Established by Sufi Abdul Hamid in 1934, the Afro-American Federation of Labor (AAFL) attempted to secure picketing rights for African American workers. The AAFL emerged from the “Don’t Buy Where You Can’t Work” movement, which began in 1931 in Chicago, and from there spread to the East Coast. Advocates of the movement urged African Americans to picket and boycott white-owned stores in black communities, especially stores that hired few black employees.
Hamid was an African American who had participated in picketing demonstrations in Chicago before he moved to Harlem. Claiming that he was Sudanese, Hamid adopted a Muslim name and wore Oriental attire. During the summer of 1933, he spoke on 7th Avenue between 125th and 138th Streets in Harlem. At that time, several street orators complained about the socio-economic conditions in Harlem, especially poor housing, high rents, and limited employment opportunities for blacks. Some of their material tended to be more propagandistic than factual, and both whites and blacks considered many of these speakers, including Hamid, to be agitators.
Hamid stressed that African Americans were denied employment where they spent their money. He urged blacks to unite and demand better socio-economic conditions. Calling himself the “Black Hitler,” Hamid encouraged racial conflict by pressuring blacks to use economic boycotts to drive white and Jewish landlords, businessmen, and employers out of Harlem. He organized the Negro Industrial and Clerical Alliance (NICA) to promote this purging and declared himself president. African American leaders such as Fred R.Moore, editor of the New York Age, perceived Hamid as a threat to public safety and interracial cooperation. Moore called Hamid a racketeer who “schemes for his own personal financial gain and in order to acquire for himself a following which would look to and follow his leadership.”
Moore identified the NICA as one of Hamid’s schemes. Hamid defended his alliance, stating that it “is an association with offices, a membership of hundreds and governing by-laws: the purpose of it is to, by lawful means, obtain better working conditions for its members, shorter working hours, higher pay and in general to improve the economic conditions of Negroes.” The alliance’s primary action was to promote picketing of stores to demand better working conditions. Hamid also sought to establish a legal basis for picketing because of an injunction preventing such protest.
In autumn 1934, the picket committee of the Citizens’ League for Fair Play picketed in front of the A.S.Beck shoe store on 125th Street in Harlem. The league had demanded that African Americans account for 50 percent of the stores employees, but the manager refused to hire blacks. Protestors carried signs and distributed handbills, warning people not to patronize the store. When a picketer collided with a customer, attorneys for the store sought an injunction to prevent picketing and boycotting. New York County Supreme Court Justice Rosenman agreed, declaring that the protest was not a labor dispute because the defendants were not members of a labor union or organization. Rosenman stressed that this was a racial dispute because protestors’ demands did not directly concern improving wages, hours, and working conditions. Instead, the protest was about how many whites and blacks worked in the store. Rosenman warned that if whites were fired to hire blacks that they in turn might protest such displacement and possible race riots could result, damaging the community.
Hamid interpreted this injunction as a need to organize a labor union and secure membership. He created the AAFL and drafted a certificate of incorporation application that he presented to the New York Department of Labor. Hamid declared that the AAFL had six objectives. His proposed union would “promote the principles of friendship, fraternity, and good fellowship among working men and working women including persons of African descent.” He stated the union would “peaceably and by lawful suasion organize workers” to settle labor conflicts and demand higher wages, shorter hours, and better conditions “without regard to race or creed or branch of trade.” Hamid wanted members of the AAFL to form locals that would provide volunteer aid to needy members; have club rooms where they could meet, eat, and sleep; and edit and distribute literature to educate and inform members and the public of the group’s principles.
Hamid also requested the Department of Labor to permit auxiliary bodies such as labor unions to affiliate with the AAFL. While waiting for his application hearing before the Industrial Board of the Department of Labor, Hamid declared the NICA an affiliate of the AAFL and recruited members in the 125th Street business section. AAFL members encouraged black store employees to join the union, promising better hours and wages, and threatened individuals who refused to join with physical harm. Although members were forced to join the union and pay a $5 initiation fee and weekly dues of a quarter, they generally benefited from wage increases. If employers complained about their activities, AAFL members picketed in front of their businesses, informing patrons that the store was unfair to union labor. In response, the employers usually agreed to meet AAFL demands to prevent boycotts.
The AAFL briefly ceased its activities during and after the Harlem race riot on March 19, 1935, in which thousands of black employees clashed with white owners of stores on Lenox and Seventh Avenues. After tensions eased, Hamid insisted that AAFL members resume their work. The AAFL, however, was soon stopped when an injunction was issued. A black salesgirl who worked for the Lerner shop refused to join the AAFL. As a result, members began picketing the store on May 31, 1935. They carried signs indicating their affiliation with the “AAF and L” and denouncing the business for its refusal to hire union labor. The Manhattan Lerner Company, Inc., filed suit against Hamid, and New York Supreme Court Justice Cotillo granted an injunction. “It does not appear that defendants are a labor union, but on the contrary are using a union name as a cloak for their activities,” he ruled. “The use of the letters A.A.F.L. is an ingenious device to induce the belief that the defendants belong to the American Federation of Labor.”
Although Hamid never managed to incorporate the AAFL as a labor union, his group helped some African Americans attain better employment opportunities. Moreover, the AAFL raised race and class consciousness in Harlem by illustrating the potential power of labor unions. Workers recognized the need for collective bargaining power to protest employment exploitation and discrimination and applied for membership in unions that also began addressing problems faced by black workers.
FURTHER READINGS
Bracey, John H., Jr., August Meier, and Elliott Rudwick, eds. Black Nationalism in America. Indianapolis and New York: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, Inc., 1970.
Cantor, Milton, comp. Black Labor in America. Intro, by Herbert G.Gutman. Westport, Conn.: Negro Universities Press, 1969.
Foner, Philip S. Organized Labor and the Black Worker, 1619–1973. New York: International Publishers, 1976.
Franklin, Charles. The Negro Labor Unionist of New York: Problems and Conditions Among Negroes in the Labor Unions in Manhattan with Special Reference to the N.R.A. and Post-N.R.A. Situations. New York: Columbia University Press, 1936; rpt., New York: AMS Press, 1968.
