Local 22 historic marker honors tobacco unionism

The Unveiling of Local 22 marker from Cheryl R. Green on Vimeo.

Labor activists, scholars and elected officials commemorated Local 22, a union led primarily black, female tobacco workers that won significant gains in a struggle at Reynolds tobacco company in the 1940s, with the unveiling of a historic marker at the corner of East 4th Street Martin Luther King Jr. Drive in Winston-Salem on Saturday.

Larry Little, a founder of the Black Panther Party chapter in Winston-Salem and former city council member, and Richard Koritz, a long-time labor leader, presided over the ceremony. Koritz's father came to Winston-Salem to help organize the union and Little's mother was active in the campaign. Panelists paid tribute to union leaders such as Velma Hopkins, whose granddaughters were present for the unveiling, along with NC Sen. Earline Parmon, a protege.

"We stand on their shoulders — of Local 22," Little said after the marker was unveiled. "Right on."

The marker tells the story of the campaign in concise fashion: "Tobacco unionism: Strike by leaf workers, mostly black & female, June 17, 1943, 1/2 mile W., led to seven years of labor & civil rights activism by Local 22."

Numerous elected officials attended the unveiling, including NC Rep. Ed Hanes Jr. and Evelyn Terry; Forsyth County Commissioners Walter Marshall and Everette Witherspoon; Winston-Salem/Forsyth County School Board member Elisabeth Motsinger; and Winston-Salem City Council members Derwin Montgomery, James Taylor Jr. and Dan Besse

Striking tobacco workers in Winston-Salem to he honored with historic marker

The Forsyth County Historic Resources Center has approved a historic marker commemorating a series of strikes by predominantly African-American tobacco workers at Reynolds Tobacco Co. in Winston-Salem.

The commission unanimously approved the marker in December, Historic Resource Officer LeAnn Pegram said. The marker will be placed in front of Factory Complex 64 at 500 E. 5th St., which dates back to 1916. Pegram said a developer who recently purchased the complex has agreed to pay for the marker, but wants to wait until the building is rehabbed to unveil it. In March 2012, the Winston-Salem City Council designated the Factory Complex 64 as a historic building, which makes the owner eligible for tax credits in exchange for preserving its features.

"The RJR Factory Complex 64 site is significant as being one of the few remaining sites where large strikes took place (1943, 1947) between the CIO-affiliated Local 22 and the RJ Reynolds Company, representing an important series of events in the labor history of the city," Pegram wrote in a recent PowerPoint. "During the history of Reynolds (and other tobacco facilities), there was a constant struggle for African-American workers to improve their wages and the harsh working conditions in the factories. The 1943 strike occurred when a factory employee died while working, after requesting permission to leave due to illness. Several hundred female stemmers began an immediate strike that spread throughout most of the facilities. A second strike occurred in 1947."

The strikes, along with the history of Local 22 and its long-term impact on the development of black political leadership in Winston-Salem, is chronicled in Civil Rights Unionism: Tobacco Workers and the Struggle for Democracy in the Mid-Twentieth Century South by Robert Korstad.