December 1886
Samuel Gompers founds the American Federation of Labor, organizing skilled craft workers. While Gompers publicly opposes racial exclusion clauses, the AFL admits international unions — including the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Iron Molders — whose constitutions bar Black membership. Black workers who had practiced skilled trades during and after slavery are systematically locked out of the organized labor movement's main institution.
The Colored Farmers' National Alliance and Cooperative Union was founded in Texas in 1886, growing to an estimated 1.2 million members by 1891. It established cooperative stores, cotton gins, and exchanges to help Black farmers escape crop-lien dependency. The Alliance was met with violence: in 1891, fifteen Black laborers organizing a cotton pickers' strike in Lee County, Arkansas were killed by a posse.
Events
- December 1886Colored Farmers' National Alliance Founded 1886
The Colored Farmers' National Alliance and Cooperative Union was founded in Texas in 1886, growing to an estimated 1.2 million members by 1891. It established cooperative stores, cotton gins, and exchanges to help Black farmers escape crop-lien dependency. The Alliance was met with violence: in 1891, fifteen Black laborers organizing a cotton pickers' strike in Lee County, Arkansas were killed by a posse.
- December 8, 1886AFL Founded with Craft Unions That Exclude Black Workers
Samuel Gompers founds the American Federation of Labor, organizing skilled craft workers. While Gompers publicly opposes racial exclusion clauses, the AFL admits international unions — including the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Iron Molders — whose constitutions bar Black membership. Black workers who had practiced skilled trades during and after slavery are systematically locked out of the organized labor movement's main institution.