TheBaltimoreBook:NewViewsofLocalHistory
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NewViews ofLocal History
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Edited by Eli...
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TheBaltimoreBook:NewViewsofLocalHistory
Copyrighted Material
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,-'
NewViews ofLocal History
•
Edited by Elizabeth Fee, Linda Shapes, Linda Zeidman
Temple University Press: Philadelphia
CopyrightedMaterial
Temple Un iversity P ress, Ph iladelph ia 19122 Copyright © 1991 by Temple Un iversity. All rights reserved. P ublished 1991 Pri nted in the Uni ted S tates of Ame rica
T he paper used in this pu blicat ion is acid f reefo r g reater perman ence.
Library of Cong ress Catalogi ng in Publ ication Data Th e Ba ltimo re book : new views of local history I edited by Eli zabeth Fee, Lin da S hopes, Li nda Zeid man. p . em. (Critical perspectives on the pas t). In clu des bibliographical ref erences and index, ISBN 0-8 7722-8 17-5 ISBN 10: 1-56639-184-9 ISBN 13: 978-1-56639- 184-9
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could send for his family. A 12-year-old child, Sarah had little time for schooling or play in her new community. Her mother fell ill-a "weakened heart ," Sarah explained- and her father lost his job because he refused to work on the Sabbath (a demand of even j ewish manufactur er s during the boom years of World War 1). As a conse quence, Sarah left school in the fourth grade to accompany her sisters to the garme nt factories. She worked in a basement at Wohlmuth 's factory, pulling loose threads for 10 hour s a day and hiding in a large bin of scraps when the occasional child-labor inspector came in. "It was hot ," Sarah remember ed , "and ther e wasn't even no payroll. They used to give my siste r the money for me too." Within the year , Sarah and her sisters left Wohlmuth's for Sonneborn's . By 1916, she had advanced from thre ad puller to sewing machine operator and had joined the union. Her oldest siste r had alre ady joined the UGW, following in the footsteps of their father , who became a UGW member short ly after his arr ival in Baltimore . But Sarah's first union affiliation was with the newly formed ACW . She was recruited to the union by Dorothy ja cobs Bellanca, an outspoken woman who in 1909 had organized a UGW Local of Buttonhole-Makers when she was barely 16. Like most of the unionized Jewish immigr ant community, Dorothy Jacobs Bellanca left the UGW for the ...c w- a union with a Jewish leader ship that took in all worker s , regardless of skill or gender, and was influenced by the socialist principles many Russian Jew s believed nece ssary for the new industr ial order.
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93 The City That Tries to Suit Ever ybody
Once Sara h had signed her union card, labor organizing took preceden ce ove r othe r intere st s , for building a union requir ed tim e, per sist ence , and, as Sara h recalled , a willingness to go to jail. Arr est ed a numb er of times along with other "Sonneborn gir ls" who picketed the Greif firm in 1916, Sara h rem emb ered the eve nt vividly: We wer e "just a bunch of youn g kids, but we had a lot of spunk in us ." We wer e told that "the girls " wer e to march in the front of the picket line to prote ct the men from the police clubs. Th en ther e was "a lot of shouting . . . and a lot of us landed in the police station. Some of them had to nur se their babie s . Th ey let them out but the y didn't let us out until the following day.... We didn't ge t the union so easy," Sarah added . Thr oughout the 1920s and 1930s , Sara h Barron rose through the union rank s. Her organizational skills, enthusiasm, and unwavering commitme nt to increasing the ranks of union women all made her union siste rs, and many of her union broth er s , look to her for guidance and support. She took a promin ent role in the 1932 str ike, which revitalized the ACW in the midst of the eco nomic depr e ssion and landed her in jail 13 time s . Later in the decade , she worked hard to ass ist the c ia in its organizational campaigns: "Take Sarah [with you], " an ACW leader instru cted a United Automobile Worker s orga nizer, se tti ng out to unionize the auto worker s , "she's got a lot of nerv e ." After World War II, as a paid union orga nizer, Sarah had the difficult task of chas ing "runaway shops" into the far reache s of the Eas te rn Shore or rur al Pe nnsy lvania. She encounter ed not only the usual array of hostil e local officials but also the fear of outs iders am ong wor kers, racial tensions in integ rate d shops, and antiun ion se ntiment springing from hyst eria about communism . Indeed , just afte r the war starte d, Sar ah officially changed her name from Borinsky to Barr on , on the advice of fellow ACW member , Jacob Edelman. Jake warn ed her to "dr op the 'sky,' le st you be called a communist. " But Sarah Bar ron was no communist , for by the end of the 1930s she was already firmly committ ed to the party of the New Deal and a loyal follower of Fr anklin Roose -
velt. Although prev iously a socia list, her commitment to the Democr atic par ty remaine d firm afte r 1936. Her primary loyalty, howe ver , was always the union. But the ACW was not always as kind in ret urn. Union brother s re sist ed efforts among wome n memb er s to gain a greater voice in the union, and Sara h Barro n had bee n among those women in the 1920s who attem pte d to form a women's local. Denied the nece ssar y support, shouted down at meetin gs , r idiculed at the wor kplace, and eve n depri ved of gr ievance repre sent ation , the se women unionist s- with Barron in the forefront-w ere ultimately forced to abandon their hope s for a wome n's local. Paid le ss for the same job and denied access to bett er-p aying jobs , women workers also found barri er s in the union organization. Becoming a paid organizer was ofte n the highest pos ition a woman could achieve in the ACW . Ther e were, however, victories along the way. Barr on remember ed how she and other women led the fight in 1919 to keep one ACW woman's job as a cutte r, de spite ser ious oppos ition by the all-male local. She spoke with pride of the achievements of ACW women . "We helped to make the union stronger.... Our women wer e really wonder ful." She added, "We picket ed plent y. .. . Th ey could always count on us ." Sarah Barro n gre w up with the union, and afte r the death of her family memb er s, she regard ed the union as her family. "I didn't have too much social life outs ide the union . But I loved it . We accomplished a lot of exciting things ," Officially retir ed in 1972, Barr on has been active in helping se nior citizens , and when she visits her senior center she provide s leader ship and suppor t. "It make s me feel like I'm still in the union ," she explained.
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94 Th e City That Tri es to Suit Everybod y
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