Clara Lemlich

About

After leading the Uprising of 20,000 (also known as the 1909 New York Shirtwaist Strike), this labor unionist went on to campaign for women's suffrage and to join the Communist Party.

Before Fame

Born to Jewish parents in the Ukraine, she relocated to the United States in 1903 and began working in the garment industry in New York City.

Trivia

The activist organizations to which she belonged include the Wage Earners' Suffrage League and the Women's Trade Union League.

Family Life

Her four-decade marriage to Joe Shavelson produced children named Irving, Martha, and Rita. A decade after Shavelson's 1951 death, she married Abe Goldman; that marriage ended in 1967.

Associated With

She and American Labor Party founder David Dubinsky were both key members of the Ladies' Garment Workers Union.