Albert Shanker
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Albert Shanker (September 14, 1928 - February 22, 1997) was president of the American Federation of Teachers from 1974 to 1997.
Early life
Shanker was born on the Lower East Side of Manhattan to a Russian-Jewish immigrant family. His father Morris delivered newspapers and his mother Mamie worked in a knitting factory. The experience of watching his mother work 70 hour weeks made Shanker aware of the need for societal changes from an early age.In 1946, Shanker graduated from Stuyvesant High School where he was the head of the debate team. His academic life continued at the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana. He joined the Congress of Racial Equality. In 1949 he graduated with honors and enrolled in Columbia University. In order to earn money while writing his dissertation, Shanker became substitute teacher at PS 179 in East Harlem.
Founding the United Federation of Teachers
He began his tenure as a union organizer in 1959 to help organize the Teacher's Guild - NYC's AFT affiliate that was started by John Dewey in 1917. He left his teaching job to organize full time. He felt that a teachers union would be more effective if it was united with a common set of goals. The Teacher's Guild would merge with New York City's High School Teacher's Association to form the United Federation of Teachers (UFT) in 1960.In 1964, Shanker succeeded Charles Cogen as UFT president. Sandra Feldman succeeded Shanker as UFT president.
Perhaps Shanker is best known for organizing workers in Oceanhill-Brownsville. In 1968, Shanker organized Oceanhill-Brownsville's teaching staff in the mostly black neighborhood. Shanker called for a strike after teachers were purged from the school district due to the city's reorganization plan.
For more than a decade, Shanker authored essay-like advertisements in The New York Times and other publications. Accompanied by a small photograph of Shanker, the columns, entitled "Where We Stand," sought to rationally and dispassionately clarify the union's position on various matters of public interest.
Activist Legacy
Despite Shanker's organizing efforts, and the fifteen days that he would spend in jail due to his organization, Shanker was branded a racist by critics. Yet Shanker would persist in building the United Federation of Teachers and would be elected president of the American Federation of Teachers in 1974. He was re-elected every two years until his death. Some believed that he gained too much power and became very severe, even extremist, which led to a reference in Woody Allen's 1973 movie Sleeper about Shanker having allegedly fomented a nuclear war.In 1975 the UFT authorized a five day strike, leading to allegedly saving New York City from bankruptcy after he asked the Teachers' Retirement System to invest $150 million in Municipal Corp.(MAC) bonds.
Later years
Shanker was a visiting professor at Hunter College and Harvard University during the 1980s. He would continue to work to organize teachers throughout his life, attempting to bridge the AFT with the National Education Association. Despite his efforts, he never saw this convergence. He died of bladder cancer at the age of 69.Shanker in Popular Culture
In the Woody Allen movie Sleeper (1973) the hero is told that the old world was destroyed when a mad man named Albert Shanker got hold of a nuclear device. Shanker was president of the AFT at that time.
See also
- **Criticism of Shanker***
External links
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