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Synopsis
Sarah Rozner (1892-1976) was a Hungarian born American Labor unionist, activist, organizer, picketer and striker during the early half of the 20th century. She was most closely associated with the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America, a founding organization of the CIO, and spent most of her adult life fighting to improve the wages and working conditions of the employees in the garment industry.

Early Life
Sarah Rozner was born to Jewish family living in Hungary. Her father was a Rabbi and her mother (d.1925) was a nurse and secretary. Together they had 12 children of which 9 survived. At the age of 5 her family moved to the capital city of Budapest where Sarah enrolled in school. At the age of 9 Sarah dropped out of school, to which she would never return during her childhood. At the age of 11, due to her mother’s pressuring to return to school, Sarah learned how to operate a sewing machine in order to work and make money for the family, as her parents earned very little pay in their respective fields. In 1908, following in the footsteps of a few of her older siblings, Sarah immigrated to the United States. She was part of a wave of thousands of immigrants from Eastern Europe that came to the America in the beginning of the 20th century.

Chicago Activism
When Sarah first arrived in Chicago in 1908 she and her parents went to live with her older sister who had come over months before from Hungary. Sarah did odd jobs to contribute to the family before getting a job at a corset factory. After a few months she left and got a job as a coat maker and seamstress at Hart, Schaffner, and Marx. It was a large manufacturer that employed many new Jewish immigrants. One of those being Mollie Steinholtz, a future ACWA organizer. She was doing well there until, at her father’s behest, she joined with other garment workers and the Women’s Trade Union League in the 1910 Chicago Garment Workers’ Strike which was against the HSM shop. While this event sparked her lifelong labor activism, as a consequence of joining the picket line, she was fired from HSM and blacklisted from obtaining other garment industry work. She eventually found work in other non-union shops where she attempted to organize the workers. During this time period she became very active in the organization that would become the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America, a Socialist organization with strong anti-Communist leanings that was lead by Sidney Hillman. In 1915 she contributed to another garment workers strike by running the dining halls for the protesters. After the strike was over, she returned to Hart, Schaffner and Marx and rose to the rank of floor lady. In 1921, despite a majority of female workers voting against her, she was elected as the first female Business Agent in the Tailoring field in Chicago. This meant she was an equal to the manufacturers at HSM and could negotiate as one on behalf of the coat makers, whom she represented. In 1922, she was reelected to the position. While in Chicago she frequently visited Hull House, conversing with resident Frances Perkins and occasional visitor Eleanor Roosevelt.

Education
In 1924, despite not having a high school education, Sarah Rozner, with the support of A.J. Muste, was awarded a scholarship to attend the Brookwood Labor College in New York. The decision on whether or not to go was difficult, as it meant leaving her job, and immigrant families typically only had one source of income. She decided that an education was the best option for her prospects as a labor organizer and attended the college. One of her classmates was future labor leader Rose Pesotta. Sarah Rozner graduated from the institution in 1926. From 1926-1927 she was on the Board of Directors for the Bryn Mawr Summer School for Workers.

Political Activity
In 1928, after years of attending meetings, Sarah became an official member of the Socialist Party of America. In 1934, she was the party nominee for Alderman for a ward of Chicago. While she would have been the first female Alderman in Chicago had she won, she lost the general election.

Health
In 1927, due to multiple incidents of internal bleeding, she was forced to undergo surgery which made her unable to have children. In 1938, she suffered from a heart condition that served as the cause for her being released from Hart, Schaffner, and Marx permanently.

Los Angeles
After being released from HSM, Sarah decided to leave Chicago and moved to Los Angeles. While it took over a year for her to find work, she eventually found a job as a garment worker and ACWA organizer. In 1939 she assisted the ACWA in organizing two separate strikes, one being the Glickman Strike, involving garment and laundry workers including many African-American and Latino workers. In 1944, she became the shop chair at Louart Manufacturing and remained so until she retired from garment industry work completely in 1959 due to further health issues.

Retirement and Legacy
In 1956 Sarah, with the help of the ACWA, created a scholarship fund in order to help more young women become better trained for Union organizing and leadership. In 1973 she agreed to series of taped interviews by Sherna Berger Gluck, the Director of Oral History and Women’s History at California State University Long Beach. Ms. Gluck used these and other tapes to create her book From Parlor to Prison, a collection of first-hand stories from female and feminist movement leaders. Sarah Rozner passed away in Los Angeles in 1976.