight-hour
> workday. Following a large labor demonstration, police sought to break
> up the small number of remaining demonstrators. Someone threw a bomb.
> Police responded with random gunfire.
> "Seven police officers were killed and 60 others wounded before the
> violence ended," according to Encyclopaedia Britannica. (C)ivilian
> casualties have been estimated at four to eight dead and 30 to 40
> injured."
> As for "serious labor problems" in Cleveland, historian Grabowski said
> perhaps the earliest of these occurred shortly after the Civil War
> when "Cleveland starts to industrialize hugely, and the population
> starts to expand."
> Perhaps Cleveland's best known labor battles - often bloody -- of the
> period, occurred after Labor Day is already a holiday. Grabowski noted
> the 1896 strike at the Brown Hoist Co., which made equipment to unload
> freighters, for a 9-hour workday, instead of working 10. In 1899,
> streetcar drivers went on strike over wages and hours. Fights between
> the strikers and replacement workers ensued.
> "It was extremely violent," he said.
> By the early 1900s, Cleveland was a union town, though most unskilled
> workers didn't belong to unions, Grabowski said. He said the increase
> in homeownership rates showed the impact of better wages. In 1880,
> only 20 percent of Clevelanders owned homes. By 1900, 40 percent were
> homeowners.
> A 1901 Labor Day souvenir journal in the historical society's
> collection showcased the union's successful fight for higher wages.
> Flip through its pages, and you'll see victories touted, including
> this one by the United Garment Workers of America, Local 42:
> "A great many advantages have been gained for the members by the
> organization - the 8-hour workday, and an increase in prices so as to
> enable them to earn a 'fair' wage per day, the prices paid being on an
> average from 25 to 50 percent higher than is paid in the non-union
> factories."
> Harriet Applegate, who heads the North Shore AFL-CIO Federation of
> Labor, said such stories of increasing wages and homeownership, were
> not only good for the workers, but the economy as well. She said that
> was then, as well as now.
> "People with good union pay and benefits are fueling this economy by
> consuming goods," Applegate said.
> "The recipe for the worst possible economy would be to concentrate
> wealth," she said. "That is what has been done in the last 35 years or
> so to disastrous results."
> Green and organized labor were often allies. The historical society's
> archives include a letter from the 1893 Labor Day committee inviting
> him to participate. But Grabowski said Green often tussled with the
> unions about denying black members entrance.
> Cleveland's black population was very small in 1900, as it was in most
> northern cities. It wasn't until World War I, which tightened the flow
> of European immigrants, that blacks began moving North in number. In
> 1900, Cleveland was the nation's seventh largest city with 381,768
> residents, but only 5,988 were black.
> Black enrollment in local unions was even lower than their small
> percentage of the population.
> "Green advocates to increase the number of black workers in trade
> unions, but that is not happening," Grabowski said. "The trade unions
> at that time were fairly discriminatory."
> 11th Congressional District Labor Day Parade, a tradition.
> Retired Congressman Stokes and the others who began the Labor Day
> parade, wanted people to have a good time at the event, but that
> wasn't their only reason for starting it.
> Each of the organizers knew the power of black political strength, and
> they wanted the parade to be a show of it. The other parade founders
> were: George Forbes, former Cleveland City Council president and
> former president of the local NAACP, Arnold Pinkney, the late
> political consultant and powerbroker and the retired Congressman's
> late brother, Carl Stokes, the first black mayor of a major American
> city.
> The first parade, in 1971, along Kinsman Avenue, ending with a picnic
> in Luke Easter Park, was held only a few years after the then 21st
> Congressional District was formed to increase the chances of black
> representation. Stokes became the first black congressman elected from
> Ohio. He said the first parade and picnic aimed to harness this new
> political power.
> "We found a need to utilize that newly formed congressional district
> to try to bring the community together for a special day and time,"
> said Stokes, the parade's honorary chair. "And also to try to come
> together as a community, and to be able to demonstrate the unity and
> the power of this particular community."
> Stokes said the event didn't just deal in local politics. For example,
> he said Jesse Jackson's 1984 presidential run could be traced to the
> picnic following the parade, when he took to the stage.
> "The campaign started here when they said, 'Run, Jesse, run,'" he said.
> Before then, Stokes said Jackson was only "talking" about running.
> After all these years, the question a boy, perhaps 12, posed to Stokes
> that day remains emblazoned in his memory.
> "He said, 'Congressman, I didn't know a black man could run?'" Stokes
> said. "That was heavy.
> "That day was important because he saw that a black man could run for
> president," he said. "Today, a black man is president."
> Barack Obama was scheduled to attend the event in 2012, but at the
> last minute, he had to cancel after Hurricane Isaac diverted him to
> Louisiana. Ariane B. Kirkpatrick, the parade's executive chair, said
> organizers are still working to get the president to a future parade.
> John Kerry, now the U.S. Secretary of State and former Vice President
> Walter Mondale attended past parades.
> Kirkpatrick, who began attending the parade as a child, said the event
> is also a time to celebrate community. Even if she hasn't seen some
> people all year, she said there is a good chance she will see them on
> the parade route or at the park. This year's parade steps off today
> (Monday) at 11 a.m. at East 146 Street and Kinsman Avenue, and ends at
> the park.
> The parade is also a time for remembrance. This year, Ann Romans, one
> of the parade's early organizers, who died this year, will be honored.
> She often rode on the back of a motorcycle, speaking through a
> bullhorn. This year, the motorcyclist will not have her as a
> passenger, but a single rose will mark her place.
> Stokes said he is glad, that first Stephanie Tubbs Jones and now
> Marcia L. Fudge, who both represented the seat after him, decided to
> keep the parade.
> Barbara Tubbs-Walker, who is Tubbs Jones' sister, and honorary parade
> chair, said the late congresswoman would be glad to see the tradition
> continues.
> "In the spirit, she will be here," she said.
>
>
>
> A man has made at least a start on discovering the meaning of human
> life when he plants shade trees under which he knows full well he will
> never sit.
> --D. Elton Trueblood
>
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