New mural pays tribute to labor activist in Gaston County

BESSEMER CITY, N.C. — A special tribute is in the works to honor a local activist known for her early fight for labor rights in Gaston County.

Ella May Wiggins will be commemorated for her work, nearly a century after her death.

Gaston County reporter Ken Lemon caught up with her great-granddaughter about the mark of her legacy.

Anyone driving through Bessemer City on Wednesday got a peek at the mural to honor Ella May Wiggins. The artist was touching up spots.

We won’t show you the whole thing before the unveiling Monday, and her great-granddaughter hasn’t seen it, but everything she told me seems to be represented in that image of a pioneer.

The hints are there: a labor rights sign, a woman with a baby, and a face created from the picture of Ella May Wiggins.

“I’m very proud of my heritage because of her,” said Lorrie Herron, Wiggins’ great-granddaughter.

Herron’s great-grandmother fought for workers’ rights during the Industrial Revolution.

Today, we would call Ella May Wiggins a single mother raising five children and working 12 hours a day, six days a week.

“She earned $9 a week, and she would have to work so much overtime,” Herron said.

Wiggins led the charge for unions as factories took over Gaston County.

Herron said that during the meetings, there was a line on the ground that separated Black and white workers.

“She would step over that line, and she really stood up for all people,” Herron said.

Wiggins demanded equal pay for Black workers, too.

In 1929, a mob shot and killed Wiggins as she was headed to a union meeting.

The fight for unions here dissolved, but Herron’s grandmother, the oldest of Wiggins’ surviving children, shared her mother’s story.

“She carried that torch of social justice, and that part did not die with her,” Herron said.

Shorter work hours, better conditions and pay became reality.

And Monday, a project to honor the woman who took some of those first steps will be revealed.

“When that curtain is dropped, I don’t know what kind of emotions are going to run through me, but I will be very, very proud,” Herron said.

Herron said she often wonders what her life might be like if she had a chance to talk with her great-grandmother.

She and other family members will have a chance to represent their hero on Monday.

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