Andy Young working for Georgia [button], circa 1980s

Abstract

The collection contains documents and artifacts that cover the span of Joseph Jacobs activities during the twentieth century. The Administrative/Office files consist mainly of appointment books and financial records from the 1920s through the 1990s. The labor papers include cases and papers from Jacobs work as a labor lawyer and as a regional director and attorney for the United Textile Workers of America in the early 20th century. Also in the labor files are some items about the Southern Labor Archives at Georgia State University, which Jacobs helped establish, as well as the Uprising of '34, a documentary about the southern textile strike in 1934 in which Jacobs was involved. Jacobs was a member and official of the Workmen's Circle, a Jewish fraternal aid/culture society for many years. The Workmen's Circle papers contain correspondence, conference, and Yiddishkeit education information as well as some artifacts. There are also papers and publications written solely in Yiddish. The Georgia Humanities Council series contains files pertaining to the case of Dr. Frank Hubby v. the Historic Savannah Foundation, Inc.; Georgia Endowment for the Humanities, Inc.; and the Georgia Semiquincentennial Commission. Other GHC papers pertain to the Southern Labor Archives and the Joseph Jacobs Foundation scholarship. Also in the collection are Jacobs papers and artifacts that reflect his activities in the Georgia Democratic Party, especially between 1988 and 1992. Photographs in the collection, numbering over 400 images, consist mostly of events of the Workmen's Circle and the labor movement in the South.

Joseph Jacobs, born in 1908, was a graduate of the Atlanta Law School. He served as a labor lawyer in Atlanta, Georgia and the southern United States for many years. Also, he was a union organizer during the 1934 Textile Strike and the 1936 Lakewood-General Motors Strike. Jacobs served as a Southern Regional Director for the United Textile Workers of America in the southeast and worked with many other local unions as their attorney. He served as an officer and member of the Workmen's Circle for over fifty years. In fact, he would become the first recipient of the Organized Labor and Workmen's Circle Award Banquet award in 1969. Jacobs served as president of the Atlanta Orchid Society and was involved in the city planning of Sandy Springs and its surrounding area during the 1970s. Jacobs served locally in the Georgia Democratic Party for many years. He was elected three times to the Democratic National Convention and as chairman of the Fulton county Democratic Party. He also was an active member of the Georgia Humanities Council and was one of the key founders of the Southern Labor Archives at Georgia State University. Mr. Jacobs passed away in 1998.