Floria Pinkney
Floria Pinkney (1903 – after May 1984) was a Progressive Era Black female garment worker and union activist and leader from Brooklyn, New York. She was the first African-American woman to hold a leadership role as an organizer within the International Ladies Garment Workers Union (ILGWU). As a legacy dressmaker, Pinkney was involved in the garment industry throughout her life. Early life and education Pinkney's parents were both originally from Florida and they migrated to Connecticut at the turn of the century. Pinkney's mother was a self-employed dressmaker. Pinkney was born in Connecticut in 1903. Shortly after Pinkney's birth, her then widowed mother moved the family to Brooklyn. Before working in the garment industry, Pinkney attended Manhattan Trade School for Girls. There, she was taught skills including sewing machine mechanics, sewing techniques, and basic academic skills like writing. In 1925, Pinkney received a scholarship to Brookwood Labor College, sponsored by the American Fund for Public Service (AFPS), commonly known as the Garland Fund, which supported radical political causes. She also received scholarship from the NAACP. The scholarship from AFPS gave Pinkney the ability to learn more about organizing and later on apply it to helping black workers succeed in the