Vol. 76/No. 6 February 13, 2012
February 13, 1987
DES MOINES, Iowa—The second women’s farm conference held here January 16-18 brought together leaders of farm protest groups; organizers of food shelves, hotlines, and support groups; and women farmers to discuss how to solve the farm crisis and share experiences. Over 500 women participated.The value of farmland has declined by $146 billion over the last three years, and 2,000 farms a week are currently being lost.
Shirley Sherrod, a Black farmer from Albany, Georgia, outlined the urgent need to help Black farmers stay on the land. “Since 1920, 94 percent of Black farmers have been driven off the land.”
Many farmers active in Midwest farm protests have pointed to the civil rights movement as a model for their struggle. It has only been in the last year or so, however, that Black and white farmers have begun to join forces.
February 12, 1962
DETROIT—The recently formed Community Tenants League here has won a victory against a landlord. Because of the severe shortage of apartments where Negroes are welcomed, landlords often raise rents and reduce maintenance when they start renting to Negroes.The Community Tenants League was formed by five families in an apartment building at 3201 Rochester. The building was integrated last October, and the rents raised from $65 to $90.
Instead of moving out, the white tenants in the building joined with the Negroes. The League, co-chaired by Howard Crum and Art Fox, was formed, and they all went on a rent strike.
The landlord sued for the rent, but after much embarrassing testimony and publicity, he made an “out of court” settlement in mid-January reducing the rent to $70.
February 6, 1937
LOS ANGELES—The campaign to organize the aircraft workers into an industrial union has started off with a bang. In the last few weeks hundreds of workers have joined the union in spite of company intimidation.The company unions, under the name of employee associations, at the Douglas and Northrup plants, have been completely discredited in the eyes of all honest workers. With militant organized labor on the offensive throughout the country, the workers in the aircraft plants are beginning to realize that industrial unionism is the only answer to their immediate problems.
Local 188 of the United Automobile Workers of America is leading the organization drive in aircraft. A number of very successful educational mass meetings have been held along with several street meetings at the Douglas and Northrup plants.
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