Rank and File
Personal Histories by Working-Class Organizers

Rank and File: Personal Histories by Working-Class Organizers edited by Alice Lynd and Staughton Lynd (Paperback) (ISBN: 9781608461509)

The activity of the rank-and-file organizers in this book covers the 1930s—1960s, and with the addition of accounts from The New Rank and File, the 1970s—1990s. Brought to life in their own words, in this vibrant collection of oral histories, they were each militant in demanding changes in their unions, workplaces, and society at large.

Alice Lynd was a member of a union of clerical workers in the 1950s, and a member of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers' Union in the 1970s. As a labor lawyer she helped visiting nurses to organize an independent union; assisted laid-off workers when they lost pension, health care and other benefits; filed occupational health and safety claims; and litigated employment discrimination cases.

Staughton Lynd received a BA from Harvard, an MA and PhD from Columbia, and a JD from the University of Chicago. He taught American history at Spelman College in Atlanta, where one of his students was the future Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Alice Walker, and at Yale University. Staughton served as director of Freedom Schools in the Mississippi Summer Project of 1964, and has written or edited numerous books.