C. L. Dellums facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
C. L. Dellums
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| Born |
Cottrell Laurence Dellums
January 3, 1900 |
| Died | December 6, 1989 (aged 89) |
| Relatives | Ron Dellums (nephew) |
Cottrell Laurence Dellums (born January 3, 1900 – died December 6, 1989) was an American leader who fought for workers' rights. He was a key organizer and leader of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters. This was a very important union for African American railroad workers.
Dellums worked as a porter for the Pullman Company from 1924 to 1927. A porter was someone who helped passengers on trains, carrying bags and providing service. He was fired because he openly supported forming a union. In 1929, Dellums was chosen as a vice president of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters. He became the president of the union in 1966. In the 1930s, Dellums also worked as an officer for the NAACP in Berkeley, California.
He was born in Corsicana, Texas. He is the uncle of Ron Dellums, who later became a Congressman and the Mayor of Oakland.
Fighting for Workers' Rights
C.L. Dellums chose San Francisco as a great place for African Americans to live in 1923. He was interested in going to law school at the University of California. However, he started working for the Southern Pacific railroad as a Pullman porter instead. He earned the respect of his Black co-workers. Because of this, he was eventually elected as the International President of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters.
Dellums became a strong voice for the growing African American labor movement. This movement was active in cities like Oakland, Richmond, and San Francisco after World War II. Dellums believed that African Americans needed to fund their own organizations and fights. He said they needed to use their own money and energy. The Brotherhood and other Black railroad worker unions were built with "Negro leadership and Negro money." They used the strength they found together to fight against unfair treatment and racial discrimination.
The union also worked for social justice beyond just train porters. For many years, Dellums spoke out against issues like unfair police actions. He also fought against the poor living conditions of Black farm workers. Dellums helped start the Oakland Voters League (OVL) in the mid-1940s. This group brought together workers and civil rights activists. For a time, they took control of the Oakland City Council. This council had been controlled by conservative politicians for many years. Dellums and the OVL built their power by bringing together working-class people of all races in the city.
Fair Employment Practices Committee
A. Philip Randolph and Dellums played a big role in helping African Americans get jobs in war industries. They threatened a large "March on Washington." This march would happen if President Roosevelt did not respond to their requests for fair hiring. In response, Roosevelt created an executive order. This order set up a Fair Employment Practice Committee (FEPC). The FEPC encouraged defense factories to hire African Americans.
Dellums strongly believed that human rights, or "God-given rights," should not be voted on. He felt that white people had used their power to stop Black people from having these rights. He said, "We were never really asking white people to grant or give us any rights. Only to stop using their majority and power in preventing us from exercising our God-given rights."
Dellums worked for 14 years to get the FEPC measure approved in California's state legislature. In 1960, Governor Pat Brown appointed him to serve on the state's first Fair Employment Practices commission. In 1964, Dellums and the California Fair Employment Practices Commission published a report on Oakland Schools. This report showed problems in the school district. Hiring discrimination was a major issue. It made it hard for the Oakland Unified School District to serve its growing number of Black students fairly.
