Descriptive Summary
Access
Access Restrictions
Publication Rights
Preferred Citation
Processing Information
Biography / Administrative History
Scope and Content of Collection
Arrangement
Indexing Terms
Descriptive Summary
Title: Harold Thaxter Lumsden collection
Dates: 1899-1996
Collection number: MS 129
Creator:
Lumsden, Harold Thaxter.
Collection Size:
.1 linear feet
(1 box)
Repository:
African American Museum & Library at Oakland (Oakland, Calif.)
Abstract: The Harold Thaxter Lumsden collection includes photographs, biographical material, sympathy card, and a pamphlet,
We also serve: 10 per cent of a nation working and fighting for victory, related to African American workers in the San Francisco Bay Area during World War II. The collection consists of portrait
and family photographs of Harold Thaxter Lumsden, a reproduction of his birth certificate, and his obituary and funeral program.
Languages:
Languages represented in the collection:
English
Access
No access restrictions. Collection is open to the public.
Access Restrictions
Materials are for use in-library only, non-circulating.
Publication Rights
Permission to publish from the Harold Thaxter Lumsden Collection must be obtained from the African American Museum & Library
at Oakland.
Preferred Citation
Harold Thaxter Lumsden collection, MS 129, African American Museum & Library at Oakland, Oakland Public Library. Oakland,
California.
Processing Information
Processed by Sean Heyliger, 02/14/2014.
Biography / Administrative History
Black labor leader Harold Thaxter Lumsden (1899-1996) was born on November 24, 1899 in Hagley Gap St. Thomas, Jamaica to Edward
Lumsden and Dorcas Thaxter. He was raised in rural Jamaica before moving to Columbia during his teenage years to live with
his uncle. In 1916, he went to sea as a ship steward surviving the sinking of two merchant vessels by German U-boats before
settling first in Baltimore, Maryland and then in San Francisco, California in 1921. While San Francisco, he began taking
classes in 1923 at Lincoln University School of Law while working construction, eventually graduating with a law degree in
1930. Beginning in the 1930s, Lumsden worked as a labor organizer for Union Local 261, unionizing workers at Hamilton Field
in 1933 and shipyard workers at Bethlehem Shipyards in Alameda and Hunters Point Naval Shipyards in San Francisco, and as
a business agent with Shipyard Laborers Local #886 during World War II. Following the war, he worked as laborer in the shipyards
and was elected as Local 886’s union representative to the San Francisco Labor Council and the California Federation of Labor.
Lumsden served on the Executive Committee of the San Francisco Labor Council and served as recording secretary of the Shipyard
Laborers Local #886 until his retirement in 1983.
Scope and Content of Collection
The Harold Thaxter Lumsden collection includes photographs, biographical material, sympathy card, and a pamphlet,
We also serve: 10 per cent of a nation working and fighting for victory, African American workers in the San Francisco Bay Area during World War II. The collection consists of portrait and family
photographs of Harold Thaxter Lumsden, a reproduction of his birth certificate, and his obituary and funeral program.
Arrangement
Series I. Biographical
Series II. Photographs
Series III. Printed material
Indexing Terms
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in
the library's online public access catalog.
African American labor leaders.
African American labor union members.
World War, 1939-1945 Participation, African American.