Moranda Smith

Last updated

Moranda Smith was a black labor organizer and unionist who served as the first regional director of Winston-Salem, North Carolina's local 22 of the Food, Tobacco, Agricultural and Allied Workers of America (FTA) in the 1930 and 1940s.

Contents

Career

Born of a sharecropping family in South Carolina, Smith led thousands of Winston-Salem workers to win $1,250,000 in back pay in the leaf houses and stemmeries. In 1943, after a Black worker fell dead at a Reynolds Tobacco Company plant, Smith, along with thousands of other Black women, participated in a spontaneous sit-down leading to a massive walkout forcing Reynolds to temporarily shut down.

Her leadership at the local 22 saw a 50% rise of minimum wages. The union also increased voter registration in the area, leading to the election of the first Black alderman in the South. Throughout her career as a unionist, Smith worked extensively, "openly defying" the Ku Klux Klan. [1]

Personal life

Smith died in 1950 at the age of 34, "the strain of her activities seeming to be a major cause." [2]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Winston-Salem, North Carolina</span> City in North Carolina, United States

Winston-Salem is a city in and the county seat of Forsyth County, North Carolina, United States. In the 2020 census, the population was 249,545, making it the second-largest municipality in the Piedmont Triad region, the fifth-most populous city in North Carolina, and the 90th-most populous city in the United States. Winston-Salem is home to the tallest office building in the region, 100 North Main Street, formerly known as the Wachovia Building and now known locally as the Wells Fargo Center.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company</span> American tobacco manufacturing company

The R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company (RJR) is an American tobacco manufacturing company based in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and headquartered at the RJR Plaza Building. Founded by R. J. Reynolds in 1875, it is the second-largest tobacco company in the United States. The company is a wholly owned subsidiary of Reynolds American, after merging with the U.S. operations of British American Tobacco in 2004.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Neal Reynolds</span> American businessman (1863–1951)

William Neal Reynolds was a U.S. sportsman and businessman with R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, which was founded by his brother R. J. Reynolds.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">R. J. Reynolds</span> American businessman

Richard JoshuaReynolds was an American businessman and founder of the R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">R. J. Reynolds Memorial Auditorium</span>

The R. J. Reynolds Memorial Auditorium, located in Winston-Salem, NC, was built 1919–1924 under the direction of architect Charles Barton Keen. Keen also designed the adjacent Richard J. Reynolds High School. Both buildings are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Salem (cigarette)</span> American cigarette brand

Salem is an American brand of cigarettes, currently owned and manufactured by ITG Brands, a subsidiary of Imperial Tobacco, inside the U.S. and by Japan Tobacco outside the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zachary Smith Reynolds</span> American aviator (1911–1932)

Zachary Smith Reynolds was an American amateur aviator and youngest son of American businessman and millionaire R. J. Reynolds. The son of one of the richest men in the United States at the time, Reynolds was to fully inherit $20 million, valued at over $300 million today, when he turned 28, as established in his father's will.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reynolds Building</span> United States historic place

The Reynolds Building is a 314-foot (96 m) Art Deco skyscraper at 51 E. 4th Street in Winston-Salem, Forsyth County, North Carolina with 313,996 square feet (29,171.2 m2) of space. It was completed in 1929 and has 21 floors. For much of its history the building served as headquarters for R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company. After a sale to PMC Property Group in 2014, the building went through an estimated $60 million in renovations. In March 2016, The Residences @ the R.J. Reynolds Building, apartments located on the top 11 floors, opened. The first six floors opened as the Kimpton Cardinal Hotel in April. Katharine Brasserie & Bar, a restaurant named for Katharine Smith Reynolds, followed in May.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard J. Reynolds High School</span> Historic school building in North Carolina, United States

Richard J. Reynolds High School now the Richard J. Reynolds Magnet School for the Visual and Performing Arts is a high school in the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools located in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Named for R. J. Reynolds, the founder of the R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, the school opened in 1923. The school colors are Old Gold and Black, and the school's mascot is a demon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kathryn Reynolds</span> American poet

Kathryn Taylor Reynolds is an American fine art photographer and artist.

Richard Joshua Reynolds Jr. was an American entrepreneur and the son of R.J. Reynolds, founder of the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Winston-Salem Tobacco Historic District</span> Historic district in North Carolina, United States

Winston-Salem Tobacco Historic District is a national historic district located at Winston-Salem, Forsyth County, North Carolina. The district encompasses 16 contributing buildings and 16 contributing structures in a predominantly industrial section of Winston-Salem. The buildings date from about 1890 to 1959, and include buildings relating to the tobacco industry, specifically R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company. Also on the district are a once-thriving African American and the wholesale commercial business district that once catered to the R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company workers. Located in the district is the separately listed Romanesque Revival style S. J. Nissen Building and Piedmont Leaf Tobacco Company.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Katharine Smith Reynolds</span> American tobacco heiress and philanthropist (1880–1924)

Katharine Smith Reynolds, later Katharine Smith Johnston, was the wife of tobacco tycoon R. J. Reynolds and a philanthropist who designed the Reynolda House estate.

Valeria Lynch Lee is an African American philanthropist and an advocate for public media in North Carolina. Lee was a co-founder of one of the first black public radio stations in the nation and has served as program director, manager, and board member for numerous organizations aimed at improving educational and socio-economic conditions for North Carolinians. She was inducted into the North Carolina Women's Hall of Fame in 2009.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mary Reynolds Babcock</span> American philanthropist

Mary Reynolds Babcock was an American philanthropist. As the daughter of R.J Reynolds and Katharine Smith Reynolds, she therefore inherited considerable wealth from her father's company, the nationally prominent R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company. She was a founder for both the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation and the Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation. She and her husband Charles Babcock gifted Wake Forest University 350 acres, and the university moved to Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">ITG Brands</span> US tobacco company

ITG Brands, LLC is the third-largest American tobacco manufacturing company in the United States. It is a subsidiary of British multinational Imperial Brands. ITG Brands markets and sells multiple cigarette and cigar brands and sells blu eCigs. The company was created in 2015 and has its production, headquarters, and regulatory compliance facilities located in Greensboro, North Carolina.

Anne Cannon Forsyth was a Cannon textiles and R.J. Reynolds tobacco families heiress, and education activist who created the Anne C. Stouffer Foundation in 1967, which was the first foundation to offer full scholarships for young African-American students to attend elite southern preparatory boarding schools. She also served as founder and president of the North Carolina Fund. The Anne Cannon Trust awarded $100,000 to Appalachian State University to provide educational scholarships to underrepresented populations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Linda Carter Brinson</span> American journalist and writer

Linda Sue Carter Brinson is an American writer, journalist, and editor. She was the first woman assistant national editor at The Baltimore Sun and the first woman editorial page editor at the Winston-Salem Journal.

Velma Hopkins was an American labor rights activist. In 1943 she helped organize a strike against R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, which attracted over 10,000 participants from Winston-Salem, North Carolina and led to the founding of the only union to be formed by Reynolds Tobacco employees. Hopkins was a leader in Local 22, a racially integrated union led primarily by Black women. Her efforts in fighting for higher pay and fair treatment made her a leader within the African American community of Winston-Salem.

References

  1. ↑ Davis, Marianna W. (1982). Contributions of Black Women to America Volume II. Columbia, South Carolina: Kenday Press, Inc. pp. 123, 124.
  2. ↑ Lerner, Gerda (1972). Black Women in White America. New York: Pantheon Books. p. 257.


This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.