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Labor Organizers
19 people, across 2 fields.
César Chávez 1927–1993Civil Rights & Social ReformLabor leader and civil rights activist who co-founded the United Farm Workers union.
Eugene V. Debs 1855–1926Labor & Workers' MovementsSocialist Party leader who ran for president five times from prison and championed labor rights.
Samuel Gompers 1850–1924Labor & Workers' MovementsFounding leader of the American Federation of Labor who established durable craft-union organization.
Jimmy Hoffa 1913–1975Labor & Workers' MovementsTeamsters president who won American truckers their first national contract, and disappeared in 1975
Mother Jones 1837–1930Labor & Workers' MovementsOrganizer whose militant campaigns for miners and against child labor made her an icon of American labor.
Bayard Rustin 1912–1987Civil Rights & Social ReformCivil rights strategist who organized the 1963 March on Washington and championed LGBTQ and labor rights.
A. Philip Randolph 1889–1979Civil Rights & Social ReformLabor and civil-rights leader who pressured presidents to desegregate defense work and the armed forces.
Dolores Huerta b. 1930Civil Rights & Social ReformLabor leader and civil rights activist who co-founded the United Farm Workers with Cesar Chavez.
John L. Lewis 1880–1969Labor & Workers' MovementsUnion leader who built the United Mine Workers and helped found the CIO, expanding industrial unionism and collective bargaining.
Walter Reuther 1907–1970Labor & Workers' MovementsUnited Auto Workers leader who helped build organized labor into a major economic and political force.
George Meany 1894–1980Labor & Workers' MovementsNew York plumber who merged the AFL and the CIO in 1955 and ran the combined federation for 24 years, through the peak of American labor and the beginning of its decline.
Bill Haywood 1869–1928Labor & Workers' MovementsCo-founded the Industrial Workers of the World and led major mining and textile strikes.
Elizabeth Gurley Flynn 1890–1964Labor & Workers' MovementsOrganized IWW strikes and helped found the American Civil Liberties Union.
Terence V. Powderly 1849–1924Labor & Workers' MovementsLed the Knights of Labor as it became the first mass national labor organization in the United States.
Harry Bridges 1901–1990Labor & Workers' MovementsLed West Coast longshore workers through the 1934 strike and headed the ILWU for decades.
Sidney Hillman 1887–1946Labor & Workers' MovementsLabor leader who built the Amalgamated Clothing Workers and linked organized labor to New Deal politics.
Lucy Parsons 1851–1942Labor & Workers' MovementsRadical labor organizer and writer who advocated for workers, free speech, and racial and gender equality over seven decades.
Rose Schneiderman 1882–1972Labor & Workers' MovementsLabor organizer who championed women workers, workplace safety, and social reforms later incorporated into the New Deal.Larry Itliong 1913–1977Labor & Workers' MovementsFilipino American labor leader whose organizing initiated the Delano grape strike and helped build the United Farm Workers.