Thread by @breakchainsmag

On this day in 1915, Victoria “Vicki” Ama Garvin was born. A labor leader and internationalist, committed to equal rights for women and Black liberation, Garvin was a key strategist, mentor, and leader in social movements across three continents.

Garvin joined her first picket line at a “Don’t Buy Where You Can’t Work” protest fighting to gain employment for Black workers in Harlem. Throughout her 60-year political career, Garvin was stalwart in her defense of Black women workers.

According to Garvin, she received her “formal introduction to Marxist-Lenimism” at Smith College where she was the first Black woman to earn a master’s degree in economics. In 1947, she joined the Communist Party.

By 1951 Garvin was the Executive Secretary of the NYC chapter of the National Negro Labor Council and a central player in New York’s Black left. Her work on the combined impact of race and gender oppression was especially influential.

“Her working class background and affiliation with radical organizations provided the important internationalist perspective that would fortify her during the Cold War and the intimidation of McCarthyism” via @Simbabinski1

amsterdamnews.com/news/2017/feb/…

Garvin traveled through Africa, where she witnessed the struggle against neocolonialism. Settling in Ghana in 1961, she was a comrade and mentor to other Black radicals: Alphaeus & Dorothy Hunton, Dr. W.E.B. DuBois & Shirley Graham DuBois.

liberationschool.org/womens-leaders…

When Malcolm X visited Africa, Garvin introduced him to the ambassadors from China, Cuba, and Algeria, and acted as a translator. Malcolm X’s trip to Ghana would prove pivotal in his development as an internationalist.

amsterdamnews.com/news/2014/jul/…

In 1964 Garvin was invited to China by the Chinese ambassador. When Mao Tse-Tung issued his proclamation “In Support of the Afro-American Struggle against Violent Repression,” Garvin spoke at a rally of millions.

Garvin, like many African American activists, felt solidarity with the revolution in China. China overthrew centuries of colonialism and put oppressed people in power-- and explicitly supported the Black liberation struggle in the US.

Garvin returned to the US in 1970 and immediately began organizing and mentoring scores of activists across movements and organizations. In speeches made just before her serious health decline, Garvin urged the younger generations forward.

She wrote: “Of course there will be twists and turns, but victory in the race belongs to the long distance runners, not sprinters. Everywhere the just slogan is reverberating— ­no justice, no peace!”

Vicki Garvin, presente!