A Night of Tar, Feathers, and Terror: Anti-labor Vigilantism in Sonoma

Each July since 1994, San Francisco has played host to LaborFest, an event established to institutionalize the history and culture of working people in an annual labor cultural, film, and arts festival. As part of this year’s LaborFest, CHS hosted an evening gallery talk entitled A Night of Tar, Feathers, and Terror: Anti-labor Vigilantism in Sonoma.

In the evening of August 21, 1935 a band of vigilantes abducted Sol Nitzberg—a Jewish Sonoma County chicken farmer—along with three other labor organizers. Nitzberg and Silva Green (another organizer) were tarred and feathered and forced by the mob to parade through Santa Rosa. For our event, Barry Nitzberg—grandson of Sol Nitzberg— and historian Ken Kann were present at the CHS galleries to unpack the history of labor organizing in and vigilante terror in Sonoma County, including the 1935 Sebastopol Apple Pickers Strike, the assault on Nitzberg and Green, and the role of ACLU in the subsequent trial.

CHS member Oliver Pollak wrote the following response and event recap in the evening in the San Diego Jewish World:

"Imagine, 1974 was 39 years after the event, and 2018 was 44 years after the book. Who would still be interested 83 years after the event? Well, an over-flow crowd of one hundred fifty people attended, some were sitting on the staircase. These children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and friends of Zionists, Communists, Socialists, the old left, anarchists and some red diaper babies listened intently and then asked questions, some of which recalled the tension between the Rechters (right wing) and Linkers (left wing), echoes of the McCarthy anti-communist inquisition, Israel socialism and Zionism in Israel."

Read more here.

National Library Week: The American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California

Fred Korematsu letter: Salt Lake City, to Ernest Besig, American Civil Liberties of Northern California records, MS 3580, California Historical Society

As a historian based in New Zealand interested in the history of radicalism and repression in California, I have found the records of the American Civil Liberties Union held at the California Historical Society of immense value. Since San Francisco was a major site of confrontation in the mid- to late 20^th century and the ACLU was heavily involved in defending minorities, labor unions, immigrants, and radicals being persecuted and prosecuted, the ACLU-NC collection gives important insights into efforts to resist the power of the state, major interest groups, and federal government.  It provides important evidence about the effects of repressive legislation including the state law against criminal syndicalism and federal legislation, such as the Alien Registration Act (Smith Act). It reveals the efforts to civil libertarians, including local lawyers based in San Francisco and Oakland,  to defend radicals, union officials, union organizers, and groups deemed to be subversive, which ultimately resulted in some important Supreme Court decisions such as Yates vs. the United States (1957).

The records are also extremely useful for revealing conflicts between the ACLU’s Board of Directors and the Northern California branch over such vexed questions as to whether members of the Communist Party could serve on the Board and deserved the protection of the Bill of Rights. It becomes possible to trace the ACLU’s internal upheaval  in 1940 and again in the early 1950s over these questions in which the ACLU of Northern California was a stronger supporter civil liberties than the national organization. Such insights make the ACLU collection at the California Historical Society of great significance for investigating the conflict between civil liberties and domestic security, an issue just as relevant in the current climate as it during important periods in the past.  

As a visitor from a New Zealand university, I was also impressed by the professionalism and the supportive environment provided by the archival staff at the California Historical Society. Communications prior to my visit were done extremely well and the records were ready for me when I arrived.  The positive attitude and expertise made the task of researching both enjoyable and productive. For someone who usually has too little time to spend during a research trip, the quality of the staff and their interest in helping the researcher was much appreciated.

Dolores Janiewski,

Associate Professor

School of History, Philosophy, Political Science & International Relations

Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand