A Power among Them

Karen Pastorello's pathbreaking study is the first biography of Bessie Abramowitz Hillman and the first scholarship to place this remarkable leader at the center of the founding of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America. Bridging the gap between progressive-era social feminists and labor feminists of the postwar era, Hillman worked to end race and class injustice and improve the quality of life for working women, even as she was overshadowed by her husband, union leader Sidney Hillman. Interweaving Hillman's experiences as an Eastern European Jewish immigrant with a rich historical account of the founding and development of a key garment union, Pastorello reveals the prominent role of women labor activists both in the workplace and in the unions.