Hosea Hudson facts for kids

Hosea Hudson (born April 12, 1898 – died 1988) was an African-American leader who fought for workers' rights in the Southern United States. He was born in Wilkes County, Georgia. Hosea Hudson first worked as a sharecropper, farming land for a share of the crops. Later, he moved to Birmingham. There, he worked in a steel mill and became a local union official. He was also an active member of the Communist Party, which he joined after studying in New York City in the 1930s. People often called Hudson a strong fighter against unfair treatment based on race and against economic exploitation. He was surprised by how much people accepted the Jim Crow Laws, which enforced racial segregation. But he felt that just being surprised was not enough.

Hudson worked hard to help African Americans gain the right to vote in the Deep South. In 1938, he started the Right to Vote Club. This club helped African Americans who could read to register to vote. This was important because it was very hard for Black people to vote in the segregated Southern states. They often faced threats and unfair rules. Hudson himself learned to read at the Communist Party's National Training School. After World War II, during a time called the Red Scare (when people were very afraid of communism), Hudson faced many challenges. He was removed from his union job and fired from his steel mill work in 1947. He was also put on a blacklist, meaning he couldn't easily find work because he was labeled a communist.

Hudson shared his life story in his book, Black Worker in the Deep South: A Personal Record, published in 1972. This book has been printed by smaller, progressive publishers. In 1987, historian Nell Irvin Painter wrote a book about Hosea Hudson's life with him. It is often called a shared autobiography. His story also appears in books about the Civil Rights Movement and the Communist Movement in the United States.

Hosea Hudson's Fight for Rights

Hosea Hudson became interested in the Communist Party after some important events. These included the unfair conviction of the Scottsboro Boys and an attack on sharecroppers in Camp Hill. In September 1931, an old co-worker named Al Murphy invited him to a Party meeting. Murphy was part of the Sharecroppers' Union.

Joining the Communist Party

On September 8, 1931, Hudson went to his first Communist Party meeting. Only about seven other people were there. They all worked at Stockham Pipe and Fittings or lived nearby. Hudson wasn't sure if he would "fit in" because he didn't know much about the Party. But he soon realized that none of the other people at the meeting could read or write. During that first meeting, Murphy's ideas convinced the eight men to join the Communist Party. They formed a group for Stockham workers. The new members chose Hudson to be their group organizer.

After a few months, Hudson's Party group became a "training school" for future labor leaders in Alabama. Even though the organizers were new to it, they were successful. Because of their success, some people started to act as spies at Stockham. To protect members from these spies, Party leaders created six separate groups. Hudson was the organizer of Unit 1. This unit was in charge of Units 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6. One spy, who was just a member, only knew about Unit 1. So, the spy only caused problems for Unit 1. The other units stayed safe.

Facing Challenges at Work

One Tuesday morning, the company's personnel manager told Hudson he had to leave his company house. Hudson moved out that Saturday. The next Monday, the assistant superintendent fired Hudson. It seemed to be because of his Party work. The assistant superintendent even asked Hudson about "what [he's] in" before firing him. A few days later, someone told Hudson to contact a Party organizer from New York. With that organizer's help, Hudson and his group printed leaflets. These leaflets shared the names and details of the six Stockham spies. They spread these leaflets all around town.

Many months later, Hudson was working a Welfare job. His friend Bedell, also on Welfare, encouraged Hudson to get the Party group back together. After Hudson was fired, the rest of his Party group had gotten scared and quit. When they successfully reunited the group, they "began to read again." They started to understand more about the Party and the history of the working class.

Years later, in November 1933, Hudson and other Party members organized a meeting in Birmingham. They wanted to work towards Union rights for Black industrial workers. Only nine organizers were at the meeting when police arrested eight of them. Hudson and another organizer were kept in jail from Sunday night until Tuesday, the day of their trial. The judge accused them of holding a Party "meeting to overthrow the government." Hudson said he was not guilty. The two organizers were put back in a cell and then sent home the next afternoon.

Standing Up for Voting Rights

In May 1944, Hudson attended a conference about Black voting rights. He was a member of the Labor and Industrial Committee. From this meeting, the Negro Democratic Non-Partisan Voters League was formed. This group decided that Black people needed to work in their communities to get the right to vote. Later, in Birmingham, the Committee of Industrial Union (CIO) met with two possible candidates. But they did not invite the only two Black men in the organization. So, at the next meeting, Hudson announced that he would not tell the Black members of his local union to vote for their candidate. His union had about 590 Black members.

As he encouraged his community to vote, he began to influence veterans. This was especially true for those who fought against Hitler in World War II. During this time, Hudson started to gain a lot of support. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) noticed Hudson's growing influence. The FBI felt threatened and started investigations on the leaders of Hudson's group. They labeled these leaders as dangerous. The FBI's actions also led the Ku Klux Klan to attack Black communities that supported Black youth. These attacks did not stop with the terrorist group. Leaders in politics also launched attacks. These included the Director of CIO, the CIO state president, and the District Director of the Steel Union.

Hosea Hudson's Organizations and Jobs

Hosea Hudson was involved in many organizations and unions. He also held several different jobs from the 1930s to the 1950s. In 1933, he organized large meetings for unemployed people in Birmingham, Alabama. These meetings aimed to show that companies were using unskilled workers for skilled jobs, like road construction, without paying them fairly. A few years later, he was very active in a trade union at the Wallwork Foundry. This foundry was part of the Tennessee Coal and Railroad Company. Unions were not allowed at Wallwork Foundry. So, the Steel Workers Union let him join a shop at another plant.

From 1937 to 1938, Hudson worked as the recording secretary for Steel Workers Local 1489. In 1938, he was chosen as a delegate for the second Southern Negro Youth Congress Convention. This led to him losing his job when he moved to Birmingham, Alabama. There, he worked on the planning committee with Henry O. Mayfield.

Forming the Right to Vote Club

In the summer of 1938, Hudson was unemployed. He started working with Joe Gelders, another Communist Party member. They wanted to form a club to encourage people to register to vote. They created a committee that went on to start the Right To Vote Club. One big problem the group tried to fix was how confusing and difficult it was for Black Americans to register to vote. The process was much simpler for white Americans.

The club gained a lot of attention from several organizations over the next year. Members from the NAACP started coming to and speaking at their meetings. Eventually, the president of the Negro Democratic Voters Club asked Hudson if the Right To Vote Club would join their organization. Hudson discussed this idea with other members of his club, and they decided not to join.

Working for the WPA

Later in 1938, Hudson began relief work for the Works Progress Administration (WPA). He earned a living by working on roads in Birmingham, Alabama. Through his WPA connections, Hudson attended a meeting for the Local I Workers Alliance Union in September of that year. During the meeting, the union elected its leaders. Hudson was chosen to be the vice president. As vice president, Hudson discussed issues about workers' projects and relief aid. He met with the head of the WPA at a conference in Washington, D.C., in 1939.

In 1942, Hudson started working at the Jackson Foundry (Flakley Foundry Co.). There, he organized Local 2815, United Steel Workers of America, CIO. At this time, he was also a member of the Birmingham Industrial Union Council. The Birmingham World newspaper named him one of their "Men of the Year." This was because of his role at the Alabama CIO convention, where he supported voting rights for Black Alabamians. At the Industrial Union Council meetings, he pushed for Black delegates to be elected to the state Industrial Union Council. He spoke out against discrimination. He also addressed the 1945 lynching of two Black veterans. In 1944, he became chairman of the Labor and Industrial Committee at a voting rights conference in New Orleans, Louisiana. This conference was organized by Rev. Maynard Jackson. When he returned, he formed an Alabama Black voting rights organization.

Hudson remained an active member of the Communist Party while involved in other groups. In July 1945, he was nominated to the National Committee of the Communist Party. He received more votes than any other candidate. He represented the South nationally and organized the Party in Alabama and Louisiana. In October 1947, The Birmingham Post newspaper identified him as a Communist Party member. This caused him to lose his job at the Jackson Foundry and be removed from the union. After that, he found various factory jobs in the North, working as a mason and a janitor. He also continued to work as a secret Party organizer in the South.

Other Important Activities

In 1933, Hudson and three other Welfare workers gathered 400 men and women. They met to discuss how Welfare jobs were paid. The group decided they must see the Birmingham city commissioner. They demanded that the government pay Welfare workers in money, not grocery slips. One hundred and fifty people marched to City Hall. They planned to send six spokespersons (five men and one woman) to speak to Commissioner Jones. Two city detectives asked the group where they were going. The group said they were going to see Commissioner Jones. One of the detectives pulled out a pistol and forced five of them out of the building. (One of the six delegates was white, and he was allowed through.) Days later, the workers sent a committee of nine to the Commissioner's office. But nothing much came from that meeting except for a few small concessions.

In March 1946, 150 people from Alabama came together for a convention. They represented 26 World War II Veteran groups. At the convention, they created the Alabama Veterans Association. They discussed important issues. These included the need for more hospitals, health, and recreation facilities. They also talked about low-cost, price-controlled housing. They pushed for state and federal FEPC laws (which aimed to prevent job discrimination). They also wanted to get rid of the poll tax and pass anti-lynching laws. Hosea Hudson was one of the experts who led these discussions. At that time, he was the president of Local Union 2815 of the United Steelworkers of America.

Hosea Hudson's Books

• Black Worker in the Deep South: A Personal Record. New York: International Publishers, 1972.

As co-author (with Nell Irvin Painter):

• The Narrative of Hosea Hudson: The Life and Times of a Black Radical. New York: W.W. Norton, 1994.