3-7-16 The Birth of a True Champion in 2:00
Rick Smith had a family emergency and was out all last week. I will be playing catch up over the next few days.
OS
http://laborhistoryin2.podbean.com/e/march-7-2016-the-birth-of-a-true-champion/
March 7, 2016
On this day in Labor History the year was 1942. That was the day a house fire claimed the life of a true champion for working people.
Lucy Gonzales Parsons was born in Texas.
2:00 minute audio at link.
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"On March 7, 1942, fire engulfed the simple home of 89-year-old Lucy Gonzales Parsons on Chicago’s North Troy Street, and ended a life dedicated to liberating working women and men of the world from capitalism and racial oppression. A dynamic, militant, self-educated public speaker and writer, she became the first American woman of color to carry her crusade for socialism across the country and overseas. Lucy Gonzales started life in Texas. She was of Mexican American, African American, and Native American descent and born into slavery. The path she chose after emancipation led to conflict with the Ku Klux Klan, hard work, painful personal losses, and many nights in jail. In Albert Parsons, a white man whose Waco Spectator fought the Klan and demanded social and political equality for African Americans, she found a handsome, committed soul mate. The white supremacy forces in Texas considered the couple dangerous and their marriage illegal, and soon drove them from the state.
Lucy was an unrelenting agitator, leading picket lines and speaking to workers’ audiences in the United States..." http://zinnedproject.org/materials/lucy-gonzales-parsons/
