African Americans and Labor Unions

Labor Day has its origins in the late 19th century when the relationship between management and American workers had reached its nadir. President Grover Cleveland signed a bill making Labor Day a national holiday in 1894, hoping to appease American workers. What was the role of African Americans in labor unions during this era?

During the early years of the labor union movement in the United States, whites dominated the organizations, excluding African-American workers. The National Labor Union (NLU), formed in 1866, was an exception. A few key leaders in the NLU realized that the working class needed to unite regardless of race, lest racism be used to divide and conquer the unionists.

Many of the rank-and-file of the NLU were reluctant to invite African-American workers to join them, but the efforts of union organizer Isaac Myers led them to issue invitations to a number of African Americans, including Myers, to attend their 1869 conference.

Myers had begun his career as ship caulker in Baltimore, Maryland, eventually rising through the ranks to become a supervisor of a shipyard. He organized African-American ship caulkers and longshoremen and then used his experience to help found the first national African-American labor union--the Colored National Labor Union (CNLU)--in 1869. In addition to striving for better wages for African Americans, the CNLU encouraged cooperation among all workers, regardless of race or gender.

The CNLU only lasted a few years, but the Knights of Labor, the largest union of the 19th century, pursued a similar vision of a united working class until its decline in the 1890s.