Lillian Hatcher (1915–1998) was an African American riveter and union organizer. She was employed at the
Briggs aircraft plant in Detroit when she first became active in union organizing after the company transferred a group of female employees, white and black, all of whom had children, to the midnight shift.
Life and work
Lillian Hatcher was born on May 30, 1915, in
Greenville, Alabama. She graduated from
Northeastern High School in Detroit and attended workers' extension classes at the
University of Michigan
, mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth"
, former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821)
, budget = $10.3 billion (2021)
, endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...
in the early 1940s. In 1943 she began work as an aircraft
riveter
A rivet is a permanent mechanical fastener. Before being installed, a rivet consists of a smooth cylindrical shaft with a head on one end. The end opposite to the head is called the ''tail''. On installation, the rivet is placed in a punched ...
and as one of the first Black women hired at
Chrysler's Briggs-Connor Plant. In that same year she joined the
United Auto Workers (UAW) union, Local 742 (later Local 212). In 1943, Hatcher organized the local's first women's conference in February of that year.
In 1944 she was elected to the local's executive board and was also appointed the first Black female international representative of the UAW. During World War II, the U.S. economy offered black women “their first meaningful opportunity for upward occupational mobility. Thousands moved from low-paid, nonunion agricultural and service jobs to higher-paying, union-protected manufacturing jobs.”
Hatcher began work as an assistant director to the War Policy Division Women's Bureau. When the Women's Bureau was transferred to the Fair Practices and Anti-Discrimination Department in 1946, Hatcher joined its staff. In 1958 she moved to the Women's Department where she was primarily responsible for organizing and participating in classes and conferences for female union members, and for maintaining close ties with numerous local and national organizations concerned with civil rights.
Hatcher became the coordinator of the Women's Auxiliaries, which moved to the Women's Department in 1971, and she remained on the department staff until she retired from the UAW in June 1980.
Throughout her years as an organizer, Hatcher was actively involved in many city and state activities including the Detroit Human Rights Department (1958-1974); the Michigan Constitutional Convention (1961) and the Michigan Commission on Legislative Apportionment (1971-1972). She also participated at the national level with the
NAACP
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E.&nb ...
, the
National Council of Negro Women
The National Council of Negro Women (NCNW) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1935 with the mission to advance the opportunities and the quality of life for African-American women, their families, and communities. Mary McLeod Bethune, the f ...
and many other organizations pursuing civil rights and those of women.
She also remained heavily involved in the politics of the Democratic Party throughout her life.
See also
*
Con-Con Eleven
The Con-Con Eleven were a group of eleven women delegates to the 1961-1962 Michigan Constitutional Convention. The group of eleven women (5 Democrats and six Republicans) were the first and only women to attend a Michigan Constitutional Conventio ...
References
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1915 births
1998 deaths
Trade unions
United Auto Workers people
African-American people