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January 1996—-National BLACK MONITOR
A Grateful City Remembers
Dr. Calvin William Rolark on
the First Anniversary of His Death
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Washington, D.C.--The humanitarian
leadership of the late Dr. Calvin W. Rolark,
Founderand President of the United Black
Fund, Inc. (ÜBF)was honored by the Mayor
and City Council of the District of Columbia
by declaring the week of October 23-28 as
"Dr. Calvin W. Rolark Remembrance
Week." Dr. Rolark departed this life on
October 23, 1995.
Dr. Rolark's widow, Attorney Wilhelmina
J. Rolark, President/CEO of the United
Black Fund, accounted that the many
contributions of Dr. Rolark were
remembered during the week on local
radio/TV talk shows and newscasts.
The actual kickoff of Remembrance
Week began with a brief dedication
ceremony at the gravesite of Dr. Rolark in
Lincolin Memorial Cemetery in Suitland,
Maryland.
Rev. Wallace C. Smith, pastor of the
Shiloh Baptist Church, gave the opening
prayer. Rev. Jerry Moore, pastor of the
19th Street Baptist Church, served as
emceefortheoccasion. Dr. Rolark's family
and many friends gathered at the site for
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the tombstone marker dedication ceremony.
Several of Dr. Rolark's family members and
friends also spoke on various TV and radio
talk shows about the legacy of Dr. Rolark.
Calvin William Rolark was born on May 18,
1927 in Texarkana, Texas. He attended Dunbar
High School, which, he said, "...enriched our
lives to such an extent, | would like the young
sters oftoday torealize whatitwas like...during
a segregated era."
Rolark graduated from Prairie View A&M
University with an economics/business
administration degree. He then pursued
graduate studies at Tennessee and Michigan
State Universities and Cornell University.
Rolark broadened his horizons from 14
years of varied experience as an insurance
underwriter and as home office chief with
such prestigious companies as the Richmond
Beneficial Life Insurance Company, Mutual
United of Omaha and the Universal Life
Insurance Company to his position as Editor-
Publisher and Founder of the Washington
Informer newspaper, Founder-President of
the United Black Fund of America, and a
Founding Enabler of AOIP.
Are you actively involved in the educational institutions of your community?
"When people of color see the
world in many varied shades,
when women often feel
excluded from local unions
that could greatly benefit from
their skills; when language
differences still seem to divide
us, we need to remember that
our different views and talents
empower us.
"We need to move past fear,
and move into the 21st
century."
John N. Studivant,
President of AFSCME
Brotherhood of Teamsters; Gloria
T. Johnson, International Union of
Electronic, Electrical, Machine &
Furniture Workers; William Lucy,
American Federation of State,
County & Municipal Employees and
President of the Coalition of Black
Trade Unionists; Leon Lynch,
United Steel-Workers of America;
Andrew McKenzie, International
Leather Goods, Plastics, Novelty &
Service Workers Union; John N.
Sturdivant, American Federation of
Government Employees; and Gene
Upshaw, Professional Athletes
Union.
A pre-convention conference on
diversity was held on Monday.
John N. Sturdivant, President of
the American Federation of
Government Employees and one
of the new Black vice presidents,
chaired the Full Participation
Committee.
The conference was coordinated
by RobertWomack, Director of AFL-
ClO's Civil Rights Department. The
conference was organized by
members ofthe A. Philip Randolph
Institute, Asian Pacific American
"...Organize, mobilize and
energize to restore the
American dream to all of
Americans."
Robert B. Reich
U.S. Labor Secretary
Labor Alliance. Coalition of Black
Trade Unionists, Coalition of Labor
Union Women, Frontlash and the
Labor Council for Latin American
Advancement.
At noon on October 26th, Sweeney
led the convention delegates on a
march to protest sweatshop
conditionsin New York City's garment
industry.
"If | were an anti-union employer, or
aright-wing politician, I'd be lining up
the cannons, because what we put
together here we intend to transfer to
organizingand bargainingand politics
on an unprecedented scale," said
Sweeney, who led the coalition of
unions known as the "Committee for
[The labor] movement grows
by multiplication and addition
and not by division and
substraction."
John J. Sweeney
4th President of AFL-CIO
A SUGGESTED READING
LIST ON AFRICAN
AMERICANS AND THE
LABOR MOVEMENT
Black Coal Miners in America: Race,
Class, and Community Conflict, 1780-
1980 (Louisville: The University Press
of Kentucky, 1987).
Black Laborin America, Mitton Cantor,
editor. Contributionsin Afro-American
and African Studies No. 2 (Westport,
CT: Negro Universities Press, 1969).
Black Workers: ADocumentary History
From Colonial Times to the Present by
Philip S. Foner and Ronald L. Lewis
(Philadelphia: Temple University
Press, 1989).
Black Workers inanilndustrial Suburb:
The Struggle Against Discrimination
by Bruce B. Willis (New Brunswick,
NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1987)
Employment of Blacks in the South: A
Perspective on the 1960 s by Ray
Marshall and Virgil L. Christian Jr.
(Austin: University of Texas Press,
1978).
The Negro and Organized Labor by
Ray Marshall (New York: John Wiley &
Sons, Inc., 1965).