Coming of Age: The Shock of the Shops and the Dawning of Political Consciousness, 1900–1909

Author(s):  
Annelise Orleck

Chapter 1 traces Schneiderman’s, Newman’s, Cohn’s and Lemlich’s early years in New York garment shops at a time when electric sewing machines were doubling the speed at which workers were expected to produce. It examines their first exposure to “the Jewish labor movement,” their battles with male union leaders, their early attempts to organize young women garment workers, prior to 1909.

Author(s):  
Lisa Phillips

This chapter analyzes the challenges Local 65 faced during the early years of the Cold War. Its position within the labor movement changed quickly once the Republican-dominated 80th Congress (1946–48) took office. By late 1948, the union had undergone an investigation by a subcommittee within the House of Representatives designed to root out Communist activity within the New York City distributive trades. Local 65 had broken away from the United Retail and Wholesale Employees of America (URWEA) and maintained an independent status with other “seceding” locals in New York City to form first the Distributive Trades Council (DTC), then the Distributive Workers Union (DWU). The chapter also examines Local 65's attempts to deal with the changing context that had brought it from occupying a central place in the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) to a marginal place outside of the increasingly anti-Communist labor movement.


Author(s):  
Ethelene Whitmire

This chapter narrates Regina's romances and culminates in her marriage. Regina, like many young women in New York City, had a dating life that was complicated, diverse, and mysterious. She had more than one fiancé, a long distance relationship, a possible affair with a Jewish writer, and a secret lover—the author of a “Dear Reggie” letter who may have been the one she truly loved though her family disapproved of the liaison. During the early years of her marriage, Regina was involved with the local Rho chapter of Delta Sigma Theta, an African American sorority, and served as the president. Famous past and present members of the sorority include Lena Horne, Mary McLeod Bethune, Mary Church Terrell, Barbara Jordan, Judith Jamison, Wilma Rudolph, and Nikki Giovanni, among others.


2015 ◽  
Vol 88 ◽  
pp. 166-189
Author(s):  
David Witwer

AbstractIn 1958 the International Ladies Garment Workers Union waged a strike in the dress industry. The union's central goal was to curb the growing influence of organized crime, particularly among the factories being set up in Northeastern Pennsylvania. The Garment Workers’ leadership saw the conflict as a pivotal test for their organization. Drawing on newly available source materials, including FBI files and the records of a Senate investigation, this article argues that the union's approach to this strike reflected the complex realities it faced in dealing with corruption in the garment industry. Organized crime played long term and fundamental roles in the New York Garment District and especially in the industry's trucking sector. The union had found itself forced to accommodate aspects of the mob's role in order to build its organization. The 1958 strike was about curbing the mob sector and, in effect, renegotiating the previously made arrangements. It was, the article argues, a kind of real-world anticorruption effort, waged by union members and union leaders at some risk to themselves in mob-dominated towns such as Pittston, Pennsylvania.


PEDIATRICS ◽  
1990 ◽  
Vol 86 (5) ◽  
pp. 774-777
Author(s):  
PAULINE A. THOMAS ◽  
STEVEN J. RALSTON ◽  
MARIE BERNARD ◽  
ROSALYN WILLIAMS ◽  
RITA O'DONNELL

Surveillance data on incidence of twins among reported cases of pediatric AIDS in New York City are presented. Most pairs are concordant for HIV infection. Three discordant pairs have been described elsewhere. Possible reasons for the association are discussed, including the most likely explanation that twins show symptoms early and are overrepresented in the early years of surveillance of pediatric AIDS.


PEDIATRICS ◽  
2000 ◽  
Vol 105 (Supplement_E1) ◽  
pp. 706-710 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jane L. Holl ◽  
Andrew W. Dick ◽  
Laura Pollard Shone ◽  
Lance E. Rodewald ◽  
Jack Zwanziger ◽  
...  

Background. The recently enacted State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), designed to provide affordable health insurance for uninsured children, was modeled in part on New York State's Child Health Plus (CHPlus), which was implemented in 1991. All SCHIP programs involve voluntary enrollment of eligible children. Little is known about characteristics of children who enroll in these programs. Objectives. To provide a profile of children enrolled in CHPlus between 1993 and 1994 in the 6-county upstate New York study area, and to estimate the participation rate in CHPlus. Methods. A parent interview was conducted to obtain information about children, 0 to 6.9 years old, who enrolled in CHPlus in the study area. Two school-based surveys and the Current Population Survey were used to estimate health insurance coverage. Enrollment data from New York State's Department of Health, together with estimates of the uninsured, were used to estimate participation rates in CHPlus. Results. Most children enrolled in CHPlus in the study area were white. Although 17% of all children in the study area who were <13 years old and living in families with incomes below 160% of the federal poverty level were black, only 9% of CHPlus-enrolled children were black. Twenty-one percent of enrolled children were uninsured during the entire year before enrollment and 61% of children had a gap in coverage lasting >1 month. Children were generally healthy; only 4% had fair or poor health. Eighty-eight percent of parents of enrolled children had completed high school or a higher level of education. Parents reported that loss of a job was the main reason for loss of prior health insurance for their child. Most families learned about CHPlus from a friend (30%) or from their doctor (26%). The uninsured rate among children in the study area was approximately 4.1%. By 1993, the participation rate in CHPlus was about 36%. Conclusion. Blacks were underrepresented in CHPlus. Because the underlying uninsured rate was relatively low and parental education and family income were relatively high, the effects of CHPlus observed in this evaluation may be conservative in comparison to the potential effects of CHPlus for other populations of children. Participation rates during the early years of the program were modest.


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