(Editor’s note: This story was shared by Marin County Board of Supervisor Mary Sackett in her periodic newsletter.)
February is Black History Month, a time when we can reflect on the accomplishments, contributions, and resiliency of Black Americans.
I want to share the story of Joseph James, a singer, welder, and civil rights activist in Marin County during the 1940s. James was born in Philadelphia in 1910. Like many people during the early 1940s, James joined the war effort and enrolled in the Samuel Gompers trade school, learned to weld, and worked at Marinship in 1942, helping to build warships.
During the war, US contracts were issued to closed shops. A closed shop is a business that hires people with the condition that they join the union. Due to the racist and segregationist practices of the time, the union established different local union chapters for African American and White members. James resisted these ‘separate but equal’ union practices. With the help of Thurgood Marshall and the community, James sued the union. The fight went to the State Supreme Court and helped to establish a major victory, for James and future civil rights litigation. The courts ruled in favor of James and upheld the federal prohibition on racial discrimination in effect under President Roosevelt’s Executive Order 8802.
James went on to become the first president of the NAACP in San Francisco and continued to fight for a more just and inclusive society.
This is one story among many. Get involved and check out the events happening for Black History Month.
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