Crystal lee sutton biography of mahatma

Crystal Lee Sutton

American labor activist

Crystal Lee Sutton

Born()December 31,

Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina, United States

DiedSeptember 11, () (aged&#;68)

Burlington, North Carolina

Other&#;namesCrystal Lee Pulley
Crystal Lee Jordan
OccupationUnion organizer

Crystal Lee Sutton (née Pulley; December 31, – September 11, ) was an American union organizer and advocate who gained fame in when the film Norma Rae was released, based on events related to her being fired from her job at the J.P.

Stevens plant in Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina, on May 30, , for "insubordination" after she copied an anti-union letter posted on the company bulletin board.[1][2]

Union activism and recognition

Sutton was one of the union activists during the J.P. Stevens controversy—one of "the ugliest episodes in labor history in the United States which took place from about to "[3] during which Stevens "repeatedly harassed or fired union activists"[3] and the union "countered with a boycott of Stevens products"[3][4] and a "campaign to isolate the company by pressuring companies that dealt with Stevens or had Stevens officers on their boards."[1][3] In Crystal saw a union poster hanging in one of the seven mills in Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina owned by J.P.

Stevens & Company mills where three generations of her family had worked—living in a neighborhood where the Company "owned every shotgun house"[2] in Sutton's neighborhood. She had been "thinking about the paltry wages, the bone-tiring work and the stingy benefits that she and her parents had suffered.

Crystal lee sutton photos Main Menu U. Crystal Sutton American labor organizer and lawyer Date of Birth: The first in her family to graduate from high school, Sutton was married at 19, had a child at 20, was widowed before she was 21 and gave birth to a child out of wedlock at Fed up with the poor pay and working conditions, she joined the Textile Workers Union of America and became an organizer whose activism quickly earned the wrath of management.

She wanted something better for her children."[2] In Sutton was fired after trying to unionize employees.[1][5] Shortly after, by August 28, , Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union (ACTWU) began to represent workers at the plant.[1]

The Textile Workers Union of America sent union organizer Eli Zivkovich to unionize J.P.

Stevens & Company's Roanoke Rapids mills employees and worked with Sutton. He said "in his 20 years as an organizer he had never known anyone who matched Sutton's zeal."[2][6] "Management and others treated me as if I had leprosy," she stated.[7] Sutton earned $ per hour folding towels (equivalent to $ in ).[7]

She received threats and was finally fired from her job.[8] But before she left, she took one final stand, portrayed in Norma Rae.

"I took a piece of cardboard and wrote the word UNION on it in big letters, got up on my work table, and slowly turned it around. The workers started cutting their machines off and giving me the victory sign. All of a sudden the plant was very quiet…"[1][9] Sutton was physically removed from the plant by police, but she achieved her goal.[10] On August 28, , the 3, workers at the Roanoke Rapids plant[1] voted to allow The Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union (ACTWU) to represent them by a slim vote margin.[1] However, because of the intractability of J.P.

Stevens, workers at the plant continued without a contract until [citation needed] Thanks to a coalition of black and white women employees of the mill, Sutton's national speaking tour, and local organizing on behalf of workers among religious groups, J.P. Stevens and ACTWU agreed to a settlement in [11] Sutton became a paid organizer for the ACTWU and went on a national speaking tour as "the real Norma Rae."[1] Sutton was the 13th recipient of the Pacem in Terris Peace and Freedom Award in [12] The honor was named after a encyclical letter, Pacem in terris (Peace on Earth), by Pope John XXIII, that calls upon all people of good will to secure peace among all nations.[citation needed]

Sutton was critical of the ACTWU for not supporting her after her arrest, relaying that union leaders "acted like they were ashamed to have ever had anything to do with Crystal Lee." She reported that, when she was reinstated at J.P.

Stevens, she was snubbed by the union organizer.

  • See full list on heddels.com
  • See full list on heddels.com

    • "I mean, I walked into that mill that day and the organizer said he didn't even know who I was. There was nobody from the regional office. No press, nothing." Two days later she took her accumulated sick days to demonstrate her value to the union. Ultimately her relationship with the Union was mended and she began working directly for the ACTWU.[13]

    Norma Rae

    The film Norma Rae, starring Sally Field, is based on Sutton's early union work.[8] The movie is based on the book about her by New York Times reporter Henry "Hank" Leifermann Crystal Lee: A Woman of Inheritance.[6] Her papers and memorabilia are located at Alamance Community College in North Carolina, where she took classes in nursing in [14]

    Personal life

    Sutton was born Crystal Lee Pulley in Roanoke Rapids on December 31, [7] She married at 19, gave birth to her first child at 20, and was widowed at [2] She married Larry Jordan Jr.

    and had her third child at Following the events that made her famous and before the release of Norma Rae, she and Jordan were divorced.[10] She married Lewis Sutton Jr. about Obituaries state they were married 32 years.[10]

    Death

    Crystal Lee Sutton died of inoperable brain cancer at Hospice Home in Burlington, North Carolina on September 11, [7][15]

    References

    1. ^ abcdefghFink, Joey (July 15, ).

      "In Good Faith: Working-Class Women, Feminism, and Religious Support in the Struggle to Organize J.P. Stevens Textile Workers in the Southern Piedmont, –". Southern Spaces.

    2. Clear
    3. Crystal Lee Sutton: A Mill Girl Rebels - The New York Times
    4. Settings
    5. Item 1 of 1

      6. doi/M7J60K. Archived from the original on 15 August Retrieved 26 August

    6. ^ abcdeJones, Mage (December 23, ). "Crystal Lee Sutton: The Organizer". New York Times Magazine. Archived from the original on 1 October Retrieved 1 April
    7. ^ abcdSalmans, Sandra (October 18, ), "J.P.

      Stevens: One year after the truce", The New York Times, archived from the original on April 25, , retrieved March 31,

    8. ^Minchin, Timothy J. (), "Don't Sleep with Stevens!: The J.P. Stevens Campaign and the Struggle to Organize the South, –80", University Press of Florida, Gainesville
    9. ^Hodges, James A., Fink, Gary M.; Reed, Merl E.

      (eds.), s and the Union: Struggle for the South, Race, Class, and Community in Southern Labor History, Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press

    10. ^ abLeifermann, Henry P. (), "Crystal Lee: A Woman of Inheritance", Macmillan, p.&#;, ISBN&#;, archived from the original on , retrieved
    11. ^ abcdSullivan, Patricia (September 16, ).

      Crystal lee sutton biography of mahatma But her efforts ultimately succeeded, as the Amalgamated Clothing Workers won the right to represent the plant's employees on Aug. From Our Partners My 5-To She took her challenges head on, and never stopped fighting for what was right. Jose Diaz.

      "Labor Organizer Crystal Lee Sutton Dies 68". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 2 October Retrieved 21 December

    12. ^ abHevesi, Dennis (). "Crystal Lee Sutton, the Real-Life 'Norma Rae,' Is Dead at 68 (Published )".

      Labor Rights History – Crystal Lee Sutton, the Real Life ... Support Facing South with a tax-deductible donation. The Institute for Southern Studies is committed to being an essential resource for voices of change in the South. Follow Us. Workers routinely lost fingers, inhaled cotton dust, and lost hearing due to the deafening drone of machinery.

      The New York Times. ISSN&#; Archived from the original on Retrieved

    13. ^"Welcome to the Crystal Sutton Collection". . Archived from the original on Retrieved
    14. ^ abcHevesi, Dennis (September 15, ). "Crystal Lee Sutton, the Real-Life 'Norma Rae,' Is Dead at 68".

      The New York Times. Archived from the original on March 17, Retrieved March 17,

    15. ^Raskin, A.H. (October 21, ), "The Stevens Settlement"(PDF), nyt, archived(PDF) from the original on August 14, , retrieved August 13,
    16. ^"Pacem in Terris Past Recipients".

      Diocese of Davenport.

      Crystal lee sutton In , after a series of waitressing and sewing jobs, she returned to J. NEW: Games. All Sections. While such cancers are typically slow-growing, Sutton's was not -- and she went two months without potentially life-saving medication because her insurance wouldn't cover it initially.

      Archived from the original on Retrieved

    17. ^Howard Pousner (April 17, ). "The Real "Norman Rae" Is No Sally Fields". Spokesman-Review. p.&#; Archived from the original on 1 July Retrieved 21 December
    18. ^Beach, Peggy (). "'Norma Rae' donates her papers to Alamance Community College: Alamance alum Leslie Thompson helps catalog donation" (Press release).

      North Carolina Community College System Public Affairs.

      Carousel: James Connolly. Her last action at the plant -- writing the word "UNION" on a piece of cardboard and standing on her work table, leading her co-workers to turn off their machines in solidarity -- was memorialized in the film by actress Sally Field. JP Stevens was so vehemently anti-union that it systematically purchased small unionized textile mills in the south only to close them down. From exposing abuses of power and holding powerful interests accountable to elevating the voices of everyday people working for change, Facing South has become a go-to source for investigative reporting and in-depth analysis of Southern issues and trends.

      Archived from the original on

    19. ^"Crystal Lee Sutton dies at 68". . Retrieved 21 December [permanent dead link&#;]

    External links