Isaac Myers
{{short description|American labor leader (1835-1891)}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Isaac Myers
| image = Isaac Myers.jpg
| alt = Isaac Myers, pioneer of the African-American trade union movement
| caption = Isaac Myers, pioneer of the African-American trade union movement circa 1875.
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1835|01|13}}
| birth_place = Baltimore, Maryland
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1891|01|26|1835|01|13}}
| death_place = Baltimore, Maryland
| resting_place = Laurel Cemetery
| nationality = American
| other_names =
| occupation = Caulker, trade unionist
| known_for = African American labor organizing
}}
Isaac Myers (January 13, 1835 – January 26, 1891) was a pioneering trade unionist, a co-operative organizer and a caulker from Baltimore, Maryland.{{cite web|title=Isaac Myers: Pioneer of the African-American Trade Union Movement|url=http://apwumembers.apwu.org/laborhistory/09-1_isaacmyers/09-1_isaacmyers.htm|website=American Postal Workers Union|access-date=29 December 2014|archive-date=3 July 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150703064825/http://apwumembers.apwu.org/laborhistory/09-1_isaacmyers/09-1_isaacmyers.htm|url-status=live}}{{Cite book|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/33078959|title=Encyclopedia of African-American culture and history|date=1996|publisher=Macmillan Library Reference|others=Salzman, Jack., Smith, David L., 1954-, West, Cornel.|isbn=0-02-897345-3|location=New York|oclc=33078959|access-date=2020-09-15|archive-date=2022-05-12|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220512152900/http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/33078959|url-status=live}} He was African American.
Biography
Myers was born as a free black in Maryland, a slave state. Since the state of Maryland did not offer public education for African American youth, Myers had to acquire his early education from a private day school run by Rev. John Fortie.{{Cite web|title = Myers, Isaac (1835-1891) {{!}} The Black Past: Remembered and Reclaimed|url = http://www.blackpast.org/aah/myers-isaac-1835-1891|website = www.blackpast.org| date=23 June 2008 |access-date = 2015-12-03|archive-date = 2018-08-06|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180806180557/http://www.blackpast.org/aah/myers-isaac-1835-1891|url-status = live}} At the age of 16 he began work as a caulker, sealing seams in ships. In the 1850s Myers married Emma V. Morgan, who died in 1868. They had three children, including political activist George A. Myers.{{cite web|title=MYERS, GEORGE A. - The Encyclopedia of Cleveland History|url=http://ech.case.edu/cgi/article.pl?id=MGA1|publisher=The Encyclopedia of Cleveland History|access-date=29 December 2014|archive-date=28 April 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170428162330/http://ech.case.edu/cgi/article.pl?id=MGA1|url-status=live}} He later married Sarah E. Deaver.{{cite book|editor1-last=Carney Smith|editor1-first=Jessie|title=Encyclopedia of African American Business, Volume 1|date=2006|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|isbn=0313331103|pages=551|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-VYN_LWZwf4C&q=colored%20caulkers%20trade%20union%20society&pg=PA551|access-date=29 December 2014|chapter=Isaac Myers (1851 - 1891)|archive-date=10 July 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220710180103/https://www.google.com/books/edition/Encyclopedia_of_African_American_Busines/-VYN_LWZwf4C?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=colored+caulkers+trade+union+society&pg=PA551&printsec=frontcover|url-status=live}} In 1860, Myers left caulking to work in a grocery business leading him to set up a short lived co-operative grocery in 1864. He returned to caulking in 1865.
After the American Civil War competition for jobs led to strikes and protests by white workers, forcing over 1000 black caulkers to lose their jobs. Myers proposed the workers collectively pool resources and form a co-operative shipyard and railway, the Chesapeake Marine Railway and Dry Dock Company, to provide themselves with employment. The co-operative, opening in February 1866, was initially a great success, employing over 300 black workers.
Myers and others also established the Colored Caulkers Trade Union Society in 1868, to which he was elected president.{{cite web|last1=Heung|first1=Camille|title=Myers, Isaac (1835-1891)|url=http://www.blackpast.org/aah/myers-isaac-1835-1891|website=BlackPast.org|date=23 June 2008 |access-date=29 December 2014|archive-date=6 August 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180806180557/http://www.blackpast.org/aah/myers-isaac-1835-1891|url-status=live}} The National Labor Union took interest, inviting the Colored Caulkers Trade Union Society to their annual convention. The move was significant for what had previously been an all-white union, but black workers continued to face opposition to membership. In response the Colored National Labor Union was established in 1869, with Myers as president. He was succeeded in 1872 as President by Frederick Douglass.{{cite book|editor1-last=Kutler|editor1-first=Stanley I.|title=Dictionary of American History|date=2003|url=http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3401800926.html|access-date=29 December 2014|chapter=Colored National Labor Union|archive-date=30 May 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150530230025/http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3401800926.html|url-status=live}}{{cite web|title=Today in labor history: Black workers form national union|url=http://peoplesworld.org/today-in-labor-history-black-workers-form-national-union|website=People's World|date=6 December 2012 |access-date=29 December 2014|archive-date=19 April 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140419012628/http://peoplesworld.org/today-in-labor-history-black-workers-form-national-union|url-status=live}}
Following his departure from the CFNL Myers continued working and contributing to the labor movement. He became increasingly involved in the Republican Party during the 1870s. He worked as both a Customs Service agent and as a postal service agent under President Ulysses S. Grant's abolitionist Postmaster General John Creswell. He was the first known African American postal inspector, serving from 1870 until 1879, after which he returned to operate a coal yard in Baltimore.{{cite web|title=African American Postal Workers in the 19th Century|url=https://about.usps.com/who-we-are/postal-history/african-american-workers-19thc.pdf|website=About: Postal People|publisher=United States Postal Service|access-date=7 April 2018|archive-date=7 April 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180407182732/https://about.usps.com/who-we-are/postal-history/african-american-workers-19thc.pdf|url-status=live}} "Myers also organized and became President of the Maryland Colored State Industrial Fair Association, the Colored Business Men's Association of Baltimore, the Colored Building and Loan Association, and the Aged Ministers Home of the A.M.E. Church".{{Cite web|title = Myers, Isaac (1835-1891) {{!}} The Black Past: Remembered and Reclaimed|url = http://www.blackpast.org/aah/myers-isaac-1835-1891|website = www.blackpast.org| date=23 June 2008 |access-date = 2015-12-03|archive-date = 2018-08-06|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180806180557/http://www.blackpast.org/aah/myers-isaac-1835-1891|url-status = live}}
The Frederick Douglass - Isaac Myers Maritime Park in Baltimore is named after Myers.{{cite web|title=About Us|url=http://www.douglassmyers.org/about.php|publisher=Frederick Douglass - Isaac Myers Maritime Park|access-date=29 December 2014|archive-date=20 December 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141220225418/http://douglassmyers.org/about.php|url-status=live}}
Myers died on January 26, 1891. The crowds at his funeral in Baltimore were so large, members of the Knights Templars organization had to break a path through the crowd. He was interred in Laurel Cemetery.{{Cite web |date=January 30, 1891 |title=A Throng at the Funeral of Isaac Myers |url=https://wikipedialibrary.wmflabs.org/?next_url=/ezproxy/r/ezp.2aHR0cHM6Ly9hY2Nlc3MubmV3c3BhcGVyYXJjaGl2ZS5jb20vdXMvbWFyeWxhbmQvYmFsdGltb3JlL2JhbHRpbW9yZS1zdW4vMTg5MS8wMS0zMC9wYWdlLTY- |access-date=2025-02-11 |website=wikipedialibrary.wmflabs.org |publisher=The Baltimore Sun |place=Baltimore, Maryland |page=6 |language=en |publication-place=Baltimore, Maryland |via=newspaperarchive.com}}
References
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Category:American trade union leaders
Category:African-American trade unionists
Category:Activists from Baltimore