Curtis Strong

Born in 1915 to the “son of the slave owner who had owned his mother’s family”,[1] Curtis Strong was no stranger to racism or the effects that segregation had on African American lives. Born in Mississippi, Strong grew up in Dixon, Illinois, before moving to Gary, Indiana, with hopes of joining the Air Force as a pilot. [2] However, because of the same racism and segregation that he would fight his whole life, he was unable to become a pilot and instead began working in a Gary tin mill in 1937.[3] The same year that Strong became a member of Steelworkers Union Local 1014, he witnessed the Memorial Day Massacre; a Chicago incident where police rioted and fired on unarmed, protesting steelworkers, killing 10. [4]

Strong was appointed as the first African American union griever at the Gary Works coke plant, handling union members’ grievances and complaints against their employer. He quickly began working with other African American factory workers to form “independent organization” within the union.[5] Strong also knew that, given the time and power dynamics within the union, if African American workers wanted to see change they would need to align their own goals with those of their white coworkers. Consequently, Strong spent a great deal of time “building Black-White unity”, and worked together with others in the factory so that changes would benefit all workers.[6] Strong pushed for changes in discriminatory practices, including desegregating jobs and locker rooms, and worked with various union members to encourage other changes, like internal hiring preferences, that benefitted all workers regardless of race. [7] His approaches were not without opposition, however, and he narrowly escaped death after two “union goons” once threw him from the third story window of a hotel. Curtis was eventually appointed to the International Union, where he worked to improve work conditions for not only African American steelworkers, but factory workers everywhere. [8]

Curtis and his wife, Jeannette, were both very involved with the NAACP throughout their lives. Jeannette was a steelworker activist like Curtis, but she also worked with her husband and the Gary NAACP to combat segregated medical treatment, housing, and nearly an entirely white Gary police force.[9] With the support of other NAACP members and resources, the Strongs helped desegregate hospitals where, as Curtis recounts, “one woman delivered a baby in the hallway because she was black.”[10] Curtis Strong not only picketed outside predominantly white hospitals, but simultaneously helped plan for 500 Gary citizens to participate in the 1963 March on Washington, partook in the march, and then returned to picketing as soon as he returned to Gary. [11],[12]

Strong worked throughout his life to pave a path to a better future for the African American community. He played a key role in the 1968 campaign that saw Richard Hatcher become the first African American mayor of Gary, where he served for 20 years.[13] Strong died on September 16, 2003 as one of the most influential labor and civil rights leaders in America’s history, and his legacy and voice live on in the policies of labor and union workplaces, as well as in the hearts of all those impacted by the Gary NAACP. [14]

[1] “Black Freedom Fighters in Steel: Black Workers Commemorated on Broadway,” The Chicago Crusader, October 8, 2018. https://chicagocrusader.com/black-freedom-fighters-in-steel-black-workers-commemorated-on-broadway/
[2] “Remembering Curtis Strong, 1915-2003,” People’s World, October 3, 2003. https://www.peoplesworld.org/article/remembering-curtis-strong-1915-2003/
[3] “Black Freedom Fighters in Steel: Black Workers Commemorated on Broadway”
[4] “Remembering Curtis Strong, 1915-2003”
[5] “Black Freedom Fighters in Steel: Black Workers Commemorated on Broadway”
[6] “Remembering Curtis Strong, 1915-2003”
[7] Ibid.
[8] Ibid.
[9] “Physicians Recall Integrating Hospitals,” The Post-Tribune, May 2, 1996.
[10] Ibid.
[11] Ruth Needleman. “Black Freedom Fighters in Steel: The Struggle for Democratic Unionism,” 2003.
[12] “Physicians Recall Integrating Hospitals”
[13] “Remembering Curtis Strong, 1915-2003”
[14] Ibid.

Student Author: Joel Sharp
Faculty/Staff Editors: Dr. Ronald V. Morris, Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, and Christine Thompson
Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey

PHOTO & VIDEO:
Gary Steel Works, United States Steel Corporation, 1959, attributed to Steven R. Shook, Public domain, via Flickr.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/shookphotos/4219006672/in/photostream/