E. T. Kehrer papers

Born in 1921 near Brighton, Michigan, Elmer Thomas "Al" Kehrer received his BA degree in 1947 from Olivet College, a liberal arts institution in Olivet, Michigan. In 1948, Kehrer obtained his MA degree in economics from Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut. Kehrer had apparently interrupted his studies at Olivet to enter the Maritime Service from 1943 to 1946. Before attending Olivet and Yale, Kehrer had been a student organizer for the United Auto Workers (1936) and had done field work for the Ship's Clerk Association in Los Angeles (1944). After completing his master's at Yale, Kehrer worked as a field representative for the American Federation of Labor's Worker's Education Bureau. The employees of the bureau were members of Local 189 of the American Federation of Teachers, and Kehrer served as the Secretary-Treasurer of Local 189. From 1950 to 1953 Kehrer served as the Assistant Director of the Officer's Training Institute of the International Ladies' Garment Workers Union.

Relocating to Atlanta from New York in 1953, Kehrer became the Southeastern Regional Director of the ILGWU, remaining at that post through 1964. In 1965, Kehrer became the Southern Director for the AFL-CIO's Civil Rights Department, remaining there until his retirement in 1989.

Kehrer's civic and political interests encompassed activity in the Georgia Democratic Party, where he served on the Executive Committee; as a board member of the Southern Regional Council; and on the Southeastern Advisory Council of the American Red Cross. In 1966 Kehrer helped to form and serve as an officer of the Georgia Democratic Party Forum and the Ellis Arnall Write-In Campaign, efforts aimed at electing a slate of Loyalist national Democrats as delegates to the 1968 Democratic National Convention and electing Ellis Arnall Governor of Georgia. Kehrer also participated in activities of the Organized Labor and Workmen's Circle banquet committee, and served as President of the Georgia Citizens Coalition on Hunger. Kehrer has been a long-time member of Atlanta's Central Presbyterian Church, and has been active in lay organizations in the Presbyterian Church (PCUSA). He died in 1996.