Southern Tenant Farmers' Union Records,1934-1970
Collection Number: 5204A
Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation and Archives, Cornell University Library
Title:
Southern Tenant Farmers'
Union records,
1934-1970.
Collection Number:
5204A
Creator:
Southern Tenant Farmers'
Union.
Quantity:
60 microfilm
reels.
Forms of Material:
Microfilm
Repository:
Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation and Archives,
Cornell University Library
Abstract:
Consist of correspondence, reports, ledgers,
legal documents, leaflets, printed material, photographs, and newspapers
published by the union. These document the activities of the Southern Tenant
Farmers' Union from its origins through its transformations into the National
Farm Labor Union in 1946 and the National Agriculture Workers Union in 1952,
and through its merger with the Amalgamated Meat Cutters Union in 1960. The
records also contain selected materials from the Socialist Party Archives at
Duke University and from the Howard A. Kester papers, which document the
earliest years of the Southern Tenant Farmers' Union. The last sixteen reels
document H.L. Mitchell's activities as president of Local 300 of the Allied and
Agricultural Workers Union.
Language:
Collection material in English
The Southern Tenant Farmers' Union (STFU), a biracial union of
sharecroppers, tenant farmers, and small landowners, came into existence in the
cotton plantation country of Arkansas in July, 1934, under the leadership of a
group of socialists, including H.L. Mitchell and Howard Kester. Although locals
were soon established in Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas, Mississippi, and Alabama,
the union's base of operation remained in Arkansas until 1945.
Farm mechanization and the impact of World War II shifted the union's
focus from tenant farmers to migrant farm workers, whose numbers were rapidly
increasing. The union also began supplying temporary cannery workers during the
1940's.
From 1937 to 1939, the STFU was affiliated with the CIO through the
United Cannery, Agricultural, Packing and Allied Workers of America (UCAPAWA).
After the STFU's withdrawal from the CIO in response to ideological differences
with the UCAPAWA, it remained independent until it secured direct affiliation
with the A.F. of L. in 1946. At that time, the organization's name changed to
the National Farm Labor Union (NFLU) and organizing efforts shifted to farm
workers in California. During the 1950's, the NFLU's successor, the National
Agricultural Workers' Union (NAWU), focused on organizing sugar, rice, and
strawberry workers in Louisiana.
In 1960, the NAWU surrendered its AFL-CIO charter and merged with the
Amalgamated Meat Cutters and Butcher Workmen. H.L. Mitchell, former secretary
of the SFTU, headed Local 300 of the Allied and Agricultural Workers' Union,
organizing rice mill workers and fishermen in Louisiana.
Consist of correspondence, reports, ledgers, legal documents,
leaflets, printed material, photographs, and newspapers published by the union.
These document the activities of the Southern Tenant Farmers' Union from its
origins through its transformations into the National Farm Labor Union in 1946
and the National Agriculture Workers Union in 1952, and through its merger with
the Amalgamated Meat Cutters Union in 1960. The records also contain selected
materials from the Socialist Party Archives at Duke University and from the
Howard A. Kester papers, which document the earliest years of the Southern
Tenant Farmers' Union. The last sixteen reels document H.L. Mitchell's
activities as president of Local 300 of the Allied and Agricultural Workers
Union.
Names:
Southern Tenant Farmers'
Union.
Kester, Howard,
1904-1977.
Mitchell, H. L. (Harry
Leland), 1906-
Allied and Agricultural
Workers Union. Local 300 (La.)
Amalgamated Meat Cutters
and Butcher Workmen of North America.
National Agricultural
Workers Union.
National Farm Labor Union
(U.S.)
Socialist Party
(U.S.)
United Cannery,
Agricultural, Packing, and Allied Workers of America.
Subjects:
Afro-American agricultural
laborers--Southern States.
Afro-Americans--Employment--Southern
States.
Farm tenancy--Southern States.
Migrant agricultural laborers--United
States.
Migrant labor--United States.
Sharecropping.
Form and Genre Terms:
Photographs.
Access Restrictions:
Access to the collections in the Kheel Center is restricted. Please
contact a reference archivist for access to these materials.
Restrictions on Use:
This collection must be used in keeping with the Kheel Center
Information Sheet and Procedures for Document Use.
Cite As:
Southern Tenant Farmers' Union records, 5204A. Kheel Center for
Labor-Management Documentation and Archives, Cornell University Library.