Shaw, Ralph, 1902-1987.

Communist party members active in organizing southern Illinois coal miners during the 1930's.

Was a delegate to the World Anti-Fascist Congress, Moscow, 1935, organizer for the C.I.O. as a field representative from 1936-1939, attended, with his wife Sarah, and participated in the First International Steel Workers Organizing Committee held in Pittsburgh, Pa. in 1937, served in WWII, and participated in the invasion at Normandy. He was a thirty year member of the Tool and Die Makers Lodge No. 113 to the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, AFL-CIO. Sarah, his wife, received an M.A. in Political Science from Washington University in St. Louis, Mo. in 1933, and was a Phi Beta Kappa. She was arrested and jailed at a Gillespie, Ill. miners meeting on Aug. 5, 1934. She and her husband served on the Unemployment Council of Montgomery and Macoupin Counties. In 1975 Ralph traveled to Yugoslavia with his daughter, Beatrice, and wrote a book titled Falcons Still Fly in Yugoslavia.

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