Ohio Valley Trades and Labor Assembly
The Ohio Valley Trades and Labor Assembly (1885), the nation’s first central labor body, was progressive in its platform regarding equal pay for men and women and woman suffrage, while con-demning antisemitism in Russia.
Additionally, OVTLA featured two African American delegates and one female officer prior to 1900. In 1889, Agnes Leatonburg of the Nail City Lantern Com-pany Union was elected vice president. This occurred many years before the ratification of the 19th Amendment (1920), which rec-ognized a woman’s right to vote.
Osborn Gray (1856–1903) and Gabriel Jackson (1847–1912), African American men, were ac-cepted early on as delegates to represent Hodcarriers Local 5026. A hod carrier assists bricklayers and masons by carrying bricks on a three-sided box called a “hod.” Gray was elected vice president in 1889 and Jackson in 1893. This occurred at a time in Wheeling when Blacks were not welcome in white owned businesses due to Jim Crow segregation.
According to one report, Jackson was a charter member of the OVTLA and an outspoken debater, be-loved by his union brothers, White and Black, for his sense of humor and candor. During discussion of the Street Car Strike of 1899, Jackson advocated encouraging women (worker’s wives) to join the strike, saying with the women on the side of the men, the strike would be speedily won. In 1899, when the Black hod carriers organized a picnic and invited their white brothers, none of whom attended, Jackson called them out publicly.
And in 1901 while the Assembly debated whether to admit the primarily Afri-can American bootblack (shoe-shiners) union and some white members balked, Jackson accused them of “turning down honest labor because it was black.” The bootblack union was later ad-mitted. Both Gray and Jackson were also active in local Republi-can politics and helped organize and participated in Wheeling’s Emancipation Day and Labor Day celebrations. Gray later served as a Wheeling Constable for the Clay District and Jackson as a cook at the city jail.
~ Seán Duffy
