Louisville Courier-Journal Opinion: How Augusta Thomas was a tireless champion for workers’ rights, civil rights: Opinion
Berry Craig
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.