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Louisville civil rights and labor activist heard the gunshot that killed Dr. King

Berry Craig
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EDITOR'S NOTE: This op-ed appeared in the Louisville Courier-Journal on March 22, 2022.

By BERRY CRAIG

Augusta Y. Thomas practiced what she preached as a civil rights and labor activist: "Do for those who cannot do for themselves."

In 1960, she traveled from Louisville, her hometown, to join the historic lunch counter sit-ins in Greensboro, North Carolina. Angry whites spit on her and shoved her off a stool. Police twice arrested her.

Six years later, Thomas joined the American Federation of Government Employees on the day she went to work as a nursing assistant at Louisville's Veterans Hospital. She spent 52 years in the union, capping her career as AFGE’s Washington-based national vice president for women and fair practices.

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