Labor Unity, 1939

Artist: Philip Tipperman (American, 1916 -1969)

Oil on canvas board, 16 x 20 inches

Gift of Tipperman Family

The Brooklyn College Library Collection

The Committee (later Congress) for Industrial Organization (CIO) emerged out of the American Federation of Labor (AFL) and grew rapidly during the Great Depression. The rivalry for dominance between the two organizations was bitter and sometimes violent. The CIO focused on organizing industrial workers who had been ignored by the AFL unions that supported craft and trade workers. Many in the AFL union had discriminated against African Americans and the CIO held out more egalitarian possibilities.

In the background of the painting, industrial buildings loom. A Black worker, with a CIO button on the lapel of his coat, dominates the foreground. His face appears to express both anxiety and determination. By foregrounding him, Tipperman highlights the important role African Americans played in industrial unionization. The strong neck and bashed nose of the white AFL man suggests his fighting nature, while his clenched hands seem to reflect a unifying gesture or perhaps a struggle. The jagged, ominous dark clouds woven across the sky imply a sense of turmoil and potential trouble brewing for labor and unity.