Skip to main content

Davis talks about the Coalition of Labor Union Women (3:34)

View
@ Georgia State University

Davis, Jean

Description

Born in the segregated South to politically active parents, Jean Davis became politically aware as a young girl in Newnan, Georgia. Her early aspiration was to work as a missionary in Africa but instead, she attended Morris Brown College and taught public school in Atlanta. As a student at Morris Brown, Davis was involved in the Civil Rights Movement and participated in boycotts of Rich's Department Store and sit-ins at Woolworth's. Davis also worked with the A. Philip Randolph Institute as well as the Georgia AFL-CIO and the National AFL-CIO. Through her work with different union organizations and her activism in civil rights, Davis became interested in the Equal Rights Amendment. She felt strongly that the Coalition of Labor Union Women (CLUW) was necessary in order to bring union women on board with the ERA and also to establish an organization that would place women in leadership positions. In addition to her work with the ERA, Davis worked on a number of campaigns from local school boards to notable politicians and continues the struggle for human rights.Aware of racial discrimination at an early age, Davis begins by recounting her childhood in segregated Newnan, Georgia. Her emerging activism, she believes, was influenced by her community-oriented parents and by her cousin, a railroad worker, and union member. Davis discusses her internship at the A. Philip Randolph Institute, and how that led to her work with several different social justice organizations, including the AFL-CIO. Davis articulates her struggle to find a way to...
Type:
Sound
Contributors:
Millen, Susan A. (Susan Ann), 1951
Rights:
The full transcript and audio recording of this oral history interview may be accessed in the Special Collections and Archives Reading Room, or researchers may request copies. For more information, click the Usage Policies and Ordering link above, or contact us at archives@gsu.edu or 404-413-2880.
View Original At:

Record Contributed By

Georgia State University

Record Harvested From

Digital Library of Georgia