First African American postal worker in Washington: 1870
John W. Curry, first known African American postal worker hired in Washington, D.C., is shown circa 1870.
It is believed he may have been the first black letter carrier in the United States.
Official records suggest he was first appointed in 1868 as a clerk, and then worked as a letter carrier from 1870 until his death in 1899.
He was probably a charter member of letter carriers Branch 142, founded in 1895 prior to that organization barring African Americans from membership.
His death in 1899 was noted in the letter carriers magazine, The Postal Record. The Washington Bee praised him as doing much "to open the way for admission of other colored carriers.”
A long fight ensued after Curry’s death to re-integrate postal unions with the segregated Washington, D.C. locals often at the center of the battle.
The issue was not ultimately resolved until the National Association of Letter Carriers conventions in the 1960s and the merger of different unions into the American Postal Workers Union (APWU) in 1971.
For more information and related images, see flic.kr/s/aHsm42rPyJ
The photographer is unknown. The image is courtesy of Postal Record, National Association of Letter Carriers, AFL-CIO.
First African American postal worker in Washington: 1870
John W. Curry, first known African American postal worker hired in Washington, D.C., is shown circa 1870.
It is believed he may have been the first black letter carrier in the United States.
Official records suggest he was first appointed in 1868 as a clerk, and then worked as a letter carrier from 1870 until his death in 1899.
He was probably a charter member of letter carriers Branch 142, founded in 1895 prior to that organization barring African Americans from membership.
His death in 1899 was noted in the letter carriers magazine, The Postal Record. The Washington Bee praised him as doing much "to open the way for admission of other colored carriers.”
A long fight ensued after Curry’s death to re-integrate postal unions with the segregated Washington, D.C. locals often at the center of the battle.
The issue was not ultimately resolved until the National Association of Letter Carriers conventions in the 1960s and the merger of different unions into the American Postal Workers Union (APWU) in 1971.
For more information and related images, see flic.kr/s/aHsm42rPyJ
The photographer is unknown. The image is courtesy of Postal Record, National Association of Letter Carriers, AFL-CIO.