Hosea Hudson

Hosea Hudson (April 12, 1898 — 1988) was an African American labor leader in the Southern United States.

Hudson was born in Wilkes County, Georgia. He worked as a sharecropper in what was then known as the "Black Belt" of Georgia before moving to Birmingham and working as a steel-mill worker and a local union official while maintaining an active membership in the Communist Party,Cite web|url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C03EFDA1E39F936A35757C0A967948260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=print|title=Paperbacks: New and Noteworthy|accessdate=2008-02-11|year=1981-04-05|work=The New York Times] which he joined after studying in New York in the 1930s.Cite web|url=http://www.pww.org/article/view/7483/1/280/|title=Remebering Hosea Hudson|accessdate=2008-02-11|year=2005-07-30|author=Bryn Lloyd-Bollard|work=People's Weekly World] Through his work, Hudson was often referred to as a militant fighter against racist oppression and economic exploitation.Cite web|url=http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/45a/019.html|title=The Story of Hosea Hudson: Lessons of a 'Black Worked in the Deep South' Still Loom Large|accessdate=2008-02-11|year=1995-02|author=Barbara Jean Hope|work=People's Weekly World] Hudson is said to have been surprised at the acceptance of the Jim Crow Laws, but felt that wasn't enough.

In 1987, Nell Irvin Painter co-authored a book about Hosea Hudson's life, often described as a collaborative autobiography.cite book | title=The Narrative of Hosea Hudson: The Life and Times of a Black Radical| last=Hudson| first=Hosea| coauthors=Nell Irvin Painter| date=1994| publisher=W.W. Norton & Company| id=0393310159] His story is also featured in a collection of stories about the Civil Rights movement,cite book | title=Africana: An A-To-Z Reference of the Movement That Changed America| last=Appiah| first=Anthony| coauthors=Henry Louis Gates| date=2005| publisher=Running Press| id=076241958X] as well as one on the Communist Movement in the United States.cite book | title=Communism in America: A History in Documents| last=Fried| first=Albert| date=1997| publisher=Columbia University Press| id=0231102356]

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