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

[ali benmerzouga]

Thank you so much for sharing Cheryl! Very informative!!! Two thumbs up!
Happy labor day weekend to everyone!
Take care.
Ali

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-----Original Message-----
From: Ohio-Talk <ohio-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Cheryl Fields
via Ohio-Talk
Sent: Saturday, September 5, 2020 5:15 PM
To: ohio-talk at nfbnet.org
Cc: Cheryl Fields <cherylelaine1957 at gmail.com>
Subject: [Ohio-Talk] Happy Labor Day Weekend!

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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