Coalition of Black Trade Unionists (U.S.)

AFSCME Communications Department Records

jruss — Mon, 11 Jun 2012 14:06:22 -0400

AFSCME has produced a regularly published magazine since its inception. Publication duties for this organ and other materials were accomplished by the Education and Publications Department for the first twenty years of AFSCME’s existence. The 1954 Convention, however, passed Resolution 14, establishing a Publications and Public Relations Department. This new department would continue to publish the AFSCME magazine and other materials and would also take on new media public relations duties both at headquarters, and importantly, in the field. Recognizing that current field staff’s duties did not include crafting AFSCME’s message during organizing campaigns and strikes, it was hoped that the new department would provide skilled public relations professionals on the ground. The new department was created on April 1, 1956. The Publications and Public Relations Department existed until 1971 when the name was changed to the Public Affairs Department. This existed until 2011 when the name was changed again to the Communications Department.

The AFSCME Communications Department Records document the public activities of the Department, AFSCME International, and AFSCME officials. Records include speech transcripts; press releases; surveys and polls; documents related to AFSCME biennial conventions such as transcripts of proceedings, correspondence, and planning documents; correspondence; publications; meeting minutes; clippings; photographs, slides, and negatives; audio and video recordings; and posters.

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.

Coalition of Black Trade Unionists Records

drice — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 10:08:37 -0400

The Coalition of Black Trade Unionists was founded at a conference in Chicago in 1972 attended by more than 1,200 black union officials and rank-and-file members. By 2001, CBTU counted more than fifty chapters, including one in Ontario, Canada. The organization committed itself to using political action and union organizing campaigns to increase black
participation and influence in the labor movement and insure social and economic progress for working people and the poor. The collection contains correspondence, meeting minutes, reports, convention material, speeches, publicity and other items documenting the national CBTU's and its chapters' lobbying activity for labor and civil rights issues, support for strikes, involvement in the anti-apartheid movement and sponsorship of projects to develop leadership and improve the quality of life within the African American community.

SEIU Executive Vice President's Office: Patricia Ford Records

aorchard — Thu, 27 Jun 2013 14:41:28 -0400

In 1973, Pat Ford, then a clerical worker at Alameda County Hospital, aided in the creation of Local 616 by affiliating the 4000-member association with SEIU. Ford held various leadership positions in Local 616, including president (the Local’s first African-American woman president), and Executive Director. In addition to Ford’s service to Local 616, in 1996 she was elected as SEIU Executive Vice President, and reelected in 2000. During her tenure with SEIU, Ford helped to found the Caucus of African Descent (AFRAM), lead SEIU’s government affairs program, and coordinated SEIU’s civil and human rights activism. A full biography on Patricia Ford, may be found in Ford’s oral history held at the Reuther Library.

The SEIU Executive Vice President’s Office: Patricia Ford Records contains digital transcripts of 25 speeches given by Patricia Ford during her tenure as SEIU Executive Vice President. The records particularly reveal Ford’s involvement with organizations such as CBTU, CLUW, and NAACP. Also included is one folder of photographs, primarily featuring Ford at various SEIU events.

Speech transcripts may be found here:
https://www.reuther.wayne.edu/search/node/pat+ford+speech+transcript

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.

William Simons Papers

drice — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 11:13:04 -0500

William Simons began his career as a high school teacher when he joined the black American Federation of Teachers union in Washington D.C. A year later the local was integrated and Simons served in several positions before assuming the presidency, a position he would hold until his retirement in 1991. He also served as an officer in the national organization as part of the Progressive and United Action caucuses and was involved in Democratic Party politics. His papers document his career with the D.C. teacher's union, public education in D.C., and the union's efforts to improve salaries and working conditions for local teachers.

The William H. Simons Collection consists of correspondence, reports, meeting minutes, studies, surveys, flyers, ballots, campaign literature, newspaper clippings and other material documenting Mr. Simons's career with the Washington Teachers' Union, the history of public education in the District of Columbia and the union's efforts through collective bargaining and legislative lobbying to improve salaries and working conditions for teachers in the District of Columbia.

2010: The Reuther Year in Review

jruss — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 10:32:09 -0500

2010 was a big year for the Walter P. Reuther Library. The Reuther's major collection, the Archive of Labor and Urban Affairs (ALUA), turned 50, and the Reuther Library’s building, which houses ALUA and the Wayne State University Archives, was completed 35 years ago in 1975. While celebrating these two milestones, we accomplished many goals. read more »

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 »

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 »

The Coalition of Black Trade Unionists

cdavis — Mon, 06 Aug 2012 09:24:10 -0400

At the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists (CBTU) International Convention, held in St. Louis, Missouri, May 23-28, 2012, the CBTU membership voted in Terrance (Terry) Melvin as its new President. Terry Melvin is the second president in CBTU’s 40 year history. William (Bill) Lucy had been CBTU president since the organization’s founding in 1972. Lucy also served for 38 years as the Secretary-Treasurer of AFSCME before retiring in 2010. read more »

(24713) CBTU Committee Members

jruss — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 11:40:16 -0400

Coalition of Black Trade Unionists (CBTU) Brotherhood Ball Committee Members from left: James Glass, AFSCME Michigan Council 25; Dorothy Hughes, of the Ecorse Federation of Teachers and founding member of the Detroit chapter of CBTU; and Leon English, UAW.

(28853) Coalition of Black Trade Unionists

jruss — Tue, 26 Jun 2012 15:33:24 -0400

This is the cover to a pamphlet summarizing the Conference of Black Trade Unionists held in Chicago in 1972. This Conference resulted in the formation of the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists, commonly referred to as CBTU.

(28854) CBTU Steering Committee

jruss — Tue, 26 Jun 2012 15:35:13 -0400

These photos of the Coalition of Black Trade Unionisits (CBTU) Steering Committee was included in a pamphlet that summarized the Conference of Black Trade Unionists held in Chicago in 1972. This Conference resulted in the formation of CBTU.

(46612) Lucy at CBTU founding

scaloia — Mon, 23 Aug 2021 12:09:54 -0400

AFSCME Secretary-Treasurer William Lucy stands at the podium during the Conference of Black Trade Unionists in September, 1972. The conference led to the founding of the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists (CBTU). This image appeared in the October 1972 issue of AFSCME's Public Employee magazine.

(47134) William "Bill" Lucy

scaloia — Tue, 01 Oct 2024 12:33:28 -0400

William "Bill" Lucy, AFSCME Secretary-Treasurer (1972-2010)

Pat Ford Speech: CBTU Detroit Awards Dinner Speech, 2003

aorchard — Fri, 24 May 2013 13:04:04 -0400

Transcript of the speech delivered by Pat Ford at the CBTU Detroit Awards Dinner.

Pat Ford Speech: CBTU Northern California Awards Event, 2002

aorchard — Fri, 24 May 2013 13:07:04 -0400

Transcript of speech given by Pat Ford at the CBTU Northern California Awards Event.