Biographical Note
John Black, labor leader, activist, and revolutionary, was born to an
American father and German mother in Germany on 17 January 1921. He became
active in the anti-fascist underground as an early teen. His conservative
parents then sent him to a prestigious Huguenot school in Germany, but he was
soon expelled along with other leftist students. He continued his work with the
resistance in the years before the war, and left Germany at age 18 to avoid the
draft. In England he worked briefly with the Communist Party, agreeing with the
positions headed by Leon Trotsky. He came to New York the following year.
In New York, he worked in blue-collar jobs and through these he met
Sam Marcy and Dorothy Ballan, militant labor organizers in the paper-box
workers' union. He became a member of the Socialist Workers Party (SWP) and
with it opposed United States entry into World War II.
Once the Cold War began, splinters developed in the SWP and Black
joined Marcy in forming the Workers World Party in 1959. Black settled in
Buffalo, New York, where he married theater troupe member Bernice Bates.
Working in a hospital there, he was soon organizing hospital and health care
workers. He often led organizing drives to New York City, New Jersey, and
Pennsylvania.
He worked with the Retail, Wholesale, and Department Store Union
(RWDSU) which organized health care workers as District 1199P. Black continued
to organize dietary, laundry, and housekeeping workers as an extension of the
civil rights struggle. Moving to State College, Pennyslvania, John Black served
as the first President of the local 2,600 member 1199P from 1974 to 1984.
During this time, he led the organizing of many 1199P chapters including those
at Chambersburg Hospital, Centre Community Hospital, Mercy Hospital in
Wilkes-Barre, Pottstown Memorial Medical Center, Pottsville Hospital, Reading
Nursing Center, William Penn Nursing Center, Aliquippa Hospital, Washington
Hospital, Canonsburg Hospital, Beaver Valley Nursing Center, and Guardian Elder
Care - Nanticoke (St. Stan's). The 1199P discussed mergers with the Service
Employees International Union (SEIU) in 1981, but internal RWDSU conflicts
prevented the merger. The 1199P received its official charter in 1991.
John Black was a strong supporter of the movement to free Mumia
Abu-Jamal. He also worked with Penn State University students on a weekly radio
show, "View from the Left."
Before and after retirement in 1986, Black made fact-finding tours of
Cuba and Communist countries in Europe, as well as countries in the Middle
East. He suffered a heart attack while visiting Iraq in 2000 and returned to
continue his research into workers' movements. He died on 7 March 2006,
survived by his wife, children Mark, Douglass, and Jennifer, and two
grandchildren. To honor his life of labor activism, a memorial service was held
on 1 May 2006 at the Friends Meeting House in State College, Pennsylvania.
Bibliography
Griswold, Deirdre. "John Black 1921-2006: Foe of Hitler;
Organizer of Hospital Workers."
Workers World Newspaper, 30 March 2006, vol. 48, no. 12.
Viewed at http://www.workers.org/pdf/2006/ww033006.pdf on 15 Aug.
2006.
"John Black: Founder of Our Union & Tireless Fighter for
Workers' Rights and Civil Rights, 1921-2006," SEIU District 1199P Web site,
http://www.seiu1199p.org/ourlocal/john_black_life.cfm. Viewed 15 Aug.
2006.
Beadling, Tom, et al.
A Need For Valor: The Roots of the Service Employees
International Union, 1902-1992 (Washington, D.C.: Service Employees
International Union, 1992): 69, 77.
Scope and Content
The two videocassettes record the Memorial Service on 1 May 2006 at
the Friends Meeting House, State College, Pennsylvania. Friends and supporters
chose May 1st for the service to commemorate John Black's lifelong dedication
to the struggle of workers internationally. Speakers include Andy McInerney,
editor,
Socialism and Liberation magazine; Deirdre Griswold,
editor,
Workers World Daily; John August, executive director,
Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions; Thelma Price, community activist; a
recorded message from Mumia Abu-Jamal from death row; Jeff Martin, former
president of the Students and Youth Against Racism, Penn State; plus officers
of the Service Employees International Union District 1199P, and readers of two
letters of condolence sent to Black's widow, Bernice.
