Finding Aid to the Dorothy Elizabeth De Losada Oral History MS 3522
Finding aid prepared California Historical Society staff; revised by Marie
Dunlap in 2010.
California Historical Society
© 2000, revised 2010
678 Mission Street
San Francisco, CA, 94105
415-357-1848
reference@calhist.org
Title: Dorothy Elizabeth De Losada oral history
Date: 1976
Collection Number: MS 3522
Creator:
De Losada, Dorothy Elizabeth, 1921-
Extent:
1 folder
(0.1 Linear feet)
Repository:
California Historical Society
678 Mission Street
San Francisco, CA, 94105
415-357-1848
reference@calhist.org
URL: http://www.californiahistoricalsociety.org/
Abstract: Contains a transcribed copy of Lucille Kendall's
1976 interview with labor organizer Dorothy Elizabeth De Losada documenting her
involvement in the International Longshoremen's and Warehousemen's Union (ILWU),
Local 6, in San Francisco, beginning in the 1940s.
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[Identification of item], Dorothy Elizabeth De Losada Oral History, MS 3522,
California Historical Society.
Photographs have been removed to the California Historical Society's Photograph
Collection, filed in PC-SF: Strikes--General.
Dorothy Elizabeth De Losada Papers, MS 582
The following oral histories were prepared by Lucille Kendall in her effort to
document the lives of women labor activists and radicals for the California
Historical Society's "Women in California Collection":
Clemmie Barry Oral History, MS 3251
Elaine Black Yoneda Oral History, MS 3524
Helene Powell Oral History, MS 3518
Katherine Rodin Oral History, MS 3517
Louise Lambert Oral History, MS 3520
Marion Brown Sills Oral History, MS 3525
Mildred Edmondson Oral History, MS 3523
Violet Orr Oral History, MS 3516
The following oral histories were prepared under the auspices of "The Twentieth
Century Trade Union Woman: Vehicle for Social Change," a project of the Institute of
Labor and Industrial Relations, The University of Michigan-Wayne State
University:
Angela Ward Oral History, MS 3536
Caroline Decker Gladstein Oral History, MS 3025
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the
library's online public access catalog.
International Longshoremen's and Warehousemen's
Union. Local 6 (San Francisco, Calif.).
Oral histories.
Women labor leaders--California.
This oral history was transcribed from an interview with Dorothy Elizabeth De Losada
conducted by Lucille Kendall for the California Historical Society in 1976.
Dorothy Elizabeth De Losada was born in San Francisco in 1921. She attended the
University of California, Berkeley, in the late 1930s and early 1940s. While she was
a college student, De Losada participated in the "Fair Bear" movement to secure
equitable wages for student restaurant workers. In 1942, De Losada dropped out of
college and went to work in the Richmond shipyards in support of the war effort. She
began her career as a labor organizer in the early 1940s at the Army Medical Depot
on Folsom Street in San Francisco, where she organized civil service workers for the
International Longshoremen's and Warehousemen's Union (ILWU), Local 6. In 1945, De
Losada moved to Tennessee to teach public speaking and grievance procedure at the
Highlander Folk School. She returned to San Francisco in 1945, serving as shop
steward for the ILWU, Local 6, at the Hiram Walker distillery. As shop steward, De
Losada secured maternity leave benefits for women workers. In 1948 she acted as
chairman of the union's negotiating committee; she was the first woman to fill that
position in Local 6 history. In addition, she served on the union's publicity
committee and board of trustees. Eventually, De Losada completed her bachelor's
degree at the University of California, Berkeley, and went on to earn a master's
degree in social work. She changed careers later in life, becoming a social worker
for the San Francisco Unified School District.
This oral history collection consists of a transcribed copy of Lucille Kendall's 1976
interview with International Longshoremen's and Warehousemen's Union (ILWU)
organizer Dorothy Elizabeth De Losada; and an interview history. The De Losada
interview was conducted under the auspices of the California Historical Society's
"Women in California Collection" as part of an oral history project documenting the
lives of women labor activists and radicals in California.
The bulk of the De Losada interview concerns her involvement in the ILWU, Local 6
(San Francisco), as an organizer and officer, beginning in the 1940s. In particular,
De Losada emphasizes the changing role of women in the ILWU and the labor movement
as a whole, as well as the ILWU's participation in early civil rights efforts in San
Francisco. She also discusses her experiences as a college student at the University
of California, Berkeley, in the late 1930s and early 1940s; a teacher at the
Highlander Folk School in Tennessee in 1945; and a social worker for the San
Francisco Unified School District later in life.