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Ida Sledge

For other possible meanings see Subject's last name (disambiguation)

Ida Sledge (1910 – 1972) also referred to as Ida Thomas Sledge, or Ida T. Sledge, was a Memphis born socialite and union organizer for the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union. She is best known for her highly publicized and controversial organizing efforts in Tupelo, Mississippi, in the summer and fall of 1937. She was also the half-aunt of American actress Tallulah Bankhead, though she was several years younger than Bankhead.

Biography

Early life and family

Ida Thomas Sledge was born in 1910 to father Joshua Thomas Sledge and mother Carrie May Sledge, his second wife and 20 years his junior. Ida grew up in Memphis, Tennessee, with all the privileges associated with being a member a family well integrated in Southern high society. She was also half aunt to the notoriously hedonistic actress and activist Tallulah Bankhead, as Bankhead's mother Adelaide "Ada" Bankhead was Joshua Thomas Sledge's daughter from his first marriage.

Education

Ida Sledge attended Wellesley College in Massachusetts. She was the freshman class senator in 1927 and graduated with the class of 1931.

Organizing for the ILGWU

After graduating, Ida Sledge began working as an organizer for the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union, a group dedicated to organizing unions for factory workers in the production of women's clothes, with the goals of improving worker conditions, increasing wages, and reducing working hours for factory employees. In the summer of 1937, the ILGWU set its sights on Tupelo, Mississippi and the garment workers who lived and worked there. In June of that year, the ILGWU sent Ida Sledge to investigate the town as a potential site to organize a local ILGWU Ida's many visits and stays in Tupelo during the ensuing labor conflicts were highly publicized in the local press, and major papers like The New York Times. Her later organizing in Baltimore, Maryland was less controversial and did not receive extensive media coverage.

Struggle at Tupelo

On June 15, 1937, Ida Sledge and fellow organizer Lillian Messer arrived in Tupelo with the goal of organizing the employees of the these smaller factories owned by the Reed Brothers and Milam Manufacturing. A supposedly voluntary petition was signed by many factory employees stating their satisfaction with wages and conditions at the factory. Sledge and Messer were apparently undeterred by the petition. The following morning, mill workers were reportedly threatened with the loss of their jobs if they cooperated with the organizers and attempted to unionize, and a Reed Brothers official offered legal protection to any worker who could get Sledge and Messer to leave town. That night, 75 of the mill workers gathered at the hotel where Ida was staying and forcibly removed her from the room when she refused to leave voluntarily. A Reed Brothers employee drove Sledge and Messer 5 miles out of town, where they were released and warned not to come back. Reed Officials then threw a banquet by way of thanking the factory employees for ridding Tupelo of the union menace. The press covered the organization of the banquet, though a reporter at the Delta Star pointed out that forcing Sledge out of town was illegal.

Sledge soon returned to Tupelo, prepared to testify about her forced removal at a NLRB Hearing. Though she was not called to testify, she stayed in town to compile mailing lists and form an organizing plan with fellow organizer Jimmy Cox. On July 10th, Ida was forcibly removed from her hotel once again, this time by a group of local businessmen, who warned of her of severe consequences should she attempt to return.

Apparently undeterred, her next stay in Tupelo sparked news headlines like "Organizers Escorted From City but Return," "Evicted Twice; Back to Tupelo," and "Ida Sledge Escorted Out of Tupelo Again." The corresponding strike lead by Sledge and Cox lasted 39 days, and its violent episodes were highly publicized. When a third party negotiator was sent by local businessmen to try to convince Sledge to leave again, the house where the meeting was held was surrounded by 15 armed men for Sledge's safety.

On November 10th, the ILGWU transferred Ida Sledge. Citing a need for her services in Baltimore, Maryland, the Union removed Sledge from Tupelo and assigned a local person named Sarah Potter to represent Tupelo in her absence. Potter proved to be a poor replacement, and rumors of an illicit relationship between her and Jimmy Cox (who was married) left the pair without the trust of the factory workers. There was a public burning of union literature, and Jimmy Cox was abducted and beaten nearly to death. The newspapers amply covered these events. In the end, the ILGWU failed to organize branch unions in Tupelo.

Though CIO unions were not formed in Tupelo in summer of 1937, the strikes, violence, and struggle for unionization are still cited as a turning point in labor organizing in the South, including changing ideas around race and labor in the deep South.

Bibliography

Atkins, Joe (March 1, 2006). "Covering for the Bosses: Labor and the Southern Press". Union for Democratic Communications. Vol. 20: 37.

Foster Durr, Virginia (June 30, 1990). Outside the Magic Circle: The Autobiography of Virginia Foster Durr. Tuscaloosa, AL: University of Alabama Press.

"Freshman Officers." Wellesley College News. XXXVI (10). December 1, 1927.

Honey, Michael K. (1993). Southern Labor and Black Civil Rights: Organizing Memphis Workers. University of Illinois Press.

Lester, Connie L. (2008)."Balancing Agriculture with Industry: Capital, Labor, and the Public Good in Mississippi's Home-Grown New Deal." Journal of Mississippi History 70.3

Smith, Wendy D. (2012). "Perfect Harmony: the Myth of Tupelo's Industrial Tranquility." Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 266. https://egrove.olemiss.edu/etd/266

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica (February 28, 2017). "International Ladies' Garment Workers Union." Encylopaedia Britannica. Retrieved December 1, 2020.

See also

List related internal (Wikipedia) articles in alphabetical order. Common nouns are listed first. Proper nouns follow.

• autobiography
• biography
• ILGWU
• Wellesley College

External links

List official websites, organizations named after the subject, and other interesting yet relevant websites. No spam.

***MAYBE CONTACT WENDY SMITH??? CHAPTER FIVE IS ALL ABOUT IDA. ALSO- THE DISSERTATION WON A STATE PRIZE!!

Sources:

Smith, Wendy D., "Perfect Harmony: the Myth of Tupelo's Industrial Tranquility" (2012). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 266. https://egrove.olemiss.edu/etd/266

"Outside the Magic Circle: The Autobiography of Virginia Foster Durr" (need to cite my edition)

Cox, Charles F. "Jimmy". "The Famous Struggle At Tupelo." Let Southern Labor Speak Winter (1938): 40-44.

"MISS SLEDGE BACK AGAIN; C. I. O. Woman Returns to Tupelo to Fight 'Home Unions'" (NY Times July 23 1937)

"MISS SLEDGE DEFIES TUPELO 'VIGILANTES'; C. I. O. Aide, Twice Ejected, Leaves Town 'to Avoid Bloodshed,' but Plans Return" (NY Times July 11, 1937)

"ORGANIZER GOES BACK TO TUPELO; Woman Organizer Says she is "Safely Situated" in Mill Area" (Clarion- Ledger July 11, 1937)

""Mill Stockholders Meet Today; Union Organizer Leaves." (Tupelo Daily Journal, 1937)

Mason, Lucy Randolph. To Win These Rights: A Personal Story of the CIO in the South. [1st ed. New York: Harper, 1952. (NEED TO UPDATE EDITION WHEN I FIND A COPY)

"Southern Labor and Black Civil Rights: Organizing Memphis Workers" by Michael K. Honey (MUST FIND PRINT COPY)

"Dress Shop Strikers Make Peace Demands," Commercial Appeal, March 11, 1937.

“Memphian at Labor Hearing,” Commercial Appeal, July 8, 1937. ( Image of hearing and info on testimony. Can I find a transcript of her testimony?)

"Violence Flares When Garment Workers Picket Dress Factory Here," Commercial Appeal, March 9, 1937.

"Reed Workers Ask Union to Cease Activities Here."

"Merchants to Give Huge Banquet for Reed Girls."; "Reed Employees Praised Highly for Americanism," Tupelo Daily Journal, June 22, 1937.

"Memphis CIO Organizer Renews Campaign at Tupelo," Commercial Appeal, July 9, 1937.

"Organizers Escorted From City but Return," Tupelo Daily Journal, July 10, 1937

"Evicted Twice; Back to Tupelo," Press-Scimitar, July 10, 1937

"Ida Sledge Escorted Out of Tupelo Again," Commercial Appeal, July 10, 1937.

"Tupelo Workers Form Unions, Ida Sledge to Contest Move," Commercial Appeal, July 13, 1937.

"Organizers of Women Workers Arrive in Tupelo," Baldwyn Home Journal, June 17, 1937.

"Ida Sledge Transferred," Tupelo Daily Journal, November 11, 1937.

"To The Farmers of This Territory," Tupelo Daily Journal, October 27, 1937

W. A. Harrison to John L. Lewis, Tupelo, Mississippi, January 1, 1937, Kheel. (Not sure I can find this letter)

"Charges Are Expected in Cox Seizure," Tupelo Daily Journal, April 18, 1938.

"Jimmy Cox Back in City After Ride." 54 "Next Move Up to Cox, Officers Say," Tupelo Daily Journal, April 19, 1938

"Jimmy Cox is on Way to Washington," Tupelo Daily Journal, April 21, 1938. (May use these three or just cite the dissertation to illustrate the danger of the situation.

"It seems the union made a mistake in removing Ida Sledge and replacing her with Potter." (Smith- hehehe I'm totally going to use this quote)