1933 Funsten Nut strike

1933 labor strike in Greater St. Louis September 2025 September 2025 1933 Funsten Nut strike May 15–24, 1933(1933 05 15 1933 05 24) Greater St. Louis, United Statesnote Factories affected in the strike were located in St. Louis, Missouri, and East St. Louis, Illinois.Zumoff 2014 363 Poor working conditions and low pay * Union recognition Equal pay for black and white workers Increased piece work pay scale * Picketing Strike action Walkout Strike ended after agreement from management to raise wages; the company later broke the union through downsizing, mechanization, and relocations Food Workers Industrial Union * R. E. Funsten Companynote Company_name The company's name is given in various sources as either the "R. E. Funsten Company"Fichtenbaum 1991 15Lang 2009 29 or the "Funsten Nut Company".Wicentowski 2023 Central Pecan Company Liberty Nut Company Workers for the R. E. Funsten Company,note Company_name a pecan-processing corporation based in St. Louis, Missouri, United States, held a labor strike from May 15 to May 24, 1933. The workers, consisting largely of black women employed at facilities in both St. Louis and nearby East St. Louis, Illinois, were organized by the Food Workers Industrial Union and were demanding union recognition, an increase in pay, and equal pay for both African American and white American workers. The strike ended in success for the strikers, but within a few years, the union had been crushed by the company. St. Louis had historically been a center for pecan-processing, and in the 1930s, the industry employed about 3,000 people, overwhelmingly black women. Most worked in nut-picking, the process of removing the edible nut from the shells. At Funsten, the largest employer, the black workers earned less and worked longer than their white counterparts. In early 1933, following several wage decreases, workers began to associate with the local Communist Party USA chapter which organized the workers under the Trade Union Unity League, which was affiliated to the party. That April, workers presented demands to management and after several weeks without an answer, declared a strike on May 15. The initial walkout involved about 900 workers, and by the second day, about 200 white workers had joined. The strike spread to other Funsten facilities as well as plants owned by other companies and involved an estimated 1,400 workers. The strikers rejected several compromise offers made by Funsten and received support from groups such as the Communist Party and the Unemployed Councils. Within several days, St. Louis Mayor Bernard F. Dickmann began to offer arbitration, and on May 24, the union ratified an agreement that saw wage increases near what they had requested. In the aftermath of the strike, eleven local union branches were formed and enlisted about 1,400 workers, while the Communist Party recruited about a hundred new members. While the union was initially successful in preventing any downsizing, the company responded by firing certain workers, mechanizing parts of the processing system, and relocating work to other areas. By 1935, the union league had been dissolved. However, historians have highlighted the strike's positive impact on labor organizing in the area, including other industries. Additionally, several historians have said that the strike foreshadowed other civil rights movements and protests in favor of expanded African American rights. Background Pecan industry in St. Louis thumb|200x200px|Pecan halves, with a centimeter ruler for scale St. Louis has historically been a significant center for the processing of pecans, due in large part to their natural range along the Mississippi River valley and the ease with which they could be transported to and from the city via boat.Foner 1980 270Fichtenbaum 1991 15O'Shea 2023 According to historian Clarence Lang, this industry was the city's "major food-processing enterprise".Lang 2009 29 In the Greater St. Louis area in the early 1930s,Lang 2009 29 there were 16 factories that processed pecans.O'Shea 2023 Seven of those were owned by the R. E. Funsten Company,Foner 1980 270Fichtenbaum 1991 15note Company_name the single largest employer in the market, which included four in St. Louis, Missouri, and three in East St. Louis, Illinois.Feurer 2006 36Ford 2022 65note Sources vary on the number of Funsten plants in each city. In a 2006 book, historian Rosemary Feurer stated that the company had four plants in St. Louis and three in East St. Louis,Feurer 2006 36 while historian Melissa Ford stated in a 2022 book that the company had six factories in St. Louis and only a single plant in East St. Louis.Ford 2022 65 The company was started in St. Louis in 1895 by its namesake, a businessman from Virginia.Fichtenbaum 1991 15 By 1933, Funsten's son, Eugene, was the company's president.Fichtenbaum 1991 15 At the time, the company was valued at approximately $75,000 (equivalent to $US 0.075 1933 2 million in US).Fichtenbaum 1991 15 The company's main facility and corporate offices were located at the intersection of Delmar Boulevard and 16th Street.Fichtenbaum 1991 17note Other Funsten plants in St. Louis were located at 233 Chestnut Street, 4241 Easton Avenue, and 3404 Walnut Street.Nigro 1999 262 Labor force and working conditions In 1933, the pecan processing industry employed about 3,000 women,Foner 1980 270Fichtenbaum 1991 15O'Shea 2023 with Funsten's main plant employing about 700 women.Fichtenbaum 1991 24 Industrywide, about 85 to 90 percent of the workforce was made up of black women,Foner 1980 270–271Lang 2009 29Graves 2013 59 with white women constituting much of the remainder.Fichtenbaum 1991 15–16 With a total of 1,200 employees, Funsten may have been the single largest employer of black women in St. Louis.Nigro 1999 262 About 40 percent of these workers were youths, while a majority were middle-aged and had families that they supported.Fichtenbaum 1991 19 Only a few men, both African Americans and white Americans, were employed in more specialized positions or as foremen.Fichtenbaum 1991 16 At Funsten, the workers operated in racially segregated facilities.Wicentowski 2023 For instance, at a plant on Chouteau Avenue, the first floor was where white women worked while the second floor was where black women worked.Fichtenbaum 1991 17 Additionally, the black and white workers had different times for arriving and departing from the facilities.Fichtenbaum 1991 17 The black women worked 52 hours per week, from 6:45 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. Monday through Friday,Nigro 1999 262 with a 45-minute lunch break.Fichtenbaum 1991 15–16note At the time, Missouri had a law stipulating a maximum of 9 working hours per day, though violations of the law were commonplace.Fichtenbaum 1991 7–8 On Saturdays, they worked until noon.Nigro 1999 262 White women's schedules, in contrast, typically ran from 7 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., with an hour-long lunch break.Fichtenbaum 1991 16 This was part of a larger trend in the region, as St. Louis was host to numerous Jim Crow laws that restricted African American life.Fichtenbaum 1991 12 Most of the women worked in "picking", a part of the processing procedure where workers would use a knife to separate the edible nut from its nutshell.Fichtenbaum 1991 16 The pickers operated in poor working conditions.Fichtenbaum 1991 18 Dust from the nuts posed a breathing hazard,Gomberg 2024 90 which was made worse by poor ventilation in the facilities.Fichtenbaum 1991 18 Additionally, despite being a food-related industry, the plants were not subject to health regulations, and bathrooms were often unsanitary.Fichtenbaum 1991 18 Sometimes, picking was performed at the workers' houses.Fichtenbaum 1991 17 Wages and economic conditions in 1930s St. Louis In the two years preceding 1933, workers at Funsten's facilities experienced multiple wage cuts.Fichtenbaum 1991 17Lang 2009 30Graves 2013 60 In a 1933 interview with the St. Louis Star-Times, one worker who had been a Funsten employee for 18 years, Carrie Smith, stated that, while her average weekly wage in 1918 was $18 ($US 18 1918 0 in US), she was now making no more than $4 ($US 4 1933 0 in US).Fichtenbaum 1991 20 Another employee stated that she had received weekly wages of as low as $0.63 ($US 0.63 1933 0 in US).Fichtenbaum 1991 20 On average, African American workers had a weekly wage of $1.80 ($US 1.8 1933 2 in US), while white workers had a wage of $2.75 ($US 2.75 1933 2 in US).Fichtenbaum 1991 20Lang 2009 30 By contrast, the average weekly wage in 1929 had been about $10 ($US 10 1929 2 in US).Nigro 1999 262 For pickers, their pay was based on a piece rate, with African Americans getting paid $0.03 per pound of nut-halves and $0.02 per pound of nut-pieces ($US 0.03 1933 2 and $US 0.02 1933 2 in US).Fichtenbaum 1991 20 For the same poundage, white workers were paid $0.05 and $0.04 ($US 0.05 1933 2 and $US 0.04 1933 2 in US), respectively.Fichtenbaum 1991 20 About half of the Funsten workers at the time were receiving some form of financial assistance.Fichtenbaum 1991 20 In major cities across the United States, the number of families receiving welfare assistance of some form had risen about 85 to 90 percent compared to 1932 due to the impact of the Great Depression.Fichtenbaum 1991 5–6 In St. Louis, the unemployment rate had risen to about 25 percent the previous year.Wixson 1994 294 Over the course of the Great Depression, unemployment in St. Louis would peak at about 30 percent,O'Shea 2025 compared to 9 percent prior to the Depression, and roughly 70 percent of black workers were either unemployed or underemployed.O'Shea 2023 As a result, the city was a hotbed for radical labor movements,O'Shea 2023 including campaigns to assist the poor.Wicentowski 2023 African Americans were overrepresented in these movements.Fichtenbaum 1991 13–14 Organized labor at Funsten Around 1933, the idea of labor organizing at Funsten originated with a relative of two company employees.Fichtenbaum 1991 22 This man was a member of the Communist Party USA and invited his relatives to attend party meetings.Fichtenbaum 1991 22 Within a few meetings, a score of women had met and, working with the Communist Party, began to organize under the Food Workers Industrial Union.Fichtenbaum 1991 22 This union was an affiliate of the Trade Union Unity League, a Communist Party-led labor organization that advocated for industrial unionism.Fichtenbaum 1991 39–40Feurer 2006 36 Their involvement with the nut-pickers marked the union's first involvement in St. Louis.Fichtenbaum 1991 40 Bill Sentner, a party associate and member of the local John Reed Club,Wixson 1994 294 served as a union organizer; Smith was the "heart and soul" of the labor action.Fichtenbaum 1991 23,33 A local union with a presiding executive committee was established and the women employees agreed to present the following demands to Funsten's management: union recognition, equal pay for black and white employees, and a wage scale of $0.10 ($US 0.1 1933 2 in US) per pound of nut-halves and $0.04 per pound of nut-pieces.Foner 1980 271–272Fichtenbaum 1991 23Lang 2009 30 According to historian Myrna Fichtenbaum, the organizing efforts most likely first took hold at a Funsten plant in western St. Louis, on Easton Avenue.Fichtenbaum 1991 23 While there were union members at other plants, this plant boasted a union membership of about 100 workers, representing about half of the plant's workforce.Fichtenbaum 1991 23Lang 2009 30 On April 24, 1933,Feurer 2006 36 a dozen union members at the Easton Avenue plant presented their demands to management, and they were told that their demands would be conveyed up the management chain and that they would get a response soon.Fichtenbaum 1991 24 However, after three weeks had passed without a response from the company, the executive committee decided to initiate further organizing efforts at other Funsten plants.Fichtenbaum 1991 24 On May 12, the union held a meeting with 700 employees at Funsten's main facility and enrolled an additional 15 members into their union.Fichtenbaum 1991 24 The following day, the union held a large meeting and conducted a vote on whether to initiate a strike action, with the consensus being to strike.Fichtenbaum 1991 24 The union decided that on Monday, May 15, workers at the Easton Avenue plant would ask for a response to their demands and, if the response was unsatisfactory, they would initiate a walkout and inform workers at the main plant to do the same.Fichtenbaum 1991 24–25 This strike action would follow a previous wildcat strike that had occurred at Funsten's main plant in 1927,Fichtenbaum 1991 22 which had ended in failure for the strikers.Foner 1980 271Graves 2013 60 Course of the strike Beginning of the strike On May 15, approximately 900 Funsten employees performed a walkout, initiating the strike.Fichtenbaum 1991 24–25 By the second day, the number of striking workers had grown to about 1,400.Fichtenbaum 1991 25 While only African Americans had been involved in the initial walkout, white workers began to join the strike by the second day.Wicentowski 2023O'Shea 2023 By this time, the strike had expanded to two other Funsten plants, as well as the facilities of two other companies: the Central Pecan Company and the Liberty Nut Company.Fichtenbaum 1991 25Graves 2013 60 Following the third day of the strike, the president of Funsten offered the strikers a wage increase of 33 1 3 percent, though this offer was rejected by the strikers.Fichtenbaum 1991 31 Funsten later offered a pay rate of $0.75 ($US 0.75 1933 2 in US) per 25 lb kg on box of pecans, though this offer was also rejected.Fichtenbaum 1991 34 In justifying his company's position to the press, Funsten stated that the wage cuts had been a result of the economic downturn, highlighting this in an interview with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch where he stated that the company had not made a profit in two years.Fichtenbaum 1991 31 The St. Louis Argus, an African American newspaper, pushed back against his claims given the current price of pecans, while Fichtenbaum stated that later analysis showed an estimated yearly profit for Funsten of $250,000 at the time.Fichtenbaum 1991 31–32 Strike leadership and organization At each plant, the workers elected their own strike committees and leaders,O'Shea 2023Fichtenbaum 1991 26 with most of the leaders being black women.Fichtenbaum 1991 xvi The committees held daily meetings to plan strategies,Gomberg 2024 91 and public meetings were held every morning to keep the strikers informed of any new developments.Fichtenbaum 1991 26 Additionally, the strikers organized committees to handle negotiations, as well as relief efforts for the workers.Fichtenbaum 1991 27 The strikers reached out to the broader community for support, with representatives of the workers participating in meetings at local churches and synagogues.Fichtenbaum 1991 29–30 Food donations were collected from individuals and groups in the area, such as the Communist Party and the Unemployed Councils,Gomberg 2024 91 with the Workers International Relief office in Chicago making a donation to the effort.Fichtenbaum 1991 27Lang 2009 31Feurer 2006 37 One of the strike leaders was a middle-aged black woman named Carrie Smith.O'Shea 2023note Sources describe Smith as being "middle-aged" at the time of the strike,Fichtenbaum 1991 28Lang 2009 31 while historian Rosemary Feurer described her as an "older" woman who had been employed by the company since at least 1918.Feurer 2006 36 Smith is described as an 18-year-old in a 2023 article in Jacobin.O'Shea 2023 Among other contributions to the strike, she created the slogan, "We demand ten and four" in reference to the strikers' desired pay scale.O'Shea 2023Fichtenbaum 1991 23 She also became well known for picketing with a Bible and a brick in her hands and telling her fellow strikers, "Girls, we can't lose!"O'Shea 2023Lang 2009 31 Strikers' actions Strikers picketed outside of the affected facilities, with picket signs bearing slogans such as, "Animals in the Zoo Are Fed While We Starve".O'Shea 2023 Protesting began at 5 a.m. every morning and included strikers, their relatives, and other activists from the Communist Party and from the Unemployed Councils.Fichtenbaum 1991 27 Concerning this latter group, about 600 members were involved in picketing outside of Funsten's headquarters.Lang 2009 30 At some point during the strike, there was a large meeting at the Labor Lyceum, the Communist Party's headquarters in St. Louis,O'Shea 2025note Per a contemporary article in the Daily Worker newspaper, the headquarters were located at 1343 North Garrison Avenue in St. Louis.Daily Worker 1933 1 where workers sang "Solidarity Forever".Wixson 1994 294 Over the course of the strike, police escorted strikebreakers to the affected plants, resulting in some confrontations with the strikers.Fichtenbaum 1991 32–33 While sources vary on the exact number,Fichtenbaum 1991 32–33 at least 90 strikers were arrested in these scuffles.O'Shea 2023 Negotiations and conclusion of the strike thumb|280x280px|A group of workers petitioned the city government at City Hall (pictured 1900) to serve as arbitrators for the strike.Fichtenbaum 1991 28–29During the strike, a biracial group of five women met with the city counselor of St. Louis at City Hall in order to ask the city government to act as arbitrators between the strikers and management.Fichtenbaum 1991 28–29 On May 22, about a thousand strikers marched from the Communist Party's headquarters to City Hall,Lang 2009 32 where a rally took place.Fichtenbaum 1991 32 The event prompted the mayor of St. Louis to address the protestors,Fichtenbaum 1991 29 and he was received with applause as he spoke from the steps of City Hall and said he would meet with some representatives of the strikers.Lang 2009 32 In a conversation with Mayor Bernard F. Dickmann, Smith told him, "We believe we are entitled to live as well as other folks live and should be entitled to a wage that will provide us with ample food and clothing."O'Shea 2023 On May 23, an all-day meeting was held between the central strike committee, Funsten and his attorney, and a committee organized by the mayor.Foner 1980 274Fichtenbaum 1991 34 The mayor's committee was composed of several notable community leaders and had been organized by the mayor to investigate the pay and working conditions at the nut processing facilities.Fichtenbaum 1991 48 By the end of this meeting, the strike committee had tentatively agreed to a new deal with management that would have seen nut-pickers paid $0.90 ($US 0.9 1933 2 in US) per 25-lb box of pecans, which was equivalent to a pay scale of $0.08 ($US 0.08 1933 2 in US) per pound of nut-halves and $0.04 per pound of nut-pieces.Fichtenbaum 1991 34 Additionally, the pay scale would be equal for both black and white employees.Gomberg 2024 91 However, the agreement did not specify that the company had to recognize the union as the employees' bargaining representatives.Bucki 2009 177 On May 24, Smith and Mayor Dickmann drove from City Hall to the Communist Party's headquarters, where approximately 700 workers had gathered to vote on the agreement.O'Shea 2023 In a unanimous vote,O'Shea 2023Foner 1980 274 the workers present accepted the agreement, bringing the strike against Funsten to an end.Wicentowski 2023 The other nut-processing companies that had been targeted also agreed to the same pay scale.Fichtenbaum 1991 34Lang 2009 32 Aftermath The strike, which was the first major labor dispute that St. Louis experienced during the Great Depression,Nigro 1999 263 drew national attention.Foner 1980 270Graves 2013 59 Multiple nut-processing factories in Greater St. Louis,note Sources vary on the exact number of nut-processing plants that were affected by the strike. In a 2023 article in Jacobin, historian Devin Thomas O'Shea stated that five plants were affected.O'Shea 2023 However, in a 2009 book, historian Clarence Lang gave the number as ten, with eight Funsten plants.Lang 2009 30 Meanwhile, a contemporary report in the Daily Worker stated that eleven plants were affected.Daily Worker 1933 1 including both St. Louis and East St. Louis, were affected.Zumoff 2014 363 The strike involved about 1,400 workers,note While several historians have stated that the strike involved an estimated 1,400 people,Zumoff 2014 363Bucki 2009 176Gomberg 2024 91 others have given figures of between 1,200 and 1,400Lang 2009 30 and 2,000.Daily Worker 1933 1Wicentowski 2023O'Shea 2023 with a majority being black women.Zumoff 2014 363Wicentowski 2023O'Shea 2023 Concerning this latter fact, Fichtenbaum has said, "Unquestionably, the militancy and significant leadership of the Black women was one of the unique features of this struggle."Fichtenbaum 1991 30 Following the labor dispute, several of the former strikers joined the Communist Party,Gomberg 2024 91 with the party enrolling about 100 African American nut-pickers.Lang 2009 32Foner 1980 274 By the end of the year, African Americans constituted approximately one-third of St. Louis's local Communist Party chapter.Lang 2009 32 Historian Rosemary Feurer stated that the Communist Party's growth with the African American working class was due largely to their focus on African American workers in fields that had traditionally been neglected by the American Federation of Labor, which, in addition to the nut-pickers, included steelworkers, longshoremen, and laundry workers, among others.Feurer 2006 40 Sentner benefitted from the success of the strike,Wolfe 2010 45 eventually serving as the national director of the Food Workers Industrial Union.Fichtenbaum 1991 40 He would be involved in a number of labor disputes in the Midwestern United States over the next several decades.O'Shea 2025 Union activities and company response Following the strike, roughly 1,400 nut-pickers joined eleven local unions of the Food Workers Industrial Union organized across the Greater St. Louis area.Foner 1980 274 Fichtenbaum 1991 34–35 Lang 2009 32 Feurer 2006 38 Around the end of May 1933, a central committee of the union held a meeting with Funsten management where they were able to convince the company to not move forward with a planned downsizing that would have led to a third of the company's workforce getting fired.Fichtenbaum 1991 35 Several additional labor disputes arose over the next several months regarding other issues faced by the nut-pickers, including allegations that they were being cheated out of their deserved wages and a decision by the management at one Funsten plant to not enforce a closed shop.Fichtenbaum 1991 35–37 Shortly after the labor dispute had ended, the Funsten company commenced plans to relocate their nut-processing operations to other areas in the Southern United States.Fichtenbaum 1991 36 In September 1933, the company made a significant downsizing in their St. Louis operations and later closed three facilities in East St. Louis despite union opposition.Gomberg 2024 91 The union was further weakened by targeted firings of some of the more militant employees at Funsten and through the implementation of mechanization processes in their plants.Lang 2009 34 Processing work was relocated to San Antonio in Texas,Gomberg 2024 91 a state where wages were lower than in the St. Louis area.Feurer 2006 40 By 1934, much of Funsten's processing work was being performed outside of Greater St. Louis.Gomberg 2024 91 By this time, according to Lang, "the union was at best on the defensive, and at worst in a state of decline".Lang 2009 34 In 1935, the TUUL was dissolved.Lang 2009 34 By the 1970s, Funsten had become a subsidiary of Pet, Inc.Fichtenbaum 1991 32 Effect of the strike in other fields Multiple commentators have stated that the initial successful outcome of the Funsten strike inspired future labor disputes in other fields.Foner 1980 274 "The strike victory in St. Louis acted as a catalyst for other struggles" Feurer 2006 38 "In St. Louis, the nut pickers were the inspiration and support network for a TUUL organizing drive among the most marginal workers in the St. Louis area." Lang 2009 32–33 "The strike also inspired a larger wave of unionization in other poorly paid, female-dominated sectors of black industrial labor" Graves 2013 61 "The women's efforts in St. Louis inspired African-American and European-American women in Chicago to protest similar work conditions of very low wages and segregation in the workplace and it stimulated strikes in St. Louis in the garment industries" Gomberg 2024 91 "they "helped generate a wave of worker unrest" especially among other oppressed workers to form unions and strike at other nut processing plants, in laundries, in electric plants, rag and bag workers, and in the Chicago garment industry" Both Fichtenbaum and labor historian Philip S. Foner drew a direct link between the Funsten strike and strikes involving garment and laundry workers in St. Louis and Chicago that occurred later in the year.Fichtenbaum 1991 59Foner 1980 274–275 Later, the TUUL, under their Marine Workers Industrial Union, helped organize a walkout of levee workers in St. Louis and East St. Louis.Lang 2009 33 The nut-pickers' strike also inspired the St. Louis chapter of the National Urban League (which had opted to not officially endorse the strikers) to become more attentive to the working conditions of black women.O'Shea 2023 Meanwhile, Mayor Dickmann appointed an attorney to inspect the working conditions at numerous factories in St. Louis and make reports back to the mayor's office.Fichtenbaum 1991 49 Legacy Writer Jack Conroy, who was an acquaintance of Sentner's through the John Reed Clubs,Wixson 1994 294 incorporated elements of the strike into his 1935 novel A World to Win.Feurer 2006 38 In a 2023 article for Jacobin, writer Devin Thomas O'Shea called the strike "one of the most successful labor actions of the Great Depression" and further stated that the strike was "little-known, but ... deserves to go down in the history of Midwestern labor militancy alongside the 1877 general strike".O'Shea 2023 In her history of the strike, Fichtenbaum stated that the historical contributions of black women to the labor movement had been largely neglected.Fichtenbaum 1991 xi In a commentary on the role of black women in Communist Party activities in St. Louis, Lang stated, "The emphasis on industrial strongmen in Communist iconography ... implicitly devalued black women's particular issues around work and living conditions".Lang 2009 29 Several commentators have noted that the nut-pickers' strike presaged later civil rights activism.Bucki 2009 177Lang 2009 33 Feurer notes that, following the strike, there was a push in St. Louis among African American activists for a "Bill of Rights for Negroes" that preceded the civil rights movement of the mid-20th century.Bucki 2009 177 The bill, which was advocated for by leadership of the Food Workers Industrial Union, sought to bar racial discrimination in housing and employment, among other areas.Lang 2009 33 Discussing the long-term impact of the strike in 2023, historian Keona Ervin said, "I think it's so critical to draw this genealogy of black women's working-class radicalism and to demonstrate this larger history that is a living one. The Ferguson liberation movement, the Fight for $15, the radical tenant organizing in Kansas City—this is all deeply connected."O'Shea 2023 See also 1938 San Antonio pecan shellers strike – another labor strike involving workers in the pecan processing industry Communist Party USA and African Americans Communist Party USA and American labor movement (1919–1937) Strikes in the United States in the 1930s Notes note References Sources 30em yes Bucki Cecelia https://books.google.com/books?id=pZX3EAAAQBAJ Social History of the United States ABC-Clio 2009 978-1-59884-128-2 4: The 1930s Santa Barbara, California 176–177 African American and White Women Nutshellers in St. Louis 313461994 May 23, 1933 Strike of Nut Pickers Strong in St. Louis; 2,000 Out for Pay Raise https://archive.org/details/per_daily-worker_daily-worker_1933-05-23_10_123 September 21, 2025 Daily Worker New York City 1 X 123 Daily Worker 1933 Feurer Rosemary https://books.google.com/books?id=kocFB8whCvEC Radical Unionism in the Midwest, 1900–1950 University of Illinois Press 2006 978-0-252-07319-9 Urbana, Illinois 652350358 Fichtenbaum Myrna http://archive.org/details/funstennutstrike00fich The Funsten Nut Strike International Publishers 1991 978-0-7178-0696-6 New York City 24429435 Foner Philip S. Philip S. Foner http://archive.org/details/womenamericanla01fone Women and the American Labor Movement: From World War I to the Present Free Press 1980 9780029103807 New York City 6897010 Ford Melissa https://books.google.com/books?id=bhNgEAAAQBAJ A Brick and a Bible: Black Women's Radical Activism in the Midwest during the Great Depression Southern Illinois University Press 2022 978-0-8093-3855-9 Carbondale, Illinois 1286070268 Gomberg Paul https://books.google.com/books?id=GlLeEAAAQBAJ Anti-Racism as Communism Bloomsbury Academic 2024 978-1-350-25799-3 London 1406409023 Graves Karen https://books.google.com/books?id=Y3u3AwAAQBAJ Girl's Schooling During The Progressive Era: From Female Scholar to Domesticated Citizen Routledge 2013 978-1-135-60690-9 New York City 35–100 St. Louis Women in United States History: Breaking the Silence 881183291 1998 Lang Clarence https://books.google.com/books?id=Ukc_DwAAQBAJ Grassroots at the Gateway: Class Politics and Black Freedom Struggle in St. Louis, 1936–75 University of Michigan Press 2009 978-0-472-05065-9 Ann Arbor, Michigan 29–34 "We Demand Ten and Four": Nutpickers and the TUUL 698586694 Nigro Kathleen Butterly https://books.google.com/books?id=KWLbbcCQ0T8C In Her Place: A Guide to St. Louis Women's History Missouri Historical Society Press 1999 978-1-883982-30-0 Corbett Katharine T. St. Louis 262–264 Funsten Nut Pickers Strike 42038378 O'Shea Devin Thomas April 18, 2023 "Girls, We Can't Lose!": In 1930s St Louis, Black Women Workers Went on Strike and Won https://jacobin.com/2023/04/st-louis-funsten-nut-strike-black-women-communists live https://web.archive.org/web/20250812151029/https://jacobin.com/2023/04/st-louis-funsten-nut-strike-black-women-communists August 12, 2025 September 16, 2025 Jacobin 2158-2602 677928766 O'Shea Devin Thomas June 23, 2025 The Radical Midwest of Bill Sentner https://jacobin.com/2025/06/sentner-st-louis-labor-communism live https://web.archive.org/web/20250730090945/https://jacobin.com/2025/06/sentner-st-louis-labor-communism July 30, 2025 September 19, 2025 Jacobin 2158-2602 677928766 Wicentowski Danny May 24, 2023 90 years ago, Black women led a multiracial strike at a St. Louis factory https://www.stlpr.org/show/st-louis-on-the-air/2023-05-24/90-years-ago-black-women-led-a-multiracial-strike-at-a-st-louis-factory live https://web.archive.org/web/20250730090950/https://www.stlpr.org/show/st-louis-on-the-air/2023-05-24/90-years-ago-black-women-led-a-multiracial-strike-at-a-st-louis-factory July 30, 2025 September 16, 2025 St. Louis Public Radio Wixson Douglas https://books.google.com/books?id=NFs4KwmuM9oC Worker-Writer in America: Jack Conroy and the Tradition of Midwestern Literary Radicalism, 1898–1990 University of Illinois Press 1994 978-0-252-06785-3 Urbana, Illinois 27810221 Wolfe M. Melissa http://archive.org/details/9780891780946 Joe Jones: Radical Painter of the American Scene Saint Louis Art Museum In association with the University of Washington Press 2010 9780891780946 Walker Andrew St. Louis 33–54 Joe Jones, Worker-Artist 617592013 Zumoff Jacob https://books.google.com/books?id=EwuJBAAAQBAJ The Communist International and US Communism, 1919–1929 Brill Publishers 2014 978-90-04-26889-0 Leiden 352–364 'Self-Determination' and Comintern Intervention 900892874 Further reading Ervin Keona K. https://books.google.com/books?id=F0EoDwAAQBAJ Gateway to Equality: Black Women and the Struggle for Economic Justice in St. Louis University Press of Kentucky 2017 978-0-8131-6986-6 Lexington, Kentucky 990142234 Feurer Rosemary https://archive.org/details/weareallleadersa0000unse "We are All Leaders": The Alternative Unionism of the Early 1930s University of Illinois Press 1996 978-0-252-06547-7 Lynd Staughton Staughton Lynd Urbana, Illinois 27–50 The Nutpickers' Union, 1933–34: Crossing the Boundaries of Community and Workplace 33899109 Foner Philip S. Philip S. Foner http://archive.org/details/womenamericanlab0000fone Women and the American Labor Movement: From the First Trade Unions to the Present Free Press 1982 978-0-02-910470-5 New York City 310–315 8346849 Johnson Walter Walter Johnson (historian) https://books.google.com/books?id=6HWnDwAAQBAJ The Broken Heart of America: St. Louis and the Violent History of the United States Basic Books 2020 978-1-5416-4606-3 New York City 1111963122 External links https://files.shsmo.org/manuscripts/saint-louis/S0098.pdf Funsten Nut Strike Manuscript (S0098) The State Historical Society of Missouri Category:1930s in St. Louis Category:1930s strikes in the United States Category:1933 in Illinois Category:1933 in Missouri Category:1933 labor disputes and strikes Category:African-American history in St. Louis Category:Agriculture and forestry labor disputes in the United States Category:History of African-American civil rights Category:Labor disputes in Missouri Category:May 1933 in the United States Category:Pecan Category:Trade Union Unity League