In his pamphlet “Conflict or Coalition? The Civil Rights Struggle and the Trade Union Movement Today”, Bayard Rustin championed the United Federation of Teachers' efforts to advance racial integration and labor rights, portraying teacher unions as vital links connecting education reform with broader civil rights progress.
In the late 1960's, New York City schools became a focal point of struggle over community control union rights, and racial integration. The Ocean Hill-Brownsville crisis highlighted tensions between Black community activist seeking empowerment and a predominately white teachers' union defending job protections. Rustin's advocacy for UFT underscored the necessity of strong labor union as vehicles for worker protection and social justice amid complex race-class dynamics in urban America.
Rustin, Bayard. Conflict or coalition?: the civil rights struggle and the trade union movement today. Pamphlet, October 3, 1969. Industrial Relations Ephemera, Folder 2. Princeton University Digital Library. https://dpul.princeton.edu/catalog/f3d22755-628e-4953-9234-6c3bc9b21a07.
