Immigrant Labor
The industrial revolution of the late 19th and early 20th centuries transformed America. The nation shifted from a mainly agrarian to an industrial economy; many people moved from rural areas to cities; and immigrants from abroad poured in. Accompanying these changes were new regulations and laws that affected labor and immigration, such as the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act, 1885 Alien Contact Labor Law, and 1924 Immigration Act.
Among women and men who immigrated to the United States for new opportunities, many worked in the textile industry. The black and white images in the upper left corner of this case illustrate the changes noted above through portraits of textile workers in New York City in the early 20th century. While their names are not listed, identification on the back of the images includes their country of origin, and sometimes their occupation. In this group, all are from eastern and southern European countries, many from Yiddish-speaking communities. The 1916 broadside in the middle, from the International Ladies’ Garment Workers Union (ILGWU) collection, shows one means of communication between unions and textile workers. Information about a strike is conveyed in multiple languages – Yiddish, English, and Italian. The 1947 booklet, at bottom left and center, further underscores the ways that immigration, urbanization, and industrialization shaped the textile industry, here through the ILGWU’s perspective. For most of the 20th century, the ILGWU was the largest labor union representing workers in the women’s garment industry in North America.
In the same period, the national origins of immigrants shifted away from Europe to Asia and Latin America. As the demographics changed, so too did public policies and laws on labor and immigration. The cluster of images and printed materials to the right represent May Ying Chen’s activities in New York as a labor organizer and advocate for immigrant workers. Shown seated at a desk in a photograph taken for a 1990 New York Times article, Chen was born in Boston, the child of immigrants from China and Hong Kong. She joined the ILGWU a year after the 1982 garment workers’ strike in New York City’s Chinatown, and was instrumental in the union’s efforts to help members apply for U.S. citizenship, in just one of her many contributions. Chen later served the union in the education department. She would go on to work with other labor organizations, leading to her role as the international vice president of UNITE HERE. (The Union of Needletrades, Industrial, and Textile Employees [UNITE] and Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees International Union [HERE] merged in 2004 to form UNITE HERE.) Chen held this leadership position until her retirement in 2009.
ILGWU. Broadside, The New Post, written in three languages, 1916.
On loan from the Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation & Archives
Collection/Call #: 5780/109
Unknown photographer(s). 6 photographs of immigrant garment workers, ca. 1918.
On loan from the Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation & Archives
Collection/Call #: 5619 P
IGLWU. …and the pursuit of happiness, 1947.
On loan from the Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation & Archives
Collection/Call #: 5780 PUBS
IGLWU. Image of 4 women from Local 23-25, 1982.
The Lower East Side of New York City has seen multiple waves of immigrants over the last two centuries. Chinese immigrants, largely barred from the U.S. until the Chinese Exclusion Act was revoked in the 1960s, settled in what is now Chinatown. By the 1980s, Asian immigrants made up the majority of garment industry workers in NYC, yet they were not well represented by the International Ladies Garment Workers Union. Leaders from within the community fought both for better representation by the ILGWU and better working conditions from their employers. Here we see four members of the union involved in the June 24, 1982 Chinatown Garment Workers Strike, which included nearly 20,000 workers demanding higher wages and health and retirement benefits. They would go on to win those demands and gain leadership roles in the ILGWU.
On loan from the Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation & Archives
Collection/Call #: 5780 P
UNITE. Flyer for the 20th Anniversary of the Chinese Chapter of the CLUW, International Woman’s Day, and the Lunar Year of the Rooster event, 2005.
On loan from the Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation & Archives
Collection/Call #: 6000/050
UNITE. Lunar Year of the Rooster event, 2005.
On loan from the Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation & Archives
Collection/Call #: 6000/050
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UNITE. Flyer entitled, “Why is Immigration Reform a Union Issue,” 2006.
On loan from the Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation & Archives
Collection/Call #: 6000/046
UNITE. We are America, ca. 2006-2007.
On loan from the Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation & Archives
Collection/Call #: 6000/046
Unknown photographer. Photograph of May Chen, NY Times, 1990.
On loan from the Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation & Archives
Collection/Call #: 5780/059 P
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