• Crystal Lee Jordan Sutton (b. 1940). Born into a North Carolina weaving family, she became a dynamic organizer of textile workers in the landmark J.P. Stevens unionizing drive of 1973-74, in her native Roanoke Rapids, a "company" town. Textile and clothing is the only basic U.S. industry not fully organized, despite a southern workforce of 700,000. "Brown lung, deafening noise, and low pay are among the argued issues. The Textile Workers Union of America* targeted Crystal's town. One night during her shift she stood up alone to management and went to jail; but TWUA won the subsequent election and a contract. The company refused to comply legally, until a widely publicized product boycott resulted in their landmark capitulation in 1980. *Now the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union.
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Crystal Lee Jordan Sutton postcard

From Women Making History: The Revolutionary Feminist Postcard Art of Helaine Victoria Press by Julia M. Allen and Jocelyn H. Cohen

  • Part of the Bread & Roses series, Women in the American Labor Movement, set of 9 postcards. Second printing, printed offset in sepia with blue border and copper accent, 3 ½” x 5½”, with a special Bread & Roses emblem created as part of the design. Although Nancy and Jocelyn preferred the large jumbo size postcards, postcard collectors generally only purchased the traditional “standard size” of 3 ½” x 5½”. With this set, Helaine Victoria Press hoped to pick up notice and recognition by the philatelic world.
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  • HISTORY / Women
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