As I wrote in an
earlier piece, Henry Nicholas was one of the African-American leaders most involved in connecting the labor movement with the civil rights movement in a real, tangible way; in a way that facilitated the civil rights movement and labor movement joined in struggle together. President Nicholas and I have been talking about his role in that effort.
“I grew up in church. When I grew up the only book I had to read was the Bible. I could quote from it as well as any preacher. Most of the people in my family and my community thought my future would be in the pulpit. But I grew up with my own opinion about what mattered at the end of the day—that you would never be able to be free until you organized the masses. Our union was very close to the civil rights movement. That’s why it’s no accident or coincidence that our union was in Memphis the day after Dr. King was assassinated. We were at Benjamin Hooks’ house (former national President of the NAACP) planning the next demonstrations. Andy Young and Stony Cook became so close that they seemed like other staff members in our office. We even worked together to place civil rights organizers in the labor movement as union organizers.” -Henry Nicholas
Of course Rev. James Orange was one of those organizers. He worked for the labor movement for another 35 years as one of the most important trade unionists in America.
Within a year after Dr. King’s killing Henry was in Charleston, South Carolina, the heart of the old plantation, mint julep South organizing hospital workers. And the SCLC, Ms. Coretta Scott King, and Andrew Young were with him. 1199 and SCLC worked so closely together that folks thought of the campaign and resulting strike as a civil rights fight, which of course it was. In fact, that was the point. Civil rights and economic rights had to go together for people to really improve their lives. Lots of people aren’t on that page so the hotel Henry was registered in was bombed and he was jailed for two months and fed just enough grits to keep him alive.
But Nicholas kept organizing until he built 1199c into the largest union in Philadelphia, so big that when the teachers organized and their organizers and leaders were jailed, Henry and two other labor leaders called for a city wide strike. Today Nicholas is still heavily involved in education. He is one of Philadelphia’s most outspoken leaders on the quality of education in the city.