Annie Mae Carpenter
and the Uprising in Nacogdoches
Annie Mae Carpenter was fired for refusing to clean men’s dormitory restrooms at Stephen F. Austin State University. The workers rose up and with a union organizing drive and a 3,000 person march through the streets of Nacogdoches, Texas, they won. The short emphasizes the power of collective action for racial, class, and gender justice.
Website and resource portal for the 14-minute film
based on the feature documentary A Strike and an Uprising (in Texas)
Thank you for visiting this page! It is a living document and work-in progress.
The community is invited to submit additional links or information to this project.
Screenings
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Annie Mae Carpenter and the Uprising in Nacogdoches -Immersive Website Goes Live!March 11, 2021/0 Comments -
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Map of Historic Locations
Click on the map to learn about the key historic locations in Texas related to Annie Mae Carpenter and the Uprising in Nacogdoches
Educational Links
Have a link or resource related to Annie Mae Carpenter and the Uprising in Nacogdoches? Share related pictures, links and documents on labor and civil rights history; send us TSEU or the NAACP in Texas history too!
Help us curate this living document. Submit your link to additional information here.
Curriculum
- “Solidarity Divided” by Bill Fletcher Jr. and Fernando Gapasin about community involvement in union organizing.
- 21 Social Justice Resources for Teachers via WE ARE TEACHERS
- Author chronicles rich history in ‘African-Americans in Nacogdoches County’
- Growing Up with Juneteenth How a Texan holiday became a national tradition. By Annette Gordon-Reed
- Jobs With Justice – Official Website
- Jobs with Justice 25 Years, 25 Voices
- Juneteenth: A Brief, but Thorough History
- March! The Fight for Civil Rights in a Land of Fear by Stephen Delear
- Showdown at Nacogdoches: The CWA in Texas
- TSEU-CWA 6186 Texas State Employees Union
- United Nations Global Compact: Labour
- We are Soldiers in the Army – Performed by the Montgomery Gospel Trio From “We Shall Overcome: Songs of the Freedom Riders and Sit-ins” Smithsonian Folkways Recordings
- What is Juneteenth by Henry Louis Gates, Jr
Documents
- Annie Mae Carpenter, et al., Plaintiffs-appellees, Cross-appellants, v. Stephen F. Austin State University, et al.,defendants-appellants, Cross-appellees, 706 F.2d 608 (5th Cir. 1983) _ Justia
- East Texas oral histories
- For updated statistics about race, gender, and union status ties to wages
- Labor Rights Are Human Rights: UN Report
- Testimony of Annie Mae Carpenter Oct 1973
- The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics – Nonunion workers had weekly earnings 81 percent of union members in 2019
Oral Histories
Which labor leader would you be?
They offer you citizenship if you testify against labor leader, Harry Bridges. You say you will not be “a free woman with a mortgaged soul.”
A warrant for your deportation is issued in 1950 and you leave the U.S., never to return.
Luisa Moreno, Guatemalan representative of the United Cannery, Agricultural, Packing, and Allied Workers of America UCAPAWA in Texas and California.
As a child, you hear the speeches of Magonistas at Milam Park. Later you are elected spokesperson for a strike of 10,000 pecan shellers. You are called the "Passionate One." The strike is a catalyst for the Chicano movement for civil rights.
Emma Tenayuca, strike leader of 10,000 pecan shellers. You will find photos, film footage, and audio of Emma Tenayuca in the companion site "Emma Tenayuca and the 1938 San Antonio Pecan Shellers Strike"
You clean the house of the university president and 3 buildings. They tell you to clean the male student dormitory bathrooms. You refuse even though you know they will fire you.
Annie Mae Carpenter was the first plaintiff in a class race and gender discrimination suit against Stephen F. Austin State University
https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/F2/706/608/378668/
You are the main fundraiser for a strike, in love with a union organizer. Your marriage has more than a thousand workers in attendance. Your future husband arrives late because he has a paper to write. You marry him anyway.
Latane Lambert came to Texas to work with the pecan shellers strike even though her future husband George Lambert told her Texas was “a fierce awful place.”
You are a cafeteria worker and you spill the Italian dressing. You mop it three times but your boss fires you anyway. You go back to work at the regular time and pretend nothing happened. You keep your job and help lead a union.
Shirley Stegall (left) was a cafeteria worker and rank and file member of the Texas State Employees Union. She was part of the uprising that began the local union and recognized is a leader by the Communication Workers of America.
Behind the Scenes
About the production team behind the film and immersive experience / educational toolkit.
Featuring
Noah Johnson, Aida Lu Hernandez-Reyes, Lavender Johnson and Educator,
Amber Pleasant
Noah Johnson, Aida Lu Hernandez-Reyes, Lavender Johnson, and Educator, Amber Pleasant
Site Developer
Laura Varela
Filmmaker / Artist
Visit VarelaFilm.org
Director of Photography
Ivy Chiu
Director of Photography
Visit ivychiudp.com
Filmmaker
Anne Lewis
Documentary Films
Visit AnneLewis.org
This Project is supported in part by the Cultural Arts Division of the City of Austin Economic Development Department and The Alice Klegberg Reynolds Foundation.
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