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Rozner, Sarah (audio interview #18 of 20)
INTERVIEW DESCRIPTION - This is the seventh interview with Sarah Rozner recorded in her home. She was feeling better than on the previous visit and provided more detailed information into several areas of her life. The interview began with comments on various papers she gathered for the interview. TOPICS - Brookwood Labor College; birth control; relationship with her mother and her mother's death; health issues;ACWA Women's Bureau; ACWA conventions, Montreal and Cincinnati; women's issues; feminist consciousness; and activities, 1928-38; 6/12/1973
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- 2020-04-06
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- SUBJECT BIO - Sarah Rozner joined the ranks of the labor movement the minute she set foot on US soil and began working in men's clothing in Chicago just prior to the 1910 strike. She organized practically every shop in which she worked - unless she was fired first - and was particularly interested in mobilizing women and helping them to assert their rights. Her woman/feminist consciousness led her to work on the establishment of a Woman's Local of the ACWA in Chicago (Local 275). She worked with other women in the ACWA to establish a Woman's Bureau, but did not succeed. She became one of the first women Business Agents in tailoring in Chicago in 1921, and held various positions in the shops and in the union. When she moved to Los Angeles in 1938, she continued to organize at the shop level, establishing education programs for workers at Louart. She continued to advocate for women, and when she retired in 1959, she established a scholarship for women. Even after her retirement, Rozner remained involved with the union, became a member of CLUW (Coalition of Labor Women) after its formation, and remained outspoken on women's issues, particularly in the labor movement. The interviews with Rozner totaled almost hours, divided fairly evenly between her activities in Chicago and in Los Angeles. She was interviewed as part of the Feminist History Research Project labor series, referred by the ACWA. INTERVIEW DESCRIPTION - This is the seventh interview with Sarah Rozner recorded in her home. She was feeling better than on the previous visit and provided more detailed information into several areas of her life. The interview began with comments on various papers she gathered for the interview. TOPICS - Brookwood Labor College; birth control; relationship with her mother and her mother's death; health issues;ACWA Women's Bureau; ACWA conventions, Montreal and Cincinnati; women's issues; feminist consciousness; and activities, 1928-38;
- File: lhgwsrozner13.mp3 Audio Segments and Topics: (0:00-1:57)... Tape introduction. (1:57-8:25)... During the period between 1924-26, while attending Brookwood Labor College, she experienced personal problems that stemmed from leaving her family. However, even in the midst of these personal problems, she presented an outwardly enthusiastic and happy persona, and other people never had any idea as to her personal struggles. (8:25-20:44)... She was aware that women were using contraceptive methods, and recalls hearing Emma Goldman speak on these subjects. Rozner believed in birth control, but she did not support abortion. She did not have to use birth control because of health problems she began experiencing after the age of thirty, when she started bleeding irregularly. She digresses into a discussion on her affinity for eating and drinking. In fact, she often had a couple of glasses a beer to prepare for particularly tense arguments with the Joint Board. She believes her illness may have been brought on by the stress of dealing with her mother's poor health and death in 1925. She and her mother were very close, and Rozner often sacrificed other relationships, including romantic affairs, because her affection was focused on her mother. She left Brookwood Labor College for two weeks to care for her mother, borrowing $1,000 to take her to a physician. Rozner then went to Washington, DC for the protective legislation conference, during which time her mother died. Rozner did not go home for the funeral and expressed some bitterness and helplessness over losing her mother. When she returned from Washington, her personal health problems got worse and she started hemorrhaging. (20:44-24:18)... While attending Brookwood, she went to a doctor in New York, who told her she needed an operation. At this time, her family wanted her to come home because she was ill, but she wanted to finish school. She indicates that Brookwood Labor College was the best two years of her life, even though she had to leave her family, give up a good job, and a politically active position within the union. Union officials often attributed her absence as an indication that she no longer cared about the union; however, she wanted to go to school so that she could be a better person and unionist. Rozner's pain increased after her mother died and she went on a strict diet. She told A. J. Muste that she was experiencing physical and emotional problems, but she was encouraged her to stay in school, which she did, graduating in 1926. (24:18-36:47)... After she graduated from Brookwood Labor College, she returned to Chicago and went back to work for Hart, Schaffner, and Marx, where she became the shop chairlady [sic] once again. She was successful in increasing production and decreasing costs and was also instrumental in helping the shop manager get a promotion to superintendent of the factory. During this time, she went to three doctors in Chicago, all of whom told her she had cancer. Believing that her days were numbered, she told the shop manager at Hart, Schaffner, and Marx to replace her. However, he convinced her to go to the factory nurse, who referred her to see a doctor in Chicago. This doctor told her that she did not have cancer, but a tipped womb and that she needed an operation. Initially, she was very reluctant to have an operation and instead took some medication to help with the bleeding. Ultimately, she went back into the hospital where she received an operation. She shifts to a story about accompanying her sister when she suffered a miscarriage as a result of an attempted self-abortion. This is the main reason why she does not support abortion. (36:47-40:50)... Even though she did not want children, it was very difficult for her when she found out that she would not be able to have any children as a result of this operation. Six weeks after she had the operation, she confronted her physician about not telling her the extent of her problems and even threatened to sue him. She suffered both physically and psychologically because of this operation. (40:50-46:06)... She spotted or hemorrhaged for a year until she received the operation. When she went to the doctor in New York, it was the first time that she ever received a gynecological examination. For three days after the operation, the doctors did not know if she would recover. She did not tell her family about the operation because she did not want any sympathy. She digresses into a discussion of how she perceives herself - as a "nonconformist shop girl." end of tape File: lhgwsrozner14.mp3 (0:00-5:28)... During the 1924 convention in Philadelphia, meetings were held to discuss the formation of a Women's Bureau, and although a resolution was presented at the convention, the Bureau never materialized as a formal structure within the union. Some time after her operation, in 1928, she attended the Cincinnati convention. Union officials did not want her to attend this convention because she was still recovering from her operation. She explains that people in the union also saw her as a troublemaker because she was dedicated to women's issues. (5:28-7:36)... When she returned from Brookwood Labor College, she encountered a lot of opposition from the union and employers for her attempts to make changes based on her newly acquired knowledge. She describes union officials as sheep and indicates that changes are brought about by the minority, not the majority. It takes one person to incite workers to be active and realize they are being used. (7:36-16:13)... When a resolution for the Women's Bureau was forwarded at the 1924 Philadelphia convention, some women did not support the resolution. Anna Schwartz did not think a Women's Bureau was necessary and Bessie Hillman argued with Rozner that women should fight their battles against men without a bureau. However, Rozner knew that most women were not capable of carrying on this fight. The Women's Bureau never materialized; it existed in name only. Rozner argued for improvements in women's working conditions, and that women be promoted both in the shop and the union. These types of arguments garnered a lot of opposition from union representatives. She wanted a Women's Bureau to promote Women's Locals in every city in order bring women into more leadership roles. (16:13-24:58)... Dorothy Bellanca did all of the work to develop a Women's Bureau, but a man presented the charter. However, Rozner believes that the Bureau existed in name only. It was typical of the union to give credit to someone other than a woman. When Rozner discussed these matters with Bellanca, she was disappointed but did not want to challenge the status quo. Rozner digresses into a discussion of Sadie Goodman, who worked as a Business Agent in Rochester and was paid less than a man. When Goodman was organizing the shirt makers, the union told her they could not afford her any longer. However, when Goodman left, the union replaced her with a man. Rozner fought against this treatment and traveled to different cities, where she presented her arguments for equal representation in front of the Joint Board. (24:58-28:34)... During the 1926 convention in Montreal, she discussed her article, "The Silent Protest," which was not published because she refused to alter it according to the editor's wishes. She has very little recall of these events and indicates that she was a visitor to the convention, not an official delegate. Her purpose in writing this article was to show Bellanca what the union was doing. Although Bellanca agreed with Rozner's assessment, she did not want to challenge the status quo. (28:34-33:07)... In 1928, she attended the labor convention in Cincinnati, where she fainted because she was still recovering from her operation a few months earlier. She believes she opened a discussion on the Women's Bureau at this convention and was opposed by Anna Schwartz, who had been a radical that changed once she got into a union position. Rozner believes that Bessie Hillman was the only woman who remained a simple, honest person, even though she disagreed with many of Rozner's arguments, including the formation of the Women's Local. (33:07-36:48)... Although she admired and respected Sam Levine for his intelligence, he surrounded himself with "crooks," which made him questionable by association. Nevertheless, she describes him as a decent man who guarded the finances of the union very well and tried to save the membership. Levine was supportive of the Women's Local and it probably would not have existed without his support. Nettie Richardson, Hilda Shapiro, and a few other women really understood the purpose and advantage of a Women's Local. However, when Rozner left Chicago to attend Brookwood Labor College, the Local lost its energy and focus. She was afraid this would happen because an organization cannot depend on one individual to keep it running efficiently. (36:48-38:57)... During the period between 1928-38, she worked at Hart, Schaffner, and Marx as the chairlady [sic]. She was the president of the Women's Local during this time, as well as a delegate to the Joint Board and Board of Directors, positions she retained until she left Chicago for Los Angeles in 1938. She also ran for Alderman in 1934 and went to the Continental Congress. (38:57-41:47)... There is a discussion on some of the materials Rozner collected on Brookwood Labor College. interruption in tape During one summer while attending Brookwood Labor College, she went back to work from June to October to earn money to pay for her expenses the following semester. When she returned to work in Chicago she lived with a girlfriend. She digresses into a discussion on her parents, indicating that she respected her father and loved her mother. Her father was a very intelligent man and a respected rabbi in the community. (41:47-45:39)... In 1927, she had her operation. When she came to Los Angeles in 1938, she did not have a job or a place to live. Although she had $1,000 in reserve, she did not want to spend this money in case she got sick again. She slept in her car and when the union found this out, people sent her money, which she sent back. She was not well when she came to Los Angeles, but continued to live her life as best as possible. Although she has health problems today, she finds ways to make herself feel better so that she does not suffer. End of tape
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