The Eugene V. Debs Award is an award accorded by the Eugene V. Debs Foundation, in Terre Haute, Indiana, each year since 1965 (apart from 2020), honoring a person or organization whose work has been consistent with the spirit, values, and legacy of Eugene V. Debs and who has contributed to the advancement of the causes of industrial unionism, social justice, or world peace.
Year | Recipient | Field | Description |
---|---|---|---|
1965 | John L. Lewis | Industrial Unionism | Labor leader, served as president of the United Mine Workers of America from 1920 to 1960. |
1966 | Norman Thomas | World Peace | American Presbyterian minister who achieved fame as a socialist, pacifist, and six-time presidential candidate for the Socialist Party of America. |
1967 | A. Philip Randolph | Industrial Unionism, Social Justice | Civil rights leader, labor leader, socialist political leader. |
1968 | Walter Reuther | Industrial Unionism | American labor union leader, who made the United Automobile Workers a major force not only in the auto industry but also in the Democratic Party and the Congress of Industrial Organizations in the mid 20th century. |
1969 | H.E. Gilbert | Industrial Unionism | President, Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and Enginemen |
1970 | Patrick E. Gorman | Industrial Unionism | President, Amalgamated Meat Cutters |
1971 | Dorothy Day | Social Justice, World Peace | American journalist, and social activist |
1973 | Michael Harrington | Social Justice | American democratic socialist, writer, and political activist |
1974 | Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. | Social Justice | American historian, social critic, and public intellectual |
1975 | Ruben Levin | Industrial Unionism | Founder, Labor Press Associates Manager and editor of LABOR magazine |
1976 | Martin H. Miller | Industrial Unionism | National Legislative Representative for the Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen |
1977 | Frank Zeidler | Social Justice | American Socialist politician and Mayor of Milwaukee, Wisconsin |
1978 | Jesse Jackson | Social Justice | American civil rights activist, Baptist minister, and politician |
1979 | Pete Seeger | Social Justice | American folk singer and social activist |
1980 | William W. Winpisinger | Industrial Unionism | International President, International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers |
1981 | Kurt Vonnegut | Social Justice, World Peace | American writer |
1982 | Coretta Scott King | Social Justice | American author, activist, civil rights leader, and the widow of Martin Luther King Jr. |
1983 | Studs Terkel | Social Justice | American author, historian, actor, and broadcaster |
1984 | William H. Wynn | Industrial Unionism | Founder/Organizer, United Food and Commercial Workers |
1985 | Jack Sheinkman | Industrial Unionism | President, Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union |
1986 | Joseph L. Rauh Jr. | Social Justice | Civil rights and civil liberties attorney |
1987 | Ed Asner | Social Justice, Industrial Unionism | Actor, activist, president, Screen Actors Guild |
1988 | Joyce D. Miller | Social Justice, Industrial Unionism | Labor activist, feminist, founding member of the Coalition of Labor Union Women |
1989 | Morton Bahr | Industrial Unionism | President, Communications Workers of America |
1990 | Lynn R. Williams | Industrial Unionism | Canadian labour leader; President, United Steelworkers |
1991 | John Sayles | Social Justice | American independent film director, screenwriter, editor, actor and novelist |
1992 | Ralph Nader | Social Justice | American political activist, author, lecturer, and attorney |
1993 | Dolores Huerta | Industrial Unionism, Social Justice | American labor leader and civil rights activist; Co-founder, National Farmworkers Association |
1994 | Richard Trumka | Industrial Unionism | Organized labor leader; President, United Mine Workers |
1995 | Jim Hightower | Social Justice | American syndicated columnist, progressive political activist, and author |
1996 | Victor Saul Navasky | Social Justice | American journalist, editor and academic |
1997 | John Sweeney | Industrial Unionism | Labor leader; President, AFL–CIO |
1998 | Howard Zinn | Social Justice, World Peace | American historian, playwright, and social activist |
1999 | Gloria Tapscott Johnson | Social Justice, Industrial Unionism | American unionist, labor feminist |
2000 | Michael Sullivan | Industrial Unionism | President, Sheet Metal Workers' International Association |
2001 | Al Chesser | Industrial Unionism | National Legislative Director, United Transportation Union |
2002 | Julian Bond | Social Justice | Social activist, civil rights leader, politician, professor and writer |
2003 | Molly Ivins | Social Justice | American newspaper columnist, author, political commentator, and humorist |
2004 | Bruce S. Raynor | Industrial Unionism | Unionist; President, Workers United; General President of UNITE HERE |
2005 | Thomas Frank | Social Justice | American political analyst, historian, journalist, and columnist |
2006 | Brave New Films | Social Justice | Media/news/documentary company |
2007 | Barbara Ehrenreich | Social Justice | American author and political activist |
2008 | Cecil Roberts | Industrial Unionism | President, United Mine Workers of America |
2009 | Ron Gettelfinger | Industrial Unionism | President, United Auto Workers |
2010 | Bobby Duvall | Social Justice | Human rights advocate |
2011 | Danny Glover | Social Justice | Actor, civil rights activist, political activist |
2012 | Clayola Brown | Industrial Unionism, Social Justice | Union leader, civil rights activist |
2013 | Eliseo Medina | Industrial Unionism, Social Justice | Mexican-American labor union activist |
2014 | Sara Horowitz | Industrial Unionism | Founder, Freelancers Union |
2015 | Jim Boland | Industrial Unionism | President, International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers |
2016 | Cindy Sheehan | World Peace, Social Justice | Peace activist, political activist |
2017 | Jobs With Justice | Industrial Unionism, Social Justice | Labor equality organization |
2018 | William "Bill" Lucy | Industrial Unionism, Social Justice | Union leader, Civil rights activist |
2019 | Mary Kay Henry | on behalf of the SEIU [1] | Labor and civil rights activist |
2021 | Innocence Project | Social Justice | Legal advocacy organization |
2022 | A. Philip Randolph Institute | Industrial Unionism, Social Justice | African-American trade unionists organization |
2023 | Lynne Fox | Industrial Unionism | President, Workers United |
The Nobel Prizes are five separate prizes awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind," as established by the 1895 will of Swedish chemist, engineer, and industrialist Alfred Nobel, in the year before he died. Prizes were first awarded in 1901 by the Nobel Foundation. Nobel's will indicated that the awards should be granted in the fields of Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, Literature, and Peace. A sixth prize for Economic Sciences, endowed by Sweden's central bank, Sveriges Riksbank, and first presented in 1969, is also frequently included, as it is also administered by the Nobel Foundation. The Nobel Prizes are widely regarded as the most prestigious awards available in their respective fields.
Eugene Victor Debs was an American socialist, political activist, trade unionist, one of the founding members of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), and five-time candidate of the Socialist Party of America for President of the United States. Through his presidential candidacies as well as his work with labor movements, Debs eventually became one of the best-known socialists living in the United States.
The Pullman Strike was two interrelated strikes in 1894 that shaped national labor policy in the United States during a period of deep economic depression. First came a strike by the American Railway Union (ARU) against the Pullman factory in Chicago in spring 1894. When it failed, the ARU launched a national boycott against all trains that carried Pullman passenger cars. The nationwide railroad boycott that lasted from May 11 to July 20, 1894, was a turning point for US labor law. It pitted the American Railway Union (ARU) against the Pullman Company, the main railroads, the main labor unions, and the federal government of the United States under President Grover Cleveland. The strike and boycott shut down much of the nation's freight and passenger traffic west of Detroit, Michigan. The conflict began in Chicago, on May 11 when nearly 4,000 factory employees of the Pullman Company began a wildcat strike in response to recent reductions in wages. Most of the factory workers who built Pullman cars lived in the "company town" of Pullman just outside of Chicago. Jennie Curtis who lived in Pullman was president of seamstress union ARU LOCAL 269 gave a speech at the ARU convention urging people to strike. It was designed as a model community by its namesake founder and owner George Pullman.
Asa Philip Randolph was an American labor unionist and civil rights activist. In 1925, he organized and led the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, the first successful African-American-led labor union. In the early Civil Rights Movement and the Labor Movement, Randolph was a prominent voice. His continuous agitation with the support of fellow labor rights activists against racist labor practices helped lead President Franklin D. Roosevelt to issue Executive Order 8802 in 1941, banning discrimination in the defense industries during World War II. The group then successfully maintained pressure, so that President Harry S. Truman proposed a new Civil Rights Act and issued Executive Orders 9980 and 9981 in 1948, promoting fair employment and anti-discrimination policies in federal government hiring, and ending racial segregation in the armed services.
The American Railway Union (ARU) was briefly among the largest labor unions of its time and one of the first industrial unions in the United States. Launched at a meeting held in Chicago in February 1893, the ARU won an early victory in a strike on the Great Northern Railroad in the summer of 1894. This successful strike was followed by the bitter 1894 Pullman Strike in which government troops and the power of the judiciary were enlisted against the ARU, ending with the jailing of the union's leadership for six months in 1895 and effectively crushing the organization. The group's blacklisted and dispirited remnants finally disbanded the organization via amalgamation into the Social Democracy of America (SDA) at its founding convention in June 1897.
Eugene Victor Debs Rostow was an American legal scholar and public servant. He was Dean of Yale Law School and served as Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs under President Lyndon B. Johnson. In the 1970s Rostow was a leader of the movement against détente with Russia and in 1981, President Ronald Reagan appointed him director of the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency.
Cecil Roberts is a miner and president of the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA). He also sits on the AFL–CIO's executive council. Roberts is the great-grandson of Ma Blizzard.
The Eugene V. Debs House, on the campus of Indiana State University in Terre Haute, Indiana, was a home of union leader Eugene V. Debs. It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1966. The museum is maintained by the Eugene V. Debs Foundation, a non-profit educational foundation.
Since being admitted to the Union in 1850, California has participated in 43 presidential elections. A bellwether from 1888 to 1996, voting for the losing candidates only three times in that span, California has become a reliable state for Democratic presidential candidates since 1992.
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The Eugene V. Debs Foundation is a non-profit educational foundation, founded in 1962 "to own, maintain and operate the Eugene V. Debs Home in order to be a memorial to Eugene V. Debs and Theodore Debs". The foundation's president is Noel Beasley.
Patrick Emmet "Pat" Gorman was an American lawyer and trade unionist affiliated with the Amalgamated Meat Cutters and Butcher Workmen of North America. Gorman served as the union's highest-ranking official (secretary-treasurer) from 1942 to 1976.
The 1916 United States presidential election in Idaho took place on November 7, 1916 as part of the 1916 United States presidential election in which all contemporary forty-eight states participated. State voters chose four electors, or representatives to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.
The 1920 United States presidential election in Idaho took place on November 2, 1920, as part of the 1920 United States presidential election. State voters chose four representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.
Theodore Debs was an American socialist political activist. Debs is best remembered as the personal secretary and political confidant of his older brother, socialist orator and journalist Eugene V. Debs. A political actor in his own right, the younger Debs was the executive secretary of the Social Democratic Party of America with headquarters in Chicago from its foundation in 1898 until its dissolution through merger into the Socialist Party of America in August 1901.