Isaac Myers was a labor activist, organizer, and founder. When white carpenters excluded Black workers and refused to work with them, “Isaac Myers, along with others, established a black-owned shipyard, the Chesapeake Marine Railroad and Dry Dock Company” [1]. He also served as the president of the Colored Caulker’s Trades Union Society of Baltimore, serving the interests of Black caulkers, who were often turned away at the Baltimore waterfront. In 1869, he called to order the Colored National Labor Convention, and “with strong support from Frederick Douglass, he organized the first national federated union of black workers, the Colored National Labor Union (CNLU)” [2]. Myers and members of the CNLU, including John Mercer Langston, worked to galvanize Black workers in various states [3]. He also attended the National Convention at New Orleans, Louisiana, in 1872. His son, George A. Myers, was a barber and community leader in Cleveland [4].

References

[1] Mills, Quincy T. Cutting Along the Color Line: Black Barbers and Barber Shops in America, Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, p. 282.
[2] Prescod, Janette. “Isaac Myers,” Encyclopedia of African American Business: K-Z, Jessie Carney Smith ed, Westport: Greenwood Press, 2006, p. 552.
[3] Taylor, Nikki M. America’s First Black Socialist: The Radical Life of Peter H. Clark, Lexington: University of Kentucky Press, p. 132.
[4] Mills, p. 282.

Credits

Written by Samantha de Vera, University of California, San Diego.

Edited by P. Gabrielle Foreman.

Acknowledgements: Samantha de Vera and Michelle Byrnes for further edits, visualization contributions, and technical assistance.