Cloakmaker

A Cloak maker worked in the garment industry,[1] often in an enterprise whose workers were represented by a union.[2]

In the 1920s, there were more than 50,000 people employed as cloakmakers.[2]

Much of this industry was centered in NYC.[3] While most of the cloakmakers were Jewish women,[4]: p.191 [5][6] the next largest group, although much smaller in number, were Italian women.[7][8][9]

Cloakmakers were a part of those known as clothing-workers, including those who made cloaks, suits and skirts.[2][10]

Other areas where this industry was strong included Chicago[11] and Cincinnati.[12]

Unions

Suffragist Theresa Malkiel organized a union of cloakmakers in 1892.[4]: p.191  Other areas of the needle trade[13] were not unionized until years later,[14] of whom in 1912 over 80% were Jewish.[15]

This occupation involved making or repairing garments that contained animal fur. The high end of this profession focused on fur coats. A 1915 New York Times article about 75,000 garment workers said "Cloakmakers take the lead."[17]

The garment industry's strikes were neither rare nor long-lasting.[18][19]

References

  1. ^ Miller 1978, p. 190.
  2. ^ a b c "Cloak Makers Accept Plan for Conference". The New York Times. April 27, 1921. Retrieved March 17, 2020.
  3. ^ 60,000 to 70,000 cloakmakers in New York City in 1910 Oscar Handlin; Charles Reznikoff. Introduction: Louis Marshall, Champion of Liberty. p. xxi.
  4. ^ a b Miller 1978.
  5. ^ Hadassa Kosak (2000). Cultures of Opposition: Jewish Immigrant Workers, New York. p. 202. The preponderance of Jews among cloakmakers ... 1885
  6. ^ contrast two strikes: 20,000 "mostly female" vs. a different strike in the same 1909/1910/1911 period: 1,200 men in one strike and 2,000 men in another. "History of the ILGWU: Early Struggles".
  7. ^ S. Luconi (Summer 2010). "Crossing Borders on the Picket Line: Italian-American Workers and the 1912 Strike in Lawrence, Massachusetts". Italian Americana. 28 (2): 149–161. JSTOR 41426589.
  8. ^ The Ladies' Garment Worker. 1918. p. 25. It was understood that money collected from Italians ...
  9. ^ La Porta, Alfredo (January 1, 1918). "Among Italian and Other Ladies' Tailors". The Ladies' Garment Worker. 9 (1): 22–23. among the ladies' tailors, of whom there are about 500, almost evenly divided in number between Italians and Jews.
  10. ^ "Striking Dress and Cloak Makers". The New York Times. July 22, 1883.
  11. ^ "Clothing workers of Chicago, 1910-1922" (PDF).
  12. ^ "Amalgamated Clothing Workers (1919-1925)".
  13. ^ not to be confused with this (usage): Todd S. Purdum (February 18, 1990). "New York City Is Out of the Needle Trade". The New York Times.
  14. ^ only "half of all women working in the garment industry between 1909 and 1919 belonged to unions." Debran Rowland (2004). The Boundaries of Her Body: The Troubling History of Women's Rights.
  15. ^ Adam Dickter (1972). Encyclopaedia Judaica. Jerusalem Israel: Keter Publishing House Ltd.
  16. ^ The Diary of a Shirtwaist Striker: A Story of the Shirtwaist Makers' Strike in New York. New York. The Co-operative Press. 1910.
  17. ^ "Garment Workers prepare demands, Cloakmakers Take the Lead in Move Expected to Cause a Strike of 75,000". The New York Times. June 26, 1915.
  18. ^ "Persons to Fill Their Places Are to be Had ... Committee Appeals for Strike Funds". The New York Times. June 14, 1916.
  19. ^ "Cloakmakers' Spare Time". The New York Times. July 30, 1910.

Sources

  • Miller, Sally M. (December 1978). "From Sweatshop Worker to Labor Leader: Theresa Malkiel, A Case Study". American Jewish History. 68 (2). The Johns Hopkins University Press: 189–205. JSTOR 23881894.


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