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Ida Sledge
Ida Sledge (1910 – 1972) also referred to as Ida Thomas Sledge, or Ida T. Sledge, was a Memphis born socialite and union organizer for the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union. She is best known for her highly publicized and controversial organizing efforts in Tupelo, Mississippi, in the summer and fall of 1937. She was also the half-aunt of American actress Tallulah Bankhead, though she was several years younger than Bankhead.

Early life and family
Ida Thomas Sledge was born in 1910 to father Joshua Thomas Sledge and mother Carrie May Sledge, his second wife and 20 years his junior. Ida grew up in Memphis, Tennessee, with all the privileges associated with being a member a family well integrated in Southern high society. She was also half aunt to the notoriously hedonistic actress and activist Tallulah Bankhead, as Bankhead's mother Adelaide "Ada" Bankhead was Joshua Thomas Sledge's daughter from his first marriage.

Education
Ida Sledge attended Wellesley College in Massachusetts. She was the freshman class senator in 1927 and graduated with the class of 1931.

Organizing for the ILGWU
After graduating, Ida Sledge began working as an organizer for the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union, a group dedicated to organizing unions for factory workers in the production of women's clothes, with the goals of improving worker conditions, increasing wages, and reducing working hours for factory employees. In the summer of 1937, the ILGWU set its sights on Tupelo, Mississippi and the garment workers who lived and worked there. In June of that year, the ILGWU sent Ida Sledge to investigate the town as a potential site to organize a local ILGWU Ida's many visits and stays in Tupelo during the ensuing labor conflicts were highly publicized in the local press, and major papers like The New York Times. Her later organizing in Baltimore, Maryland was less controversial and did not receive extensive media coverage.

Struggle at Tupelo
On June 15, 1937, Ida Sledge and fellow organizer Lillian Messer arrived in Tupelo with the goal of organizing the employees of the these smaller factories owned by the Reed Brothers and Milam Manufacturing. A supposedly voluntary petition was signed by many factory employees stating their satisfaction with wages and conditions at the factory. Sledge and Messer were apparently undeterred by the petition. The following morning, mill workers were reportedly threatened with the loss of their jobs if they cooperated with the organizers and attempted to unionize, and a Reed Brothers official offered legal protection to any worker who could get Sledge and Messer to leave town. That night, 75 of the mill workers gathered at the hotel where Ida was staying and forcibly removed her from the room when she refused to leave voluntarily. A Reed Brothers employee drove Sledge and Messer 5 miles out of town, where they were released and warned not to come back. Reed Officials then threw a banquet by way of thanking the factory employees for ridding Tupelo of the union menace. The press covered the organization of the banquet, though a reporter at the Delta Star pointed out that forcing Sledge out of town was illegal.

Sledge soon returned to Tupelo, prepared to testify about her forced removal at a NLRB Hearing. Though she was not called to testify, she stayed in town to compile mailing lists and form an organizing plan with fellow organizer Jimmy Cox. On July 10th, Ida was forcibly removed from her hotel once again, this time by a group of local businessmen, who warned of her of severe consequences should she attempt to return.

Apparently undeterred, her next stay in Tupelo sparked news headlines like "Organizers Escorted From City but Return," "Evicted Twice; Back to Tupelo," and "Ida Sledge Escorted Out of Tupelo Again." The corresponding strike lead by Sledge and Cox lasted 39 days, and its violent episodes were highly publicized. When a third party negotiator was sent by local businessmen to try to convince Sledge to leave again, the house where the meeting was held was surrounded by 15 armed men for Sledge's safety.

On November 10th, the ILGWU transferred Ida Sledge. Citing a need for her services in Baltimore, Maryland, the Union removed Sledge from Tupelo and assigned a local person named Sarah Potter to represent Tupelo in her absence. Potter proved to be a poor replacement, and rumors of an illicit relationship between her and Jimmy Cox (who was married) left the pair without the trust of the factory workers. There was a public burning of union literature, and Jimmy Cox was abducted and beaten nearly to death. The newspapers amply covered these events. In the end, the ILGWU failed to organize branch unions in Tupelo.

Though CIO unions were not formed in Tupelo in summer of 1937, the strikes, violence, and struggle for unionization are still cited as a turning point in labor organizing in the South, including changing ideas around race and labor in the deep South.