Election, 1948

By 1948, many working Americans had become dissatisfied with American ideas of economics and politics. They decided that they deserved better pay and wanted equality between the races (no more Jim Crow), more peaceful relations with the Soviet Union, and better living conditions all around. These people joined together to form a third party in the 1948 elections, the Progressive Party. Henry A. Wallace ran for president on this ticket, and Mike H. Ross ran for United States Congress in North Carolina. He also served as the secretary for the North Carolina Progressive Party. The head of the campaign in North Carolina was Miss Mary Price. There were several African-Americans and women running for various offices in North Carolina during this election. There were also a few young persons associations that supported the North Carolina Progressives, such as the Duke Students for Wallace and the Young Progressives of America.

Due to their party platform, the Progressives became the target of a red baiting campaign that was launched by politicians and the media. Although the Progressives did not earn enough votes during the election to win, it is noteworthy that they were able to gather the 30,000 signatures of registered voters required to get their candidates on the North Carolina ballot.

Ross had run for office previous to his candidacy for Congress. In 1941, he and a couple other union workers ran for city council in Charlotte, North Carolina. They were unsuccessful.

The election files contain info on both of these elections, as well as Ross's union work during the same time. Election materials include campaign materials from 1941 and 1948. These election items consist of sample ballots, fliers, correspondence, and programs from the National and North Carolina Progressive Party Conventions. He worked with the International Union of Mine, Mill, and Smelter Workers and then as an International Representative for the United Furniture Workers of America - Congress of Industrial Workers (CIO) and joined the CIO's "Operation Dixie". Operation Dixie was a movement during the 1940's by the Congress of Industrial Organizations to organize southern labor into unions. The South was not labor-friendly during this time, especially to organizations or people who wanted to do away with Jim Crow laws.

Of general interest are a number of articles and newspapers that do not relate directly to labor, but are related to historical events of the time, such as President Franklin D. Roosevelt's death and a few clippings from Civil War era newspapers. There are also some articles on the Ku Klux Klan, which was experiencing resurgence, while Ross was organizing in the south.