We Are One
Honoring Immigrant Garment Workers
SECTION 3: Rally and March, June 24 and July 15, 1982
The rally in Columbus Park on June 24th, 1982 was the largest in the history of the local, and the largest in the Chinatown community. Nearly 20,000 garment workers and their allies showed up to demand a contract equal to that of garment workers outside of Chinatown. They shocked employers, who expected the mostly immigrant, mostly Chinese speaking and mostly married workers to follow tradition and stay out of the public eye.
Many of the same workers gathered again on July 15, to pressure the minority of employers who had not yet signed the contract to do so. You can glimpse their energy in these photos of the large crowd that marched through the streets of Chinatown, ending with a second rally in Columbus Park. Within 24 hours the remaining contracts had been signed.
Columbus Park rally, 1982. Courtesy of Kheel Center, Cornell University.
Rally in Columbus Park, 1982. Photograph courtesy of Kheel Center, Cornell University.
Crowd at Columbus Park Rally, 1982. Photograph courtesy of Kheel Center, Cornell University.
Sitting and Standing at rally in Columbus Park, 1982. Photograph courtesy of Kheel Center, Cornell University.
Rally in Columbus Park. Photograph by Earl Dotter, courtesy Kheel Center, Cornell University.
Garment workers at Columbus Park rally, summer 1982. Photograph by Corky Lee, courtesy of Estate of Corky Lee.
March down Mott Street, July 15, 1982. Photograph courtesy of Kheel Center, Cornell University.
Columbus Park rally. Photograph by Corky Lee, courtesy of Estate of Corky Lee.
Columbus Park rally. Photograph by Corky Lee, courtesy of Corky Lee Estate.
March down Mott Street. Photograph by Corky Lee, courtesy of Corky Lee Estate.