- Collection:
- Southern Labor Archives
- Title:
- Mary Lynn Walker oral history interview, 2005-01-27
- Creator:
- Walker, Mary Lynn
- Contributor to Resource:
- Kata, Lauren
- Publisher:
- Atlanta, Ga. : Georgia State University Library
- Date of Original:
- 2005-01-27
- Subject:
- Labor unions--Political Activity
Government employee unions
Women in the labor movement
American Federation of Government Employees - Location:
- United States, Georgia, 32.75042, -83.50018
United States, Virginia, 37.54812, -77.44675 - Medium:
- oral histories (literary works)
audiocassettes
interviews - Type:
- Sound
- Format:
- audio/mpeg
- Description:
- Mary Lynn Walker was born on June 2, 1937 in Brooks, Fayette County, Georgia into a large, farming family of fifteen children. After marriage, Walker graduated from Smith-Hughes Vocational School in Fayette County in 1955. She began her work with the labor movement while employed at the Atlanta Army Depot, becoming very active in the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) in 1968. During her stint with the AFGE, Walker held executive positions never before realized by a woman including the 14th District National Representative, the Director of Organizing, and the National Vice President for the 5th District. Walker has received numerous awards for her work with unions including the Labor Leader of the Year 2001 and for the work she did while being a magistrate for the Supreme Court in Virginia from 1985-1991.
Walker discusses her background growing up in a large family at the end of the Depression, living on a farm and the responsibilities handed to the her as the eldest daughter, and her educational opportunities as a woman. On gender barriers that she had to break in order to become a key player within different unions, Walker explains how she proved a woman was capable of doing the job. She also talks about her work for AFGE during the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s with particular attention given to some of the executive orders and contracts negotiated under Kennedy, Nixon, and Carter. Walker addresses the changing regional attitude towards labor unions as well as outsourcing and other challenges facing the labor movement today. - Metadata URL:
- http://digitalcollections.library.gsu.edu/cdm/ref/collection/labor/id/6087
- IIIF manifest:
- https://digitalcollections.library.gsu.edu/iiif/2/labor:6087/manifest.json
- Language:
- eng
- Additional Rights Information:
- Copyright to this item is owned by Georgia State University Library. Georgia State University Library has made this item available under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. For more information see http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
- Bibliographic Citation (Cite As):
- Cite as: Walker, Mary Lynn, interviewed by Lauren Kata, January 27, 2005, Voices of Labor Oral History Project, Southern Labor Archives. Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University.
- Extent:
- 02:53:42
- Original Collection:
- Voices of Labor Oral History Project
http://research.library.gsu.edu/VoicesofLabor
Southern Labor Archives - Holding Institution:
- Georgia State University. Special Collections
- Rights:
-
