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CREATED:20110620T140400Z
DESCRIPTION:Wobblies on the Waterfront: Interracial Unionism in Progressive-Era 
 Philadelphia\n“Ben Fletcher: the WWI era’s most important, if 
 forgotten, African American Labor Leader”\nAuthor and historian Peter 
 Cole’s talk will examine the history of Ben Fletcher and the union he 
 helped lead, Local 8, which was the most successful interracial labor union 
 in US history prior to the rise of the CIO in the 1930s.  Led by Fletcher, 
 the best known black Wobbly, thousands of black men, allied with thousands 
 of whites, both native-born and immigrant, to make Local 8 a force to be 
 reckoned with in the WWI era, an era when most unions, like almost all 
 institutions, excluded blacks or, at best, segregated them.  In contrast, 
 Fletcher and the Industrial Workers of the World—to which Local 8 
 belonged—both preached and practiced racial equality.  The rise and fall 
 of this union reveals the extent of what was possible in regards to 
 interracial unionism in the most racist era since the abolition of slavery. 
  This union helped lay the foundation for subsequent unions committed to 
 civil rights including San Francisco’s own International Longshore & 
 Warehouse Union. \nPeter Cole is an Associate Professor of History at 
 Western Illinois University in Macomb. \nSee 
 also:\nhttp://www.laborfest.net/2011/2011schedule.htm\nhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Fletcher\nhttp://www.ilwu.org/\nhttp://www.iww.org/\n 
 https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2011/06/20/18682399.php
SUMMARY:Laborfest: Interracial Unionism in Philadelphia
LOCATION:ILWU Local 10 Henry Schmidt Room- 400 North Point, San Francisco.  F train 
 to Beach St.  Buses:  8, 30, 47, 39.\n
URL:https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2011/06/20/18682399.php
DTSTART:20110729T020000Z
DTEND:20110729T040000Z
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