Bessie Abramowitz Hillman (born Bas Sheva Abramowitz; May 15, 1889 – December 23, 1970) was a labor activist and founder of the

Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America (ACWA) was a United States labor union known for its support for "social unionism" and progressive political causes. Led by Sidney Hillman for its first thirty years, it helped found the Congress of Indus ...

. She led the 1910 Chicago Garment Workers' Strike, which brought about the creation of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America labor union in 1914.

Background

Bas Sheva Abramowitz was born on May 15, 1889, in Linoveh, Grodno,

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

, part of the

Pale of Settlement The Pale of Settlement (russian: Черта́ осе́длости, '; yi, דער תּחום-המושבֿ, '; he, תְּחוּם הַמּוֹשָב, ') was a western region of the Russian Empire with varying borders that existed from 1791 to 19 ...

. The fourth child of ten, she spent her first fifteen years in Russia with her parents Emanuel Abramowitz, a commercial agent, and Sarah Rabinowitz, an innkeeper. Linoveh was a

shtetl A shtetl or shtetel (; yi, שטעטל, translit=shtetl (singular); שטעטלעך, romanized: ''shtetlekh'' (plural)) is a Yiddish term for the small towns with predominantly Ashkenazi Jewish populations which existed in Eastern Europe before ...

, and like many, it had a tightly-knit community. It was home to a number of charities, run by women, that worked to provide for orphans and the poor. Though Linoveh escaped much of the tsarist policies that were targeting Jews, it was surrounded by other Jewish communities that were suffering from discriminatory policies and

pogrom A pogrom () is a violent riot incited with the aim of massacring or expelling an ethnic or religious group, particularly Jews. The term entered the English language from Russian to describe 19th- and 20th-century attacks on Jews in the Russia ...

s. Abramowitz left this home at a young age to seek work elsewhere in Russia, returning after a period of a few months. In 1905, she immigrated to America with two of her cousins. Unlike many around her, she did not leave to escape oppression by Tsar Nicholas II or antisemitic violence, but rather to avoid arranged marriage. Her name was

anglicized Anglicisation is the process by which a place or person becomes influenced by English culture or British culture, or a process of cultural and/or linguistic change in which something non-English becomes English. It can also refer to the influenc ...

to "Bessie" by a customs officer upon her arrival.

Career

Chicago

Arriving in the United States knowing only Yiddish and some Russian, Abramowitz moved into a boardinghouse owned by her relatives and began working at the

Hart Schaffner & Marx Hart Schaffner Marx is an American manufacturer of tailored menswear owned by New York-based Authentic Brands Group. Founded in 1887 and incorporated in 1911 as "Hart Schaffner & Marx", the company is located in Des Plaines, Illinois. History T ...

garment factory as a

button A button is a fastener that joins two pieces of fabric together by slipping through a loop or by sliding through a buttonhole. In modern clothing and fashion design, buttons are commonly made of plastic but also may be made of metal, wood, o ...

sewer. At night, she attended school at the

Hull House Hull House was a settlement house in Chicago, Illinois, United States that was co-founded in 1889 by Jane Addams and Ellen Gates Starr. Located on the Near West Side of the city, Hull House (named after the original house's first owner Cha ...

, a

settlement house The settlement movement was a reformist social movement that began in the 1880s and peaked around the 1920s in United Kingdom and the United States. Its goal was to bring the rich and the poor of society together in both physical proximity and s ...

for European immigrants. She used her salary to fund the immigration of two of her younger sisters in 1907, who moved into the boardinghouse and earned money making

bow tie The bow tie is a type of necktie. A modern bow tie is tied using a common shoelace knot, which is also called the bow knot for that reason. It consists of a ribbon of fabric tied around the collar of a shirt in a symmetrical manner so that t ...

s. Abramowitz was fired from her job after organizing a protest among other workers to challenge poor working conditions and salary. Blacklisted by her employer, she used a pseudonym to regain employment at the same company. In September 1910, again in response to poor working conditions, Abramowitz led a group of sixteen women in a

walkout In labor disputes, a walkout is a labor strike, the act of employees collectively leaving the workplace and withholding labor as an act of protest. A walkout can also mean the act of leaving a place of work, school, a meeting, a company, or an ...

. Although initially mocked by other workers, the walkout gained in strength. By the middle of October, most of the 8,000 Hart Schaffner & Marx employees had joined, as well as employees from other companies. The movement gained the support and funding of the

Women's Trade Union League The Women's Trade Union League (WTUL) (1903–1950) was a U.S. organization of both working class and more well-off women to support the efforts of women to organize labor unions and to eliminate sweatshop conditions. The WTUL played an important ...

, the

Chicago Federation of Labor The Chicago Federation of Labor (CFL) is an umbrella organization for unions in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It is a subordinate body of the AFL–CIO, and as of 2011 has about 320 affiliated member unions representing half a million union members in C ...

, and

Jane Addams Laura Jane Addams (September 6, 1860 May 21, 1935) was an American settlement activist, reformer, social worker, sociologist, public administrator, and author. She was an important leader in the history of social work and women's suffrage ...

of the Hull House. Men eventually joined the strike, and it grew to almost 40,000 people, bringing the industry to a standstill. In 1914, Abramowitz attended the national convention for the

United Garment Workers of America The United Garment Workers of America (UGW or UGWA) was a United States labor union which existed between 1891 and 1994. It was an affiliate of the American Federation of Labor. History The UGWA was formed in New York in April 1891 and lead a ...

as a delegate. Disagreements among its membership led Abramowitz to split off into the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America, alongside

Sidney Hillman Sidney Hillman (March 23, 1887 – July 10, 1946) was an American labor leader. He was the head of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America and was a key figure in the founding of the Congress of Industrial Organizations and in marshaling labor' ...

, whom she would marry two years later in 1916. Hillman became the first president of the ACWA, and Abramowitz was elected to the General Executive Board.

New York

After her marriage to Sidney Hillman, Bessie Abramowitz Hillman resigned from her role as business agent for the Chicago Local 152 to move with him to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

. She also resigned from the board of the ACWA, after agreeing with her husband that only one of them should earn a salary from the union. Her resignation did not mean the end of her work with the union, however; she continued to volunteer for the following thirty years. Between 1937 and 1939, Hillman worked to organize New York laundry workers, and was elected educational director for the Laundry Workers Joint Board. Following her husband's death in 1946, Hillman was elected as a vice president for the ACWA. Although the union worked to support mostly-female workforce, Hillman was the only female leader of the union, and her title was ceremonial. In 1961, Hillman was invited by

Eleanor Roosevelt Anna Eleanor Roosevelt () (October 11, 1884November 7, 1962) was an American political figure, diplomat, and activist. She was the first lady of the United States from 1933 to 1945, during her husband President Franklin D. Roosevelt's four ...

to join the Committee on Protective Labor Legislation as part of the

Presidential Commission on the Status of Women The President's Commission on the Status of Women (PCSW) was established to advise the President of the United States on issues concerning the status of women. It was created by John F. Kennedy's signed December 14, 1961. In 1975 it became th ...

. In this role, Hillman worked to pass legislation protecting female laborers.

Personal life and death

During negotiations surrounding the 1910 strike, Abramowitz met Sidney Hillman, another worker at Hart Schaffner & Marx who was helping to lead the movement. Although they were secretly engaged in 1914, their careers and the expense caused them to delay the marriage. In 1916, Abramowitz and Hillman made their engagement public when they led a group of clothing workers in the

May Day May Day is a European festival of ancient origins marking the beginning of summer, usually celebrated on 1 May, around halfway between the spring equinox and summer solstice. Festivities may also be held the night before, known as May Eve. Tr ...

parade, arms linked. They married two days later and moved to New York City, where the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America was headquartered. The couple had two daughters: Philoine in 1917, and Selma in 1921. Bessie Abramowitz Hillman died in New York on December 23, 1970.

References