February marks the start of Black History Month 2022. This month is a celebration of achievements by African Americans in U.S. history. It started in September of 1915, an American Historian and pioneer of African American studies named Carter G. Woodson, founded the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (ASNLH). In 1926, the ASNLH sponsored the first National Negro History Week, and those events inspired many communities nationwide to organize celebrations. Since 1976, every U.S. president has officially designated the month of February as Black History Month.
To honor of Black History Month 2022, Zempleo highlighted black leaders that have made an impact on staffing and labor in the United States. Below you will find the black leaders we highlight all month long.
Isaac Myers (1835 – 1891)
Isaac was a pioneering African American trade unionist from Baltimore, Maryland. After the American Civil War, he proposed that workers collectively pool resources and formed a co-operative shipyard and railway. The co-operative, which opened in February 1866 employed over 300 black workers and received several government contracts.
Source: www.blackpast.org
Nannie Helen Burroughs (1879 – 1961)
Nannie was an educator, religious leader and social activist who helped found Women’s Auxiliary of the National Baptist Convention and National Training School for Women and Girls. She also was an advocate for greater civil rights for African Americans and women.
Source: www.kinginstitute.sanford.edu
Asa Philip Randolph (1889 – 1979)
Asa was a labor leader and civil rights activist who found the first black labor union called the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters in 1925. In the 1930s, his organizing efforts helped end racial discrimination in defense industries and segregations in the U.S. armed forces.
Source: www.history.com
Addie Wyatt (1924 – 2012)
Addie was a civil rights activist and a leader in the United States Labor movement. She was the first African American woman elected international vice president of a major labor union and the was the first African American woman named by Time magazine as Person of the Year.
Source: www.nps.go