In these last three months, I had the pleasure to uncover the incredible life of a native Washingtonian and labor activist Rosina (Harvey) Corrothers-Tucker. Her efforts were monumental in desegregating the federal workforce and improving the standing of Black laborers throughout the nation.
Rosina Corrothers-Tucker (1881-1987) was a labor organizer, civil rights activist, educator, author, and esteemed organist born in Washington, DC. In her 105 years, Corrothers-Tucker fully committed her life to one of service: from the walls of the Church to Congress, her work aimed to improve the lives of African Americans and future generations as a whole. Corrothers-Tucker was instrumental in the foundation and success of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters (the first African American trade union) serving as the main liaison for the Washington chapter and the Secretary-Treasurer of the Ladies Auxiliary. She was also a devoted activist, serving as an organizer for the 1941 March on Washington which led to the desegregation of federal jobs, and was highly involved in local DC politics regarding racial discrimination, education, labor rights, and community support.
In working in the archives, my role was to survey these materials and organize them for future preservation, while learning the narratives of those featured in the collection. The archive – whether physical or digital, paper or audiovisual – is a place of living histories. Each object and document speak to the life of those it once belonged to: the beliefs they value, what occurred in their life, and in the case of Rosina Corrothers-Tucker – how she desired to be remembered. Corrothers-Tucker was very conscientious of what she chose to preserve from her life and how she would be viewed in retrospect. She made a point to maintain meticulous records of her work with the BSCP, her accolades, and items that informed her activism.
To truly understand the extent of the collection, I read the autobiography of Rosina Corrothers-Tucker My Life As I Have Lived It (2012) and Marching Together: Women of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters (1997) by Melinda Chateauvert. The first of these two works detail both the aspects of life that Rosina Corrothers-Tucker believed were the most pivotal in her development and her impact, while Marching Together highlights the work of all the unsung women who kept the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters functional and successful in becoming the first Black labor union.
Past Executive Members of the Ladies’ Auxiliary. From the Twenty-Fifth Anniversary Book of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters (1950).
Part of the work includes deciding if certain materials are best kept with the rest of the collection based on subject, or if it is better served in another repository. In the case of the Rosina Corrothers-Tucker Collection, she preserved some of the documents of her first husband, author and poet James David Corrotthers, which we previously believed would be better appreciated at a different repository. At least until I uncovered a fact that would dictate the future of his documents: within his papers lie a manuscript filled with his poems and stories, unpublished. Corrothers never had the chance to publish a book-length collection of his writings, and yet there it lied – multiple drafts copied and edited by Rosina in James’ last months of life.
Before Corrothers’ passing, he suffered from two strokes, yet was able to publish his autobiography In Spite of a Handicap (1916) – likely due to Rosina’s aid. It is clear that Corrothers-Tucker copied, compiled, and edited her husband’s works for the manuscript, Ebon Moods and Dreams, shown in the differences in handwriting and her noting down her role on the final copies. After this discovery, it was evident that the collections could not be separated. Corrothers-Tucker’s decision to keep his works was an act of tender devotion continuously maintained over nearly 70 years.
Other than her care for her first husband, there was also evidence of her musical proclivity – most likely genetic – in organ and piano sheet music dating back to the 1890’s, when she and her family performed throughout the District as the Musical Harvey’s. Though much of the works saved reflect her time in the Second Baptist Church on 816 3rd St NW, Corrothers-Tucker and her family played for a multitude of audiences ranging from government to community events. Evidence of her musical prowess also presents itself in her skills as a composer; Corrothers-Tucker composed music like “Rio Grande Waltzes” for pure enjoyment and for the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters (BSCP) union song, “Marching Together.”
Corrothers-Tucker’s relationship with her second husband, Berthea Johnson “BJ” Tucker, led to her role as a key organizer in the BSCP. Berthea was a Pullman Porter, and due to this Corrothers-Tucker made a point to be aware of the labor conditions of the workers. In 1925, Philip A. Randolph led a recruitment meeting for BSCP in the District, where he spoke of the abysmal working conditions Corrothers-Tucker was already aware of. She later championed the creation of the Washington chapter of the organization, forming the Women’s Economic Council to raise funds and support the BSCP. As the chapter’s official liaison, she demanded the inclusion of African American women as equals to the men, as women were both employed by the Pullman Porter Company and the main power behind the union. This resulted in the Women’s Economic Council becoming the International Ladies’ Auxiliary Order. Her proactive and stalwart presence in the face of sex discrimination challenged the lack of recognition of women in the BSCP and labor movement as a whole. After 46 years of service – where the BSCP raised the salaries, decreased hours, an established grievance process, and improved working conditions – Corrothers-Tucker retired as Secretary Treasurer before the dissolution of the International Ladies’ Auxiliary Order in 1971.
Rosina Corrothers-Tucker was extremely involved in the District’s local politics – serving as the co-founder and president Northeast Women’s Club; President of the reactivated Public Interest Civic Association; Chairwoman of the Social Service Committee for the Federation of Civic Associations; a Civil Defense Corps Food and Housing Warden; on the Youth Council of the District’s Board of Commissioners; and the only African American woman appointed by the Board of Public Affairs to investigate its Children’s Services division.
Her collection demonstrates how much effort she put into bettering the world around her and how beloved she was in turn; it is filled with awards, memorabilia, articles, and letters from her birthday parties – all singing her praises and admiring her tenacity.
Rosina Corrothers-Tucker, pictured in the Twenty-Fifth Anniversary Book of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters (1950).
Tamia McDonald is a Doctoral Candidate in Howard University’s History Department with a major in United States History and minor in Public History. Originally from from Fontana, California, Tamia recently completed her term as an Archival Intern at the DC History Center. This project and her work was supported by the Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation Grant. The Rosina Corrothers-Tucker Collection (MS 0994) is available for reference at the Kiplinger Research Library, by appointment. Interns at the DC History Center are compensated in alignment with equitable labor practices.
