Cottrell L. Dellums Life

He was born in Corsicanna, Texas. child of Ema Dellums and his Step Father William Henry Dellums.

He attended the public schools in Texas, graduating from Jackson High School .

He planned to move to San Fransisco because he thought it was the most ideal place for a Negro to live in 1923; He also wanted to be a lawyer and learned that the University of California had the best law school. But instead he end up moving to West Oakland because someone insured him not to many blacks can make it in San Fran. and he realized he wouldnt make enough to even attend school.

He was a room stewards , basically a maid taking care of all the passengers needs and taking care of the rooms also. He hated working on tthe ship.

He was the first African American man to be elected in the Executive and Arbitration Committee for the Central Labor Council of Alameda County. Cottrell joined N.A.A.C.P and had been a active member since 1927. He dedicated many years to this organization and was later on elected President of the same branch the membership was under 400 and by the end of his presidency it was over 3,000.

Dellums became one of the porters where he earned $2 per day. You might get $60; but the odds were ten to one that you'd never get $60 while you were a young porter. Later on he was fired because of being a union activist.

Cottrell always wanted to be treated equally and paid the correct amount that was due for his hardwork. Later on he came across a Brotherhood that was willing to help and felt the sameway. He joined the Brotherhood when was first established by A. Philip Randolph.

The Local Official was just established in the Brotherhood and Cottrell was qualified.

Being apart of the union he was later fired from his current job which was being a porter at the Pullman Company. So he became a full-time official at the Brotherhood.

The Brotherhood became a part of the labor movement and advocated that Negroes join the labor unions and encouraged them to join. Many of them thought that they couldn't join unions because the belief that the AF of L discriminated against Negroes. With Randolph and his wonderful voice, his great oratorical ability, his wonderful, unbelievable knowledge, his mastery of the English language, he had no peer. People at the AF of L convention who fought against him were so far beneath him that they were conscious of it themselves. By Randolph being the greatest attraction in the race, the Brotherhood won support of Negroes and general recognition.Out of the conferences Randolph held with Green and other members of the Executive Council, they decided to accept thirteen federal local charters from the AF of L in order to become an actual affiliated part of it. They didn't affiliate all of their local unions. The Brotherhood just picked out thirteen. They had an unwritten agreement with them that the Brotherhood wouldn't even operate like normal federal locals; they would just continue to operate as they were.They would operate as a national union with Randolph at the head of it and without any interference from them.