Workers make History in
Rocky Mount, NC
In the summer of 1946, nearly 10,000 tobacco “leaf house” workers in eastern North Carolina, primarily African American women, joined unions in a mass organizing campaign (tagged “Operation Dixie”) headed by the Tobacco Workers International Union (TWIU-AFL) and the Food, Tobacco, Agricultural & Allied Workers of America (FTA-CIO). From South Boston, Virginia, to Lumberton, North Carolina, workers secured union contracts in nearly thirty tobacco leaf houses.
The labor protest and organization campaign followed the 1943 effort that took place at R. J. Reynolds factories in Winston-Salem. The 1946 campaign differed in that it not only focused on labor rights, but also resulted in important strides in civil rights for African Americans. Efforts were made by the union organizers to increase black voter registration and to instigate political action against segregation within the leaf houses. Nearly ten years before the Montgomery bus boycott, black workers in eastern North Carolina worked for civil rights through “unionism.” As one participant recorded, “We’re not just an organizing campaign, we’re a social revolution.” And another, “It wasn’t just wages we wanted, but freedom.”
While the movement began with the TWIU-AFL organizing locals and securing contracts in six-leaf houses in Wilson and one in Rocky Mount in the summer of 1946, the first official union election, which was won by the FTA-CIO in September 1946, took place at China American Tobacco Company in Rocky Mount. After that election, the FTA-CIO won 22 of 24 elections in North Carolina. The consequence was that the organizers established a significant union presence in eastern North Carolina leaf houses, benefitting the tobacco workers of the area. Today only two union locals remain.
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Drop the charges against protester Dedan!
The next Pitt County court date is
December 7, 2021
BWFJ's Dedan's lawyer raised that this makes the second time the Pitt County Prosecutor continued the case due to being unprepared. The turnout was good, and our members and friends have stood with us against their denying us the right to peacefully protest! This was taken before leaving court.
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State Senate approves bill to curb what can be taught in schools about America’s racial past
By Greg Childress
The Progressive Pulse
The State Senate on Thursday approved House Bill 324, which critics say will restrict what can be taught about the nation’s racial history in North Carolina’s K-12 classrooms.
The controversial bill was approved on a 25-17 party-line vote. Republicans supported the GOP-backed bill and Democrats voted against it.
The bill is now headed back to the House for concurrence. The House approved an earlier version of HB 324 in May and will consider Senate revisions before it’s sent to Gov. Roy Cooper, who is expected to veto the bill.
Echoing remarks he made earlier this week, Senate leader Phil Berger, a Republican from Rockingham, said HB 324 is needed to ensure teachers aren’t using their positions to “indoctrinate” students with liberal political ideology.
Berger said opponents are mischaracterizing the bill, which prohibits 13 concepts he deems discriminatory.
“I have yet to hear anyone say that public schools should force students to believe in one of those discriminatory concepts,” Berger said.
As presently drafted, HB 324 would ban the following concepts from being discussed in public school classrooms:
- One race or sex is inherently superior to another race or sex.
- An individual, solely by virtue of his or her race or sex, is inherently racist, sexist, or oppressive.
- An individual should be discriminated against or receive adverse treatment solely or partly because of his or her race or sex.
- An individual’s moral character is necessarily determined by his or her race or sex.
- An individual, solely by virtue of his or her race or sex, bears responsibility for actions committed in the past by other members of the same race or sex.
- Any individual, solely by virtue of his or her race or sex, should feel discomfort, guilt, anguish, or any other form of psychological distress.
- A meritocracy is inherently racist or sexist.
- The United States was created by members of a particular race or sex for the purpose of oppressing members of another race or sex.
- The United States government should be violently overthrown.
- Particular character traits, values, moral or ethical codes, privileges, or beliefs should be ascribed to a race or sex, or to an individual because of the individual’s race or sex.
- The rule of law does not exist but instead is a series of power relationships and struggles among racial or other groups.
- All Americans are not created equal and are not endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, including life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
- Governments should deny to any person within the government’s jurisdiction the equal protection of the law.
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After The Winter
Some day, when trees have shed their leaves
And against the morning's white
The shivering birds beneath the eaves
Have sheltered for the night,
We'll turn our faces southward, love,
Toward the summer isle
Where bamboos spire to shafted grove
And wide-mouthed orchids smile.
And we will seek the quiet hill
Where towers the cotton tree,
And leaps the laughing crystal rill,
And works the droning bee.
And we will build a cottage there
Beside an open glade,
With black-ribbed blue-bells blowing near,
And ferns that never fade.
Claude McKay
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The Roots feat. Bilal: NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert |
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Outdoor activities in Triangle; Events:
American Dance Festival
ADF and North Carolina Museum of Art
Present
TOGETHER WE DANCE
at
the Joseph M. Bryan, Jr., Theatre
at the North Carolina Museum of Art
September 9-16
After a difficult year and a half, we are thrilled to bring the community together again at our first-ever outdoor festival for eight performances by some of the finest dance companies dazzling audiences today.
Tickets $30
General Admission Subscription to all 8 performances $175
Kid's Night Out Tickets: With the purchase of an adult ticket you can get a free ticket for a kid aged 6 to 17.
IMPORTANT: When buying your tickets, you will be asked to create an account to purchase online tickets. This does not mean you have to become a MEMBER of the museum.
All performances last approximately 60 minutes with no intermission.
A.I.M by Kyle Abraham
Thursday, September 9, 7:30 pm
Pilobolus
Friday, September 10, 7:30 pm
Saturday, September 11, 7:30 pm
State of Darkness
Sunday, September 12, 3:30 pm
with Annique Roberts of Ronald K. Brown/EVIDENCE
Sunday, September 12, 7:30 pm
with Michael Trusnovec formerly of Paul Taylor Dance Company
Reggie Wilson/Fist & Heel Performance Group
Tuesday, September 14, 7:30 pm
BODYTRAFFIC
Wednesday, September 15, 7:30 pm
Paul Taylor Dance Company
Thursday, September 16, 7:30 pm
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