146:(ACTWU) to represent them by a slim 237 vote margin. However, because of the intractability of J.P. Stevens, workers at the plant continued without a contract until 1980. Thanks to a coalition of black and white women employees of the mill, Sutton's national speaking tour, and local organizing on behalf of workers among religious groups, J.P. Stevens and ACTWU agreed to a settlement in 1980. Sutton became a paid organizer for the ACTWU and went on a national speaking tour as "the real Norma Rae." Sutton was the 13th recipient of the
142:. "I took a piece of cardboard and wrote the word UNION on it in big letters, got up on my work table, and slowly turned it around. The workers started cutting their machines off and giving me the victory sign. All of a sudden the plant was very quiet…" Sutton was physically removed from the plant by police, but she achieved her goal. On August 28, 1974, the 3,133 workers at the Roanoke Rapids plant voted to allow The
125:" in Sutton's neighborhood. She had been "thinking about the paltry wages, the bone-tiring work and the stingy benefits that she and her parents had suffered. She wanted something better for her children." In 1978 Sutton was fired after trying to unionize employees. Shortly after, by August 28, 1978, Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union (ACTWU) began to represent workers at the plant.
121:
products" and a "campaign to isolate the company by pressuring companies that dealt with
Stevens or had Stevens officers on their boards." In 1973 Crystal saw a union poster hanging in one of the seven mills in Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina owned by J.P. Stevens & Company mills where three generations of her family had worked—living in a neighborhood where the Company "owned every
168:
walked into that mill that day and the organizer said he didn't even know who I was. There was nobody from the regional office. No press, nothing." Two days later she took her accumulated sick days to demonstrate her value to the union. Ultimately her relationship with the Union was mended and she began working directly for the ACTWU.
120:
Sutton was one of the union activists during the J.P. Stevens controversy—one of "the ugliest episodes in labor history in the United States which took place from about 1963 to 1980" during which
Stevens "repeatedly harassed or fired union activists" and the union "countered with a boycott of Stevens
132:
sent union organizer Eli
Zivkovich to unionize J.P. Stevens & Company's Roanoke Rapids mills employees and worked with Sutton. He said "in his 20 years as an organizer he had never known anyone who matched Sutton's zeal." "Management and others treated me as if I had leprosy," she stated. Sutton
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Sutton was critical of the ACTWU for not supporting her after her arrest, relaying that union leaders "...acted like they were ashamed to have ever had anything to do with
Crystal Lee." She reported that, when she was reinstated at J.P. Stevens, she was snubbed by the union organizer. "I mean, I
212:
Sutton was born
Crystal Lee Pulley in Roanoke Rapids on December 31, 1940. She married at 19, gave birth to her first child at 20, and was widowed at 21. She married Larry Jordan Jr. and had her third child at 25. Following the events that made her famous and before the release of
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258:"In Good Faith: Working-Class Women, Feminism, and Religious Support in the Struggle to Organize J.P. Stevens Textile Workers in the Southern Piedmont, 1974–1980"
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plant in
Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina, on May 30, 1973, for "insubordination" after she copied an anti-union letter posted on the company bulletin board.
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Minchin, Timothy J. (2005), "Don't Sleep with
Stevens!: The J.P. Stevens Campaign and the Struggle to Organize the South, 1963–80",
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Crystal Lee Sutton died of inoperable brain cancer at
Hospice Home in Burlington, North Carolina on September 11, 2009.
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217:, she and Jordan were divorced. She married Lewis Sutton Jr. about 1977. Obituaries state they were married 32 years.
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She received threats and was finally fired from her job. But before she left, she took one final stand, portrayed in
688:"'Norma Rae' donates her papers to Alamance Community College: Alamance alum Leslie Thompson helps catalog donation"
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493:"Crystal Lee Sutton, the Real-Life 'Norma Rae,' Is Dead at 68 (Published 2009)"
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was released, based on events related to her being fired from her job at the
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earned $ 2.65 per hour folding towels (equivalent to $ 18.19 in 2023).
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565:"Crystal Lee Sutton, the Real-Life 'Norma Rae,' Is Dead at 68"
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in North
Carolina, where she took classes in nursing in 1988.
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Alamance
Community College's Crystal Lee Sutton Collection
98:; December 31, 1940 – September 11, 2009) was an American
391:
Hodges, James A., Fink, Gary M.; Reed, Merl E. (eds.),
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work. The movie is based on the 1975 book about her by
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102:and advocate who gained fame in 1979 when the film
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393:J.P.Stevens and the Union: Struggle for the South
144:Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union
1178:Deaths from brain cancer in the United States
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8:
457:"Labor Organizer Crystal Lee Sutton Dies 68"
200:. Her papers and memorabilia are located at
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1188:People from Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina
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661:"The Real "Norman Rae" Is No Sally Fields"
530:"Welcome to the Crystal Sutton Collection"
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150:in 1980. The honor was named after a 1963
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455:Sullivan, Patricia (September 16, 2009).
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348:"J.P. Stevens: One year after the truce"
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148:Pacem in Terris Peace and Freedom Award
1183:People from Burlington, North Carolina
563:Hevesi, Dennis (September 15, 2009).
558:
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411:"Crystal Lee: A Woman of Inheritance"
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1173:Deaths from cancer in North Carolina
612:from the original on August 14, 2014
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346:Salmans, Sandra (October 18, 1981),
1168:Trade unionists from North Carolina
575:from the original on March 17, 2018
469:from the original on 2 October 2017
358:from the original on April 25, 2016
320:from the original on 1 October 2015
308:"Crystal Lee Sutton: The Organizer"
278:from the original on 15 August 2014
198:Crystal Lee: A Woman of Inheritance
14:
659:Howard Pousner (April 17, 1980).
631:"Pacem in Terris Past Recipients"
594:Raskin, A.H. (October 21, 1980),
306:Jones, Mage (December 23, 2009).
196:reporter Henry "Hank" Leifermann
738:Textile Workers Union of America
667:from the original on 1 July 2022
663:. Spokesman-Review. p. 17.
130:Textile Workers Union of America
706:"Crystal Lee Sutton dies at 68"
641:from the original on 2019-07-19
540:from the original on 2009-09-24
511:from the original on 2021-03-14
431:from the original on 2022-07-01
45:, North Carolina, United States
1198:American women trade unionists
116:Union activism and recognition
1:
1072:Álvaro Leonel Ramazzini Imeri
491:Hevesi, Dennis (2009-09-15).
409:Leifermann, Henry P. (1975),
188:, is based on Sutton's early
256:Fink, Joey (July 15, 2014).
1203:21st-century American women
686:Beach, Peggy (2007-08-02).
378:University Press of Florida
1219:
202:Alamance Community College
986:Jim and Shelley Douglass
596:"The Stevens Settlement"
897:Ernest Leo Unterkoefler
785:Peace and Freedom Award
313:New York Times Magazine
16:American labor activist
811:Martin Luther King Jr.
743:highlighting Sutton: (
956:María Julia Hernández
160:(Peace on Earth), by
921:Maurice John Dingman
635:Diocese of Davenport
534:crystalleesutton.com
1049:Hildegard Goss-Mayr
801:John Howard Griffin
462:The Washington Post
893:Crystal Lee Sutton
823:A. Philip Randolph
817:R. Sargent Shriver
569:The New York Times
497:The New York Times
352:The New York Times
92:Crystal Lee Sutton
75:Crystal Lee Jordan
73:Crystal Lee Pulley
54:September 11, 2009
23:Crystal Lee Sutton
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1102:Gustavo Gutiérrez
1019:Dorothy Hennessey
1003:George G. Higgins
710:rrdailyherald.com
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962:César Chávez
927:Desmond Tutu
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835:Saul Alinsky
829:James Groppi
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713:. Retrieved
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110:J.P. Stevens
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56:(2009-09-11)
1163:2009 deaths
1158:1940 births
1084:Jean Vanier
1009:Lech Wałęsa
980:Samuel Ruiz
933:Eileen Egan
852:Dorothy Day
715:21 December
671:21 December
473:21 December
186:Sally Field
184:, starring
1152:Categories
1114:Dalai Lama
974:Jim Wallis
645:2021-01-28
616:August 13,
544:2010-01-19
515:2021-01-28
435:2010-01-19
424:0025702203
229:References
152:encyclical
80:Occupation
62:Burlington
35:1940-12-31
1066:John Dear
787:laureates
579:March 17,
505:0362-4331
415:Macmillan
362:March 31,
282:26 August
215:Norma Rae
181:Norma Rae
173:Norma Rae
139:Norma Rae
105:Norma Rae
1078:Kim Bobo
741:postcard
665:Archived
639:Archived
607:archived
573:Archived
538:Archived
509:Archived
467:Archived
429:archived
356:archived
318:Archived
276:Archived
154:letter,
324:1 April
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96:Pulley
1129:2020s
1058:2010s
995:2000s
942:1990s
885:1980s
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793:1960s
610:(PDF)
599:(PDF)
221:Death
190:union
94:(née
745:back
717:2015
673:2015
618:2014
581:2018
501:ISSN
475:2015
419:ISBN
364:2016
326:2016
284:2014
128:The
51:Died
29:Born
603:nyt
266:doi
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