Ellen Dawson
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Ellen "Nellie" Dawson Kanki (14 December 1900 - 17 April 1967), best known as Ellen Dawson, was a
Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...
-American political activist and
trade 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 ...
organizer in the
textile industry The textile industry is primarily concerned with the design, production and distribution of textiles: yarn, cloth and clothing. Industry process Cotton manufacturing Cotton is the world's most important natural fibre. In the year 2007, th ...
. Dawson is best remembered as an active participant in three of the greatest textile strikes of the 1920s; the 1926 Passaic textile strike, the 1928 New Bedford textile strike, and the 1929 Loray Mill strike in
Gastonia, North Carolina Gastonia is the most populous city in and the county seat of Gaston County, North Carolina, United States. It is the second-largest satellite city of the Charlotte, North Carolina, Charlotte area, behind Concord, North Carolina, Concord. The po ...
. An activist in the
Communist Party USA The Communist Party USA (CPUSA), officially the Communist Party of the United States of America, also referred to as the American Communist Party mainly during the 20th century, is a communist party in the United States. It was established ...
during the 1920s, Dawson was the first woman elected to a leadership position in an American textile union.


Biography


Early years

Ellen Dawson was born on December 14, 1900, in Barrhead, a small industrial town of about 9,000 residents on the outskirts of
Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...
,
Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...
.David Lee McMullen, ''Strike! The Radical Insurrections of Ellen Dawson.'' Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2010; pg. 3 She was the fifth of at least 10 children born to Annie Halford Dawson and Patrick Dawson, a poor
working class The working class is a subset of employees who are compensated with wage or salary-based contracts, whose exact membership varies from definition to definition. Members of the working class rely primarily upon earnings from wage labour. Most c ...
couple. Her paternal grandparents were indigenous Scots, while her maternal grandparents were Irish emigrants, having left
Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...
in the 1840s to escape the Great Famine. At the time of her birth, Dawson's father worked as an iron foundry worker at Shanks' Tubal Works - a manufacturer of
toilet A toilet is a piece of sanitary hardware that collects human waste (urine and feces) and sometimes toilet paper, usually for disposal. Flush toilets use water, while dry or non-flush toilets do not. They can be designed for a sitting p ...
s and other bathroom products - in Barrhead. The work was gruelling and pay was based on the
piece work Piece work or piecework is any type of employment in which a worker is paid a fixed piece rate for each unit produced or action performed, regardless of time. Context When paying a worker, employers can use various methods and combinations of m ...
system.McMullen, ''Strike!'' pp. 14-15. Her mother was a former power loom weaver in a
textile mill 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 good ...
.McMullen, ''Strike!'' pg. 29. During the 18th century, Barrhead had been the center of an
Owenite Owenism is the utopian socialist philosophy of 19th-century social reformer Robert Owen and his followers and successors, who are known as Owenites. Owenism aimed for radical reform of society and is considered a forerunner of the cooperativ ...
utopian A utopia ( ) typically describes an imagined community or society that possesses highly desirable or near-perfect qualities for its members. It was coined by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book ''Utopia'', which describes a fictional island soci ...
cooperative A cooperative (also known as co-operative, coöperative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomy, autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned a ...
movement — an organization which around the time of Dawson's birth operated 19 businesses and included some 2,100 members — nearly a quarter of the entire community.McMullen, ''Strike!'' pg. 23. While no membership records of the Barrhead Cooperative Society are known to exist, and consequently there is no way to either confirm or deny that the Dawson family were members, Dawson's biographer recounts family oral history indicating that they were members of the organization. This would have been an important formative experience in Dawson's life, it is intimated, as the Cooperative was linked to social and educational efforts directed at the children of the community.


Scottish years

Dawson started work in 1914, probably working in a textile mill as had her mother before her. Although the date of her first employment is known, the exact location and the tasks she performed are not recorded.McMullen, ''Strike!'' pg. 28. While this, with other aspects of Dawson's early years, has been poorly recorded, the political and social environment of so-called Red Clydeside — the region in which she was raised — is a subject of considerable academic research. Historian David Lee McMullen sees this environmental factor as a fundamental component in the understanding of Ellen Dawson:
"Given what we know about Dawson's activities in the United States during the late 1920s — where she was a highly effective labor organizer, known for her courage on the picket line and her fiery oratory — Red Clydeside must have been Dawson's classroom and the activists of the period her teacher. During these years she was introduced to the realities of industrial wage labor, and began formulating her own attitudes and opinions as a worker. During this time Scottish women emerged not only as rank-and-file workers, but as leaders within several major labor confrontation.... Dawson may have only been a silent witness to these events, but it seems impossible to believe that she, or any other young worker of the period, could have escaped the influence of such firebrand rhetoric and monumental events."
The end of
World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
brought large-scale
unemployment Unemployment, according to the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), is the proportion of people above a specified age (usually 15) not being in paid employment or self-employment but currently available for work du ...
to Glasgow and other manufacturing cities of the
United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
, as wartime spending was curtailed. Late in 1919, the Dawson family including Ellen, left the Clyde area in search of employment, heading south to
Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...
,
England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
. The family settled in the village of Millgate, about 15 miles north of
Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...
. Dawson found work as a
spinner Spinner may refer to: Technology * Spinner (aeronautics), the aerodynamic cone at the hub of an aircraft propeller * Spinner (cell culture), laboratory equipment for cultivating plant or mammalian cells * Spinner (computing), a graphical widget in ...
and a
weaver Weaver or Weavers may refer to: Activities * A person who engages in weaving fabric Animals * Various birds of the family Ploceidae * Crevice weaver spider family * Orb-weaver spider family * Weever (or weever-fish) Arts and entertainmen ...
in local textile mills, remaining in this capacity until April, 1921. The unemployment situation in Lancashire proved little better than that of west Scotland, and on April 30, 1921, the 20-year-old Dawson and an older brother departed for the prospect of better opportunities in the
United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
. They travelled as steerage passengers aboard the ''SS Cedric,'' arriving in
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 ...
on May 9, 1921.


Labor organizer in America

Soon joined by other family members, the Dawson family settled in the mill town of
Passaic, New Jersey Passaic ( or ) is a City (New Jersey), city in Passaic County, New Jersey, Passaic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the city was List of municipalities in New Jersey, the state's 16th-most-populous ...
, making a home in a working-class neighborhood composed largely of European emigrants, a few blocks from the Botany Worsted Mills. For the next five years, Dawson worked at the Botany Mill, a facility in which over 70 percent of the workers earned less than $1200 annually, at a time when it was estimated that $1600 a year was required to support a family.


Death and legacy

Dawson died at 4 am on April 17, 1967, at her home in
Charlotte Harbor, Florida Charlotte Harbor is a census-designated place (CDP) in Charlotte County, Florida, United States. The name Charlotte Harbor also refers to Charlotte Harbor (estuary) and Charlotte Harbor Preserve State Park, a preserve with of shoreline alon ...
.McMullen, ''Strike!'' pg. 182. She was 66 years old. Although the cause of her death will not be released by the state of Florida until 2017, according to family members Dawson had been suffering from "a lung complaint contracted during her years working in the mills." Her published obituary in the local press made no mention of her radical past.McMullen, ''Strike!'' pg. 183.


See also

* '' The Passaic Textile Strike''


Footnotes


Works

* "Gastonia," ''Revolutionary Age'' ew York vol. 1, no. 1 (Nov. 1, 1929), pp. 3–4. * "The Convention of the Textile Workers," ''Revolutionary Age'' ew York vol. 1, no. 6 (Jan. 15, 1930), pg. 10.


Further reading

* Fred E. Beal, ''Proletarian Journey: New England, Gastonia, Moscow.'' New York: Hillman-Curl, 1937. * William F. Dunne, ''Gastonia: Citadel of the Class Struggle in the New South.'' New York: National Textile Workers Union/Workers Library Publishers, 1929. * Philip S. Foner, ''Women and the American Labor Movement from World War I to the Present.'' New York: Free Press, 1980. * David Lee McMullen, ''Strike! The Radical Insurrections of Ellen Dawson.'' Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2010. * John A. Salmond, ''Gastonia 1929: The Story of the Loray Mill Strike.'' Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1995.


External links

* David Lee McMullen
Talk on his book ''Strike!''
C-SPAN BookTV, May 10, 2011. {{DEFAULTSORT:Dawson, Ellen 1900 births 1967 deaths American activists People from Barrhead People from Charlotte County, Florida People from Passaic, New Jersey Scottish emigrants to the United States Textile workers