“K” is for Kirkland, Joseph Lane (1992-1999). Labor leader. Born in Camden, Kirkland grew up in Newberry County and attended Newberry College. After graduating from the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, he served as a chief mate on vessels transporting cargo to battlefronts. Upon graduation from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service, he went to work in the research department of the American Federation of Labor. In 1969 he became secretary-treasurer of the AFL-CIO and a decade later was elected its president. He worked it. diligently to bring into the AFL-CIO, unions that had not been affiliated it. Under Joseph Land Kirkland’s leadership, the AFL-CIO provided financial, material, and moral support to the Polish Solidarity movement. And, the American trade union movement played a significant role in overcoming Communist rule in Poland and elsewhere in eastern Europe.
“K” is for Kirkland, Joseph Lane (1992-1999)
