Angela Bambace (February 14, 1898, – April 3, 1975) was an Italo-Brazilian-American labor union organizer for the International Ladies Garment Workers Union for over fifty years.

Life and career

Angela Bambace was born in Santos, Brazil, to Giuseppina Calabrese and Antonio Bambace, immigrants from Leonforte, Sicily and Cannitello,

Calabria Calabria is a Regions of Italy, region in Southern Italy. It is a peninsula bordered by the region Basilicata to the north, the Ionian Sea to the east, the Strait of Messina to the southwest, which separates it from Sicily, and the Tyrrhenian S ...

, respectively, who had settled in Santos, Brazil. The family migrated to

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

in 1901 and settled in

East Harlem East Harlem, also known as Spanish Harlem, or , is a neighborhood of Upper Manhattan in New York City, north of the Upper East Side and bounded by 96th Street to the south, Fifth Avenue to the west, and the East and Harlem Rivers to the eas ...

. As a teenager, Angela and her sister Marie followed their mother into garment work, like most Italian immigrant women in New York City. Together they also attended meetings held by

anarchists Anarchism is a political philosophy and movement that seeks to abolish all institutions that perpetuate authority, coercion, or hierarchy, primarily targeting the state and capitalism. Anarchism advocates for the replacement of the state w ...

socialists Socialism is an economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes the economic, political, and socia ...

, and members of the

Industrial Workers of the World The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), whose members are nicknamed "Wobblies", is an international labor union founded in Chicago, United States in 1905. The nickname's origin is uncertain. Its ideology combines general unionism with indu ...

and International Ladies Garment Workers Union in their neighborhood. Angela became a union member, organizer, staff member, and officer of the ILGWU from 1917 to 1972. Bambace first became a member of th
Italian Waist and Dressmakers' Local 89
in 1917 and served as a key organizer in the dressmakers' strike of 1919. In the 1920s, she lived with her mother, sister, and brother-in-law—the Sicilian anarchist, journalist, and labor organizer Nino Capraro—Nino and Marie's two daughters Athena and Clytia, and Angela's two sons Philip and Oscar, in a two-family home in Flushing, New York. Angela lost custody of her sons to her first husband, Romolo Camponeschi, a waiter from Rome, in 1927, due to her labor activism. But she remained very close with both sons and their children throughout her life. In the late 1920s she met and fell in love with Luigi Quintiliano, an Italian immigrant anarchist and tailor by trade who served as secretary to the Italian Committee for Political Victims and played an active role in the Sacco and Vanzetti defense. The two would remain together for their entire lives. In the early 1930s, the ILGWU sent Bambace to organize garment workers in Baltimore. This temporary position became permanent in 1936 and by 1942, she was appointed the manager of the newly created Maryland-Virginia district of the ILGWU. She maintained that role after the district was reorganized as th

In 1956, she became the first Italian American woman elected vice-president of the ILGWU and a member of the General Executive Board. Before joining the ILGWU, Bambace worked as an organizer for the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America. Throughout her life, she was involved in a variety of organizations, including

Americans for Democratic Action Americans for Democratic Action (ADA) is a liberal American political organization advocating progressive policies. ADA views itself as supporting social and economic justice through lobbying, grassroots organizing, research, and supporting p ...

, Baltimore Community Action Commission, United Nations Association, Southern Conference Education Fund, Maryland Commission on the Status of Women, and the Jewish Labor Committee. Bambace retired from the ILGWU in 1972 and died from cancer in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1975.

Sources

ILGWU. Communications Department biography files. 5780/177. Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation and Archives, Cornell University.
* Guglielmo, Jennifer. ''Living the Revolution: Italian Women's Resistance and Radicalism in New York City, 1880-1945.'' Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2010. * Scarpaci, Jean (Vincenza). "Angela Bambace and the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union: The Search for an Elusive Activist." In ''Pane e Lavoro: The Italian American Working Class.'' Ed. George E. Pozzetta. Staten Island: American Italian Historical Association, 1978. *

United Press International United Press International (UPI) is an American international news agency whose newswires, photo, news film, and audio services provided news material to thousands of newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations for most of the 20th ce ...

(April 5, 1975
"Angela Bambace, 77, Officer of I.L.G.W.U. 16 years, Dies"
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

External links

* Finding aid for th
Angela Bambace papers, Immigration History Research Center Archives
University of Minnesota Libraries. * Finding aid for th
Anthony (Nino) Capraro papers, Immigration History Research Center Archives
University of Minnesota Libraries.
Angela Bambace's grandson, musician Tim Camponeschi aka Slim Man, remembers her Pasta Piselli
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bambace, Angela American trade union leaders 20th-century Italian women International Ladies Garment Workers Union leaders American people of Italian descent 1898 births 1974 deaths Brazilian emigrants to the United States People from East Harlem