Sophie Melvin Gerson
Sophie Melvin | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Sophie Melvin (among the 16 prisoners in this photo from International Labor Defense magazine) | |
| Born | 1910 Dzygivka, Ukraine |
| Died | 2006 New York, United States |
| Citizenship | American |
| Known for | Loray Mill strike defendant |
| Political party | Communist Party USA |
| Criminal charge | Murder of policeman during strike |
| Spouse | Simon W. Gerson |
Sophie Melvin Gerson (1910–2006) was a Jewish labor organizer and socialist involved in early 20th-century textile union activism.[1]
Melvin was born in the shtetl of Dzygivka, in what is now Ukraine, the second youngest of seven children. Her family fled antisemitic pogroms and poverty, arriving in the US in 1922.[2] They settled in the Brownsville neighborhood of Brooklyn.[3]
As a labor organizer, Melvin was known for her involvement in the 1929 Loray Mill Strike in Gastonia, North Carolina, during which she was arrested at age 19.[4] She has been described as a lifelong fighter for peace, justice and socialism.[5]
Melvin married journalist and Communist Party leader Simon W. Gerson in 1932. The couple had two children.
In 1953, after Si Gerson was acquitted of Smith Act charges, Leonard P. Moore filed charges against Sophie Melvin on behalf of the federal government. The aim was to de-naturalize Melvin so that she and her family would be forced to leave the US.[5] The charges alleged she had failed to disclose Communist Party membership and five arrests, including two for inciting a riot and three for disorderly conduct.[6] She was indicted under the Smith Act and Walter-McCarran Act. She was acquitted of Smith Act charges.[7]
Legacy
Melvin and Gerson's papers were donated to the Tamiment Library after their deaths.[8][9]
References
- ^ "Living the Legacy: Sophie Melvin Gerson". Jewish Women's Archive.
- ^ Fishel, Anne (1977). "Women in Textile Organizing: An Interview with Sophie Melvin Gerson". Radical History Review (14–15): 109–119. doi:10.1215/1636545-1977-14-15-109.
- ^ Feldman, Betty (1953-09-06). "She helped bring the union to South's textile workers". Daily World. p. 12. Retrieved 2025-07-24 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Salmond, John A. (1995). Gastonia, 1929: The Story of the Loray Mill Strike. UNC Press Books.
- ^ a b Gerson, Deborah; Wheeler, Tim. "We Remember: Sophie Gerson". Jewish Women's Archive.
- ^ "U. S. SUES MRS. GERSON; Action Is Started to Revoke Citizenship of Red's Wife". The New York Times. 1953-08-14. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2025-07-24.
- ^ "Form mothers' group to defend Mrs. Gerson". The Daily Worker. 1954-02-22. p. 4. Retrieved 2025-07-24 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Sophie M. Gerson Papers (TAM.401)". Tamiment Library.
- ^ "Simon W. and Sophie Gerson Papers (TAM.330)". Tamiment Library.
External links
- Guides to the Sophie M. Gerson Papers (TAM.401) and Simon W. and Sophie Gerson Papers (TAM.330) at the Tamiment Library
- Sophie Gerson, labor heroine and communist, 96 - Obituary - People's World