Clara lemlich shavelson biography examples
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I had fire in my mouth.
-Clara Lemlich Shavelson ()
Fire sparks revolution, and while the fiery anger of women is so often suppressed, scoffed at, and used against them, it is that fire that has created longlasting change. As Rebecca Traister writes in her book Good and Mad, in the fury of women lies the power to change the world.
Clara Lemlich Shavelson is a prime example of that fire, a women who at the age of 23, sparked an entire labor movement. In Shavelson stood before a crowd of garment workers, announcing in Yiddish, “I am tired of listening to speakers who talk in general terms. I move that we go on a general strike!” Her call ignited the many women, who just like her, were suffering under terrible conditions; eleven-hour workdays, six days a week, for starting wages of $3 a week.
The call led to the Uprising of the 20,, an extensive strike by mostly immigrant women garment workers which eventually led to safer workplaces, shorter workdays an
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Portrait of Clara Lemlich, circa Part of the International Ladies Garment Workers Union Photographs () collection located at The Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation and Archives in the ILR School at Cornell University.
On November 22, , at a massive workers meeting held at Cooper Union, Clara Lemlich Shavelson made herself known. In Yiddish, she declared, “I am tired of listening to speakers who talk in general terms… I move that we go on a general strike!”
Her words prompted some 20, to 30, garment workers — most of them Jewish women — to go on strike. This would be known as the Uprising of the 20,, which was a “milestone action in a swelling labor movement that made workplaces safer, workdays shorter and wages higher.” A hour work week was adopted — and yes, that was considered a win — and the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union (ILGWU) was recognized.
Clara, a Jewish mom, was a “crusading leader of labor rights” who fought tirelessly for the rights of w
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Clara Lemlich
Ukrainian-born Jewish American labor organizer ()
Clara Lemlich Shavelson | |
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Lemlich c. | |
| Born | Clara Lemlich March 28, Horodok, Russian Empire |
| Died | July 12, () (aged96) Los Angeles, California, United States |
| Occupation(s) | Union organizer, suffragist, activist |
| Knownfor | Leader of the Uprising of the 20, |
| Political party | Communist USA |
| Spouse(s) | Joe Shavelson (m.; died)Abe Goldman () |
| Children | Irving, Martha, and Rita |
Clara Lemlich Shavelson (March 28, July 12, ) was a leader of the Uprising of 20,, the massive strike of shirtwaist workers in New York'sgarment industry in , where she spoke in Yiddish and called for action.[1] Later blacklisted from the industry for her labor union work, she became a member of the Communist Party USA and a consumer activist. In her last years as a nursing home resident she helped to organize the staff.
Early years
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