Bessie Hillman (born Bas Sheva Abramowitz; May 15, 1889 – December 23, 1970) was a labor activist and founder of the

Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America (ACWA) was a United States labor union known for its support for "social unionism" and progressive political causes. Led by Sidney Hillman for its first thirty years, it helped found the Congress of Indus ...

. She led the 1910 Chicago Garment Workers' Strike, which brought about the creation of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America

labor union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

in 1914.

Background

Bas Sheva Abramowitz was born on May 15, 1889, in Linoveh,

Grodno Grodno, or Hrodna, is a city in western Belarus. It is one of the oldest cities in Belarus. The city is located on the Neman, Neman River, from Minsk, about from the Belarus–Poland border, border with Poland, and from the Belarus–Lithua ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

, part of the

Pale of Settlement The Pale of Settlement was a western region of the Russian Empire with varying borders that existed from 1791 to 1917 (''de facto'' until 1915) in which permanent settlement by Jews was allowed and beyond which the creation of new Jewish settlem ...

. The fourth child of ten, she spent her first fifteen years in Russia with her parents Emanuel Abramowitz, a

commercial agent An intermediary, also known as a middleman or go-between, is defined differently by context. In law or diplomacy, an intermediary is a third party who offers intermediation services between two parties. In trade or barter, an intermediary acts a ...

, and Sarah Rabinowitz, an innkeeper. Linoveh was a

shtetl or ( ; , ; Grammatical number#Overview, pl. ''shtetelekh'') is a Yiddish term for small towns with predominantly Ashkenazi Jews, Ashkenazi Jewish populations which Eastern European Jewry, existed in Eastern Europe before the Holocaust. The t ...

, and like many, it had a tightly-knit community. It was home to a number of charities, run by women, that worked to provide for orphans and the poor. Though Linoveh escaped much of the tsarist policies that were targeting Jews, it was surrounded by other Jewish communities that were suffering from discriminatory policies and

pogrom A pogrom is a violent riot incited with the aim of Massacre, massacring or expelling an ethnic or religious group, particularly Jews. The term entered the English language from Russian to describe late 19th- and early 20th-century Anti-Jewis ...

s. Abramowitz left this home at a young age to seek work elsewhere in Russia, returning after a period of a few months. In 1905, she immigrated to America with two of her cousins. Unlike many around her, she did not leave to escape oppression by Tsar

Nicholas II Nicholas II (Nikolai Alexandrovich Romanov; 186817 July 1918) or Nikolai II was the last reigning Emperor of Russia, King of Congress Poland, and Grand Duke of Finland from 1 November 1894 until his abdication on 15 March 1917. He married ...

or antisemitic violence, but rather to avoid arranged marriage. Her name was

anglicized Anglicisation or anglicization is a form of cultural assimilation whereby something non-English becomes assimilated into or influenced by the culture of England. It can be sociocultural, in which a non-English place adopts the English language ...

to "Bessie" by a customs officer upon her arrival.

Career

Chicago

Arriving in the United States knowing only Yiddish and some Russian, Abramowitz moved into a boardinghouse owned by her relatives and began working at the

Hart Schaffner & Marx Hart Schaffner Marx is an American manufacturer of ready-to-wear menswear owned by New York City–based Authentic Brands Group. With origins dating to a family business in 1872 Chicago and incorporated in 1911 as "Hart Schaffner & Marx", the com ...

garment factory Textile manufacturing or textile engineering is a major industry. It is largely based on the conversion of fibre into yarn, then yarn into fabric. These are then dyed or printed, fabricated into cloth which is then converted into useful goods s ...

as a

button A button is a fastener that joins two pieces of fabric together by slipping through a loop or by sliding through a buttonhole. In modern clothing and fashion design, buttons are commonly made of plastic but also may be made of metal, wood, or ...

sewer. At night, she attended school at the

Hull House Hull House was a settlement house in Chicago, Illinois, that was co-founded in 1889 by Jane Addams and Ellen Gates Starr. Located on the Near West Side of Chicago, Hull House, named after the original house's first owner Charles Jerald Hul ...

, a

settlement house The settlement movement was a reformist social movement that began in the 1880s and peaked around the 1920s in the United Kingdom and the United States. Its goal was to bring the rich and the poor of society together in both physical proximity an ...

for European immigrants. She used her salary to fund the immigration of two of her younger sisters in 1907, who moved into the boardinghouse and earned money making

bow tie The bow tie or dicky bow is a type of neckwear, distinguishable from a necktie because it does not drape down the shirt placket, but is tied just underneath a winged collar. A modern bow tie is tied using a common shoelace knot, which is also ...

s. Abramowitz was fired from her job after organizing a protest among other workers to challenge poor working conditions and salary. Blacklisted by her employer, she used a pseudonym to regain employment at the same company. In September 1910, again in response to poor working conditions, Abramowitz led a group of sixteen women in a

walkout In labor disputes, a walkout is a labor strike, the act of employees collectively leaving the workplace and withholding labor as an act of protest. A walkout can also mean the act of leaving a place of work, school, a meeting, a company, or an ...

. Although initially mocked by other workers, the walkout gained in strength. By the middle of October, most of the 8,000 Hart Schaffner & Marx employees had joined, as well as employees from other companies. The movement gained the support and funding of the

Women's Trade Union League The Women's Trade Union League (WTUL) (1903–1950) was a United States, U.S. organization of both working class and more well-off women to support the efforts of women to organize labor unions and to eliminate sweatshop conditions. The WTUL pla ...

, the

Chicago Federation of Labor The Chicago Federation of Labor (CFL) is an umbrella organization for Trade union, unions in Chicago, Illinois, US. It is a subordinate body of the AFL–CIO, and as of 2011 has about 320 affiliated member unions representing half a million union ...

, and

Jane Addams Laura Jane Addams (September 6, 1860May 21, 1935) was an American Settlement movement, settlement activist, Social reform, reformer, social worker, sociologist, public administrator, philosopher, and author. She was a leader in the history of s ...

of the Hull House. Men eventually joined the strike, and it grew to almost 40,000 people, bringing the industry to a standstill. In 1914, Abramowitz attended the national convention for the

United Garment Workers of America The United Garment Workers of America (UGW or UGWA) was a United States labor union which existed between 1891 and 1994. It was an affiliate of the American Federation of Labor. History The UGWA was formed in New York in April 1891 and led a ...

as a delegate. Disagreements among its membership led Abramowitz to split off into the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America, alongside

Sidney Hillman Sidney Hillman (March 23, 1887 – July 10, 1946) was an American labor leader. He was the head of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America and was a key figure in the founding of the Congress of Industrial Organizations and in marshaling labor ...

, whom she would marry two years later in 1916. Hillman became the first president of the ACWA, and Abramowitz was elected to the General Executive Board.

New York

After her marriage to Sidney Hillman, Bessie Abramowitz Hillman resigned from her role as business agent for the Chicago Local 152 to move with him 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 ...

. She resigned from the board of the ACWA, after agreeing with her husband that only one of them should earn a salary from the union. Her resignation did not mean the end of her work with the union, however; she continued to volunteer for the following thirty years. Between 1937 and 1939, Hillman worked to organize New York laundry workers, and was elected educational director for the Laundry Workers Joint Board. Following her husband's death in 1946, Hillman was elected as a vice president for the ACWA. Although the union worked to support mostly-female workforce, Hillman was the only female leader of the union, and her title was ceremonial. In 1961, Hillman was invited by

Eleanor Roosevelt Anna Eleanor Roosevelt ( ; October 11, 1884November 7, 1962) was an American political figure, diplomat, and activist. She was the longest-serving First Lady of the United States, first lady of the United States, during her husband Franklin D ...

to join the Committee on Protective Labor Legislation as part of the

Presidential Commission on the Status of Women The President's Commission on the Status of Women (PCSW) was established to advise the President of the United States on issues concerning the status of women. It was created by John F. Kennedy's signed December 14, 1961. In 1975 it became th ...

. In this role, Hillman worked to pass legislation protecting female laborers.

Personal life and death

During negotiations surrounding the 1910 strike, Abramowitz met Sidney Hillman, another worker at Hart Schaffner & Marx who was helping to lead the movement. Although they were secretly engaged in 1914, their careers and the expense caused them to delay the marriage. In 1916, Abramowitz and Hillman made their engagement public when they led a group of clothing workers in the

May Day May Day is a European festival of ancient origins marking the beginning of summer, usually celebrated on 1 May, around halfway between the Northern Hemisphere's March equinox, spring equinox and midsummer June solstice, solstice. Festivities ma ...

parade, arms linked. They married two days later and moved to New York City, where the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America was headquartered. The couple had two daughters: Philoine in 1917, and Selma in 1921. Bessie Abramowitz Hillman died in New York on December 23, 1970.

References