Famous Labor Leaders

Question 1

American journalist who wrote, “Fight Like Hell”

Answer 1

Kim Kelly

Kim was born into a working class, union family.

Question 2

Wrote, “No Shortcuts”

Answer 2

Jane McAlevey

Question 3

(1926-1993) Mexican-American folk hero and symbol of hope who organized a union of farm workers.

Answer 3

César Estrada Chávez

Question 4

(1902-1986) A Methodist minister, and labor union activist, and AFL-CIO leader who helped create Social Security and Medicare.

Answer 4

Nelson Hale Cruikshank

Cruikshank was the director of the Department of Social Security at the ALF-CIO

Question 5

Apostle of industrial unionism who helped found the American Railway Union (1894), the Socialist Party of America (1901) and the Industrial Workers of the World (1905).

Answer 5

Eugene Victor Debs

Question 6

(1928 – 2023) An American trade union leader who served as Secretary-Treasurer of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations from 1979 to 1995. He was considered one of the most influential leaders of the post-World War II American trade union movement.

Answer 6

Thomas Reilly Donahue

Question 7

Legal strategist for the union movement and former secretary of labor, Supreme Court justice and ambassador to the United Nations.

Answer 7

Arthur Joseph Goldberg

Question 8

First and longest-serving president of the American Federation of Labor (AFL).

Answer 8

Samuel Gompers

Question 9

Former AFL president who moved the federation toward “social reform unionism.”

Answer 9

William Green

Question 10

Songwriter, itinerant laborer, union organizer—and martyr.

Answer 10

Joe Hill

Question 11

Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America founder who invented trade unionism as we know it today.

Answer 11

Sidney Hillman

Question 12

“The most dangerous woman in America.”

Answer 12

Mother Jones

Question 13

AFL-CIO president from 1979 to 1995 who had a profound effect on world affairs.

Answer 13

Lane Kirkland

Question 14

(1880 - 1969) President of the Mine Workers (UMWA) and founding president of the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO).

Answer 14

John L. Lewis

Grew up in a mining family in Iowa. Lewis’ family was RLDS.

Question 15

Social reformer dedicated to workers’ rights and racial justice.

Answer 15

Lucy Randolph Mason

Question 16

(1852-1906) The “father” of Labor Day and May Day who championed the need for a national labor federation.

Answer 16

Peter J. McGuire

Question 17

The builder of the modern AFL-CIO.

Answer 17

George Meany

Question 18

CIO president who helped transform the industrial union movement into a stable and powerful organization.

Answer 18

Philip Murray

Question 19

Committed labor secretary and first woman in a presidential Cabinet position.

Answer 19

Frances Perkins

Question 20

Eloquent and effective advocate for the rights of workers, women and consumers. Born in Provo, Utah in 1906.

Answer 20

Esther Eggertsen Peterson

Question 21

Organized the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters and fought discrimination in national defense.

Answer 21

A. Philip Randolph

Question 22

Longtime president of the UAW and was considered the model of a reform-minded, liberal trade unionist.

Answer 22

Walter Reuther

Question 23

Brilliant theorist, tactician and organizer and first head of the A. Philip Randolph Institute.

Answer 23

Bayard Rustin

Question 24

“Freedom is never granted: It is won. Justice is never given: It is exacted. Freedom and justice must be struggled for by the oppressed of all lands and races.”

Answer 24

A. Philip Randolph

Question 25

Said, “The worker must have bread, but she kust have roses, too.”

Answer 25

Rose Schneiderman