Harold F. McGinnis, the white manager of the Charleston Cigar Factory, fired a Black man after a white supervisor accused the man of flirting with the Black women workers. The thing is, most of those Black women believed the firing to be racially motivated.
Black union organizer Reul Stanfield, a part of Local 15 of the Food, Tobacco, and Allied Workers, organized a sit-down strike on October 3, 1945. For the next two days, 100 Black workers protested at their workstations, demanding pay increases and union rights and protections. Management wasn’t having any of it until the unthinkable happened.
The next day, 900 Black workers, most of whom were women, walked off the job in retaliation. From October 22, 1945, to April 1, 1946, workers kept their feet on management’s neck.
On April 1, 1946, management finally caved, agreeing to back pay, an 8-cent per hour raise, and reduced racial barriers to skilled positions. When one Black person was wronged, workers made sure the white power structure paid the price.
When our humanity and Blackness are denied, we don’t have to be servile and submissive. We can organize and fight for what we rightfully deserve.