Sheffield, Horace

AFSCME Office of the Secretary-Treasurer: William Lucy Records

jruss — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 14:21:25 -0400

The AFSCME Office of the Secretary-Treasurer oversees the general financial health of the international union, keeping records for its locals, councils, and the headquarters staff. The Office keeps files on council and local trusteeships, maintains per capita dues payments by locals and councils, issues charters to new locals, and suspends and disbands locals or councils when problems arise. William Lucy held this position for 38 years, 1972-2010.

Lucy joined AFSCME as a civil engineer in Contra Costa, CA in 1956. A decade later, he was working for the International in Washington, D.C. Proving his leadership abilities during the 1968 sanitation workers strike in Memphis, during which Martin Luther King, Jr., was assassinated, Lucy became AFSCME Secretary-Treasurer in 1972. Alongside his work with AFSCME, Lucy also served with countless labor, civil rights, and civic organizations to advance causes for blacks, women, and workers locally in Washington, D.C., nationally, and internationally. Lucy helped found the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists (CBTU) in 1972 to represent African Americans in the labor movement. He was instrumental in the Free South Africa Movement's efforts to end apartheid in South Africa. He served as president of Public Services International (PSI) and as a member of the AFL-CIO Executive Council. These activities are reflected in the Records. Lucy retired from the position of Secretary-Treasurer in July 2010 at the AFSCME biennial convention.

The AFSCME Office of the Secretary-Treasurer: William Lucy Records document the activities and operations of AFSCME International, the Office of the Secretary-Treasurer, and AFSCME’s state and local councils. The Records also convey the actions of William Lucy in a number of labor and civil rights organizations, including TransAfrica, the NAACP, CBTU, PSI, and the AFL-CIO. The Records include correspondence, reports, speeches, financial information, legal documents, convention transcripts and proceedings, publications, and meeting minutes. Several boxes of audio recordings of International Executive Board meetings are included, and a very small number of photographs appear in the collection.

Robert "Buddy" Battle III and Marion Battle Papers

drice — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 15:15:09 -0400

Buddy Battle was elected to a number of positions in UAW Local 600, culminating in his election as director of Region 1A. He helped set up the union's Foundry Wage and Hour Council in 1946. He served on the UAW Ford national negotiating committee in 1967, 1970 and 1973. Battle, with Horace Sheffield and others, formed the Trade Union Leadership Council, which became the nucleus of the national Negro American Labor Council. He was also active in politics and helped to elect Detroit's first black City Council member, William Patrick, and its first black mayor, Coleman Young.

Marion McClellan Battle was the former wife of Coleman Young. An employee of the Rouge Employees Federal Credit Union, she served for many years as secretary-treasurer of Office Employees International Union Local 42.

The Robert "Buddy" Battle III and Marion Battle Collection consists of correspondence, reports, meeting minutes, flyers, grievances, publications, press coverage and other material related to their careers in the labor movement and Detroit politics.

Horace Sheffield Papers

drice — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 16:04:27 -0500

Horace Sheffield served as an international representative for the UAW and was particularly active in promoting civil rights issues through the Trade Union Leadership Council and the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists. He papers reflect his work on the board of The Detroit Plan Group, Inc., an organization established to increase minority representation in the construction trades in the Detroit metropolitan area.

African Americans and the UAW

mosmith — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 11:53:30 -0500

The Reuther Library celebrates African American History Month with a brief review of the important role that African Americans have played in the formation and growth of the United Automobile Workers of America (UAW), one of the most powerful unions in American history, and the influence of black UAW members within the polity of Detroit. read more »

Horace Sheffield Jr. Papers Now Open

lminadeo — Thu, 22 Feb 2024 14:21:03 -0500

The Walter P. Reuther Library is pleased to announce an addition to the Horace Sheffield Jr. Papers is now open for research. These materials were previously under the stewardship of the Charles H. Wright Museum and join a small existing collection of Sheffield’s at the Reuther. Sheffield was a prominent voice in Detroit’s labor and civil rights movements, and his collection is an exciting example of the overlapping movements in Detroit. read more »

Reuther Library Acquires Horace Sheffield Jr. Collection

ageraci — Wed, 21 Jun 2023 14:19:11 -0400

The Walter P. Reuther Library, Archives of Labor and Urban Affairs, is pleased to announce the acquisition of an archival collection documenting the life and work of Horace Sheffield Jr.

The Sheffield Collection will give insight into the life and work of a labor and community trailblazer through personal and family papers, correspondence, images, and ephemera collected over a life of leadership: as an official in UAW Local 600, founding member of the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists (CBTU), President of the Detroit CBTU, founder of the politically influential Trade Union Leadership Council (TULC) and Detroit Association of Black Organizations (DABO), director of the Detroit NAACP, and administrative assistant to UAW President Douglas Fraser. read more »

(8787) 1941 Ford Strike, NAACP, sound car, Dearborn, Michigan

eclemens — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 14:48:50 -0500

Men walking the picket line outside of the Ford Rouge plant and police officers on horseback pause to listen to the broadcast from the NAACP Detroit Youth Council sound car during the 1941 Ford Strike, Dearborn, Michigan. Horace Sheffield may be driving the car.

(8787) NAACP, UAW, Ford Strike, Dearborn, 1941

eclemens — Wed, 11 May 2011 07:30:10 -0400

Men in the picket line outside of the Ford Rouge plant and police officers on horseback pause to listen to the broadcast from the NAACP Detroit Youth Council sound car during the 1941 Ford Strike, Dearborn, Michigan. It is assumed that Horace Sheffield is behind the wheel of the sound car.

(46967) Portrait of Horace Sheffield Jr.

lminadeo — Thu, 22 Feb 2024 14:41:22 -0500

Portrait of Horace Sheffield Jr., circa 1960s.