Monnie Callan

Community organizer, 1199 organizer, garment worker, translator, activist, inpatient social worker—I was the first social worker on the AIDS service (the disease was only called GRID when I started). I was arrested when a group of us in a strike sat down to block supply trucks, and again, with many others (including our President Dennis Rivera), in our peaceful protest against the killing of Amadou Diallo. I am active with the Retired Members Division of 1199, the NYC Alliance for Retired Americans, and have always been an activist in the civil rights movement, housing and squatters movement, peace movement, my tenants’ association, and more. I learned from my parents who fought for the right of women to vote, and for the people of Spain against Franco and fascism, and for social justice for all.