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Maida Springer

Biography: Maida Kemp has been active in the trade union movement for almost 50 years--from participating in the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union (ILGWU) general strike of 1933, to coordlnating a meeting of African trade union women in 1978 in Kenya. Born in Panama, at the age of seven she emigrated with her mother to New York City. Because of her mother's involvement with Marcus Garvey's Universal Negro Improvement Association, she was exposed to political activism at an early age. She graduated from Bordentown Manual Training and Industrial School, and became a licensed beautician after study at the Malone School of Beauty Culture. In 1932 she went to work as a finisher, doing hand sewing in a garment shop. She soon joined the ILGWU and was a member of one of the strike committees during the 1933 walkout. After serving her own Local 22 in various capacities, in 1942 she was appointed education director of Local 132, the Plastic Button and Novelty Workers' Union. In 1947 she returned to Local 22, working for 13 years as business agent, the first Black to hold the position. She has traveled as a representative of the American labor movement to England, the Scandinavian countries, Africa, and has studied at Ruskin College, Oxford. Membershlps lnclude the NAACP, NOW, and the Coalition of Labor Union Women. In 1975 as vice-president of the NCNW she attended the Internatlonal Women's Year meeting in Mexico City. Description: The Black Women Oral History Project interviewed 72 African American women between 1976 and 1981. With support from the Schlesinger Library, the project recorded a cross section of women who had made significant contributions to American society during the first half of the 20th century. Photograph taken by Judith Sedwick Repository: Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America. Collection: Black Women Oral History Project Research Guide: http://guides.library.harvard.edu/schlesinger_bwohp Questions? http://asklib.schlesinger.radcliffe.edu/index.php
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Maida Springer Kemp (née Stewart; May 12, 1910 – March 29, 2005) was an American labor organizer who worked extensively in the garment industry to improve labor standards for men and women in America through the Local Union 22. She was also known for her extensive work in Africa for the AFL–CIO. Nicknamed "Mama Maida", she advised fledgling labor unions, set up education and training programs, and liaised between American and African labor leaders. In 1945, traveling to England on a labor-exchange trip, as well as observing the conditions of war-torn Britain she would become one of the first African-American woman to represent US labor abroad. She was also active in the civil rights movement, and advocated for women's rights around the world. She was very active in these movements for most of her life. (From Wikipedia)

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