CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) – More than 1,000 predominantly Black workers launched a strike that would become a pivotal moment in labor and civil rights history.
The workers walked off the job at the American Tobacco cigar factory in Charleston 80 years ago, on Oct. 22, 1945.
The workers demanded non-discrimination clauses in the factory’s hiring and firing practices, paid medical benefits, and for the factory to become a closed-shop requiring union membership. They also pushed for back pay they had earned during World War II and a raise of 25 cents an hour.
Nationwide movement
Similar strikes were happening across American Tobacco Company factories nationwide as workers sought better conditions and fair treatment…