THE VFA PIONEER HISTORIES PROJECT
Gloria Tapscott Johnson
October 28, 1927 – February 13, 2013
A dedicated trade unionist and tireless, forceful advocate for removing the economic and social barriers confronted by women and people of color in the labor movement.
Founding member and president of the Coalition of Labor Union Women (CLUW), AFL-CIO. President’s Commission on the Celebration of Women in American History. In 1993, was elected an AFL-CIO Vice President. The second African American woman to hold this position, Johnson contributed to the Executive Council as Chair of the Committee on Women Workers and as a member of the committees on Civil and Human Rights, Legislative/Public Policy, Member Education and Training, International Affairs, Political Education, Strategic Approaches and Finance.
Photo 1. President Jimmy Carter signs document at the White House on Feb. 28, 1980 proclaiming March 2-8 “National Women’s History Week.” To the president’s right are: Jane Pratt, president, Girls’ Clubs of America; and Gloria Johnson, treasurer, Coalition of Labor Union Women. (AP Photo/Barry Thumma) Photo 2. Gloria speaking in 1998.
More About Gloria:
- Coalition of Labor Union Women Obituary and Tribute to Gloria Tapscott Johnson
- AFL-CIO Executive Council Statement on Vice President Gloria Johnson
- Select honors and awards include:
- Operation PUSH Award for Outstanding Women in the Labor Movement
- 1981 Economic Equity Award from Women’s Equity Action League (WEAL) for outstanding achievement in the Labor Movement
- 1985 award from the Southern Christian Leadership Conference
- A. Philip Randolph Institute 1994 Achievement Award
- 1995 Wise Women Award presented by the Center for Women Policy Studies
- NAACP first Annual Pathway to Excellence Award “Women of Labor” in 1995
- Eugene V. Debs Award in Labor, 1999
- National Black Caucus of State Legislators Labor Leader “Nation Builders” Award, and the National Committee on Pay Equity’s Winn Newman Award, 2000
- On C-SPAN
- Guide to the Gloria Johnson Oral History, Wayne State University Library
- “We Are a Force to Be Reckoned With”: Black and Latina Women’s Leadership in the Contemporary U.S. Labor Movement, Niki T. Dickerson
- President’s Commission on the Celebration of Women in American History minutes, October 19-20, 1998
- Labor Education for Women Workers, edited by Barbara Mayer Wertheimer, Education for Affirmative Action: Two Union Approaches by Gloria T. Johnson and Odessa Komer