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Crystal SuttonAmerican labor organizer and lawyer
Date of Birth: 31.12.1940
Country:  USA |
Content:
Biography of Crystal Sutton
American labor organizer and advocate Crystal Lee Sutton was born under the name Crystal Lee Pulley. She gained fame in the 1970s after being fired from her job at the J.P. Stevens factory for attempting to unionize its employees. Due to poor, if not unbearable, working conditions and a pitiful wage of $2.65 per hour, she and her colleagues were forced to join forces with labor activist Eli Zivkovich and attempt to create a union with the factory workers. Sutton describes this time as, "Management and others treated me as if I had leprosy." She faced threats and, ultimately, was fired from her job. However, before leaving the factory, Sutton fought fiercely for her rights against the factory's abuse of power. She acted just like the partially fictionalized Norma Rae in the film of the same name about a woman in a textile factory who, after meeting union organizer Ruben Warshovsky, refuses to accept the oppressive reality any longer. The film "Norma Rae," released in 1979, was based on Sutton's union work, and the lead role in the movie was played by Sally Field. Sutton recalls, "I took a piece of cardboard and wrote the word UNION in big letters, stood on my worktable, and slowly turned with it around. The workers started turning off their machines and showing their approval (gesture with raised index and middle fingers forming a V with the palm facing forward). Suddenly, the whole plant became very quiet..." The police forcefully removed Crystal from the factory, but the consequences of her actions were simply overwhelming. The Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union (ACTWU) won the right to represent the factory workers on August 28, 1974. Crystal became the 13th recipient of the "Pacem in Terris Peace and Freedom" award in 1980, created in memory of Pope John XXIII's 1963 encyclical "Peace on Earth." This papal document called on all people of goodwill to establish peace among all nations.
Personal Life
As for Crystal's personal life, she got married at the age of 19, had her first child at 20, and became a widow at 21. She had her second child out of wedlock at the age of 22. She remarried - Larry Jordan Jr. - and had her third child at 25. After Crystal's fame, her relationship with Larry ended in divorce. Around 1977, she tied the knot for the third time with Lewis Sutton Jr. On September 11, 2009, at the age of 68, Crystal Lee Sutton passed away from brain meningioma in Burlington, North Carolina.
