Moranda Smith facts for kids

Moranda Smith was an important leader who worked to improve conditions for workers in the 1930s and 1940s. She was a Black labor organizer and unionist. She became the first regional director for Local 22 of the Food, Tobacco, Agricultural and Allied Workers of America (FTA) in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

Smith's Work for Workers

Moranda Smith grew up in South Carolina in a family that shared crops. This meant they farmed land owned by someone else and shared the harvest. She later led thousands of workers in Winston-Salem. These workers won a lot of money – $1,250,000 – in back pay. This money was owed to them from their work in tobacco factories.

In 1943, something big happened. A Black worker died at a Reynolds Tobacco Company plant. Moranda Smith and many other Black women took action. They started a "sit-down" protest, where they stopped working but stayed at their machines. This led to a huge "walkout" where many workers left the factory. This protest made Reynolds Tobacco Company temporarily close down.

Under Smith's leadership, the minimum wages for workers went up by 50%. Her union also helped more people register to vote. This led to the election of the first Black alderman (a local government official) in the Southern United States. Throughout her time as a union leader, Moranda Smith worked very hard. She bravely stood up against groups that tried to stop her important work.

Her Life

Moranda Smith passed away in 1950 when she was 34 years old. It is believed that the stress from all her hard work and activities was a main reason for her early death.