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Birth
Clara Lemlich was born on March 28, 1886, in Gorodok, Ukraine. -
U.S.
Clara Lemlich and her family moved to the U.S. when she was 17. She got a job at Lower East Side shirtwaist manufacturing shop to support her family. -
ILGWU
Clara was a co-founder of the International Ladies Garment Workers Union(ILGWU) This was quite new at the time because most of the unions were composed mainly of men but hers was made up mostly by women immigrants. This gave women a way to stand up for their rights that many of them did not have before. -
Leader
Clara Lemlich became a leader of the strike in 1909. She was sought out by police because of her major role in the women's rights movement. She was imprisoned seventeen times and six of her ribs were broken because of the police. -
Uprising of Twenty Thousand
Clara Lemlich forcibly took the podium at an ILGWU meeting from many non-working women speakers. She called for women to go on strike for their rights. Thirty thousand to forty thousand women went on strike in the next few weeks. The strike was called the "Uprising of Twenty Thousand." -
United Council of Working Women
In 1926, Lemlich co-founded the United Council of Working Women. She led rent strikes, demonstrations, and food boycotts. The Progressive Women's Council supported working women with food and childcare so that they wouldn't have to worry. -
Period: to
Meat Boycott
In 1935, Clara Lemlich helped to lead a meat boycott. The meat boycott lowered the price of meat in thousands of American cities. This was a big win for the women.