Regina Polk
Regina Victoria Polk (February 14, 1950 – October 11, 1983)[1] was an American labor leader and an activist for women workers in Chicago during the 1970s and 1980s. She was first an organizer and then a business agent for Local 743,[2] the largest local in the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.[3] Throughout her career, she campaigned to organize and then represent clerical workers in predominantly female workplaces.[4]
Early life and education
Regina Victoria Polk (Gina) was brought up by her father, Henry, a poor farmer, and her mother, Helen. She lived in Casa Grande, Arizona, until she was 14 when the family moved to Paradise, California. She graduated from Paradise High School in 1967. She attended Mills College, then an all-women college, where many of her classmates were wealthy young women. Polk was active politically in the civil rights and anti-war movements. She graduated in 1972 with a degree in Sociology. After working for a year in California, she moved to Chicago to attend graduate school in Industrial Relations at the University of Chicago. There she met her future husband, Thomas Heagy, a fellow graduate student.[5]
References
- ^ "Regina V. Polk: Breaking the Mold". American Postal Workers Union. 2019-05-28. Retrieved 2021-02-10.
- ^ "Teamsters Local 743". www.teamsterslocal743.com. Retrieved 2021-02-10.
- ^ "I Am a Teamster: A Short, Fiery Story of Regina V. Polk, Her Hats, Her Pets, Sweet Love, and the Modern-Day Labor Movement by Terry Spencer Hesser 1893121356 9781893121355". www.discoverbooks.com. Retrieved 2021-02-10.
- ^ "Civic Labors: Scholar Activism and Working-Class Studies - University Press Scholarship". www.universitypressscholarship.com. doi:10.5406/illinois/9780252040498.001.0001/upso-9780252040498. Retrieved 2021-02-10.
- ^ "2014 Union Hall of Honor". Illinois Labor History Society. Retrieved 2021-02-10.