Ragers: Hattie Canty

Hattie Canty (1933-2012) was one of the greatest strike leaders in U.S. history.

This month, we’re highlighting Ragers: women who used their anger— often righteous, though not always— to accomplish extraordinary things.

History classes can get a bad rap, and sometimes for good reason. When we were students, we couldn’t help wondering... where were all the ladies at? Why were so many incredible stories missing from the typical curriculum? Enter, Womanica. On this Wonder Media Network podcast we explore the lives of inspiring women in history you may not know about, but definitely should.

Every weekday, listeners explore the trials, tragedies, and triumphs of groundbreaking women throughout history who have dramatically shaped the world around us. In each 5 minute episode, we’ll dive into the story behind one woman listeners may or may not know–but definitely should. These diverse women from across space and time are grouped into easily accessible and engaging monthly themes like Educators, Villains, Indigenous Storytellers, Activists, and many more.  Womanica is hosted by WMN co-founder and award-winning journalist Jenny Kaplan. The bite-sized episodes pack painstakingly researched content into fun, entertaining, and addictive daily adventures. 

Womanica was created by Liz Kaplan and Jenny Kaplan, executive produced by Jenny Kaplan, and produced by Liz Smith, Grace Lynch, Maddy Foley, Brittany Martinez, Edie Allard, Lindsey Kratochwill, Adesuwa Agbonile, Carmen Borca-Carrillo, Taylor Williamson, Ale Tejeda, Sara Schleede, and Abbey Delk. Special thanks to Shira Atkins. 

Original theme music composed by Miles Moran.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Hello from Wonder Media Network. I'm Jenny Kaplan and this
is Womanicut. This month we're highlighting ragers, women who use
their anger, often righteous, though not always, to accomplish extraordinary things.
Today we're talking about one of the greatest strike leaders
in US history. Please welcome Hattie Canty. I'm just a

(00:31):
Southern country girl and one who will not take no
for an answer. One who if you say it can't
be done, why it can't be done, let me try.
If it can be fixed, I can fix it, or
I get somebody to fix it. Hattie was born in
nineteen thirty three in Saint Stephen's, Alabama, a small community

(00:52):
right outside of Mobile. As soon as she finished high school,
she got married, had two kids, and found work as
a cook. Soon thereafter, Hattie's husband passed away. Looking for
a new start and more job opportunities, she left the
South and moved to California, her two young children in

(01:12):
tow Hattie landed in San Diego and married for the
second time. Five years later, her family relocated, this time
to Las Vegas. Her husband worked in construction while Hattie
worked as a janitor for the Clark County School District.
Then her husband got sick, and in nineteen seventy five

(01:34):
passed away from lung cancer. Hattie was in a tough spot.
She had two children out of the house and eight
more at home, and she was now left to care
for them all by herself. Hattie joined the Culinary Workers'
Union and sought work as a hotel maide. She spent
the next decades stripping down beds, scrubbing toilets, and vacuuming
carpets at the Maximum Hotel and Casino on the Vegas Strip.

(02:00):
During this time, Hattie became more interested in labor organizing.
She saw the connections between workers' rights and the civil
rights movement. You couldn't have one without the other, and
as a black union worker, she was going to fight
for both. Even family and friends weren't exempt from Hattie's
pro labor values. One day in nineteen eighty four, Hattie

(02:23):
and her son were on their way to work, and
her son asked if Hattie would give his friend a ride.
They picked him up, and as they got to talking,
he mentioned he was on his way to work at
the Desert Inn. Hattie knew the workers at the Desert
Inn were currently on strike. She immediately stopped the car. Scab,
get out of my car, Hattie said, I'm not taking
no scabs to work. In nineteen ninety, Hattie was elected

(02:48):
president of the Culinary Workers' Union. She was the first
black woman to hold the position, and Hattie threw herself
even deeper into labor activism. Every day she wasn't working,
Hattie was walking in picket lines. She went to jail
at least six times because of her civil disobedience. In
nineteen ninety one, Hattie and the Culinary Workers' Union joined

(03:12):
forces with four other unions in the city to organize
against the New Frontier Hotel and Gambling Hall, a notoriously
anti union establishment. The strike lasted six years, four months,

(03:33):
and ten days, making one of the longest strikes in
American history. The hotel's food servers, hotel maids, and cooks
walked away earning two dollars more an hour than they
did before the strike began. Another of Hattie's biggest achievements

(03:54):
was organizing a job training program for new union members.
Of the women who went through the training left with
jobs in the service industry. By the mid nineteen nineties,
hotel employees in Las Vegas were earning double the average
wages of service employees in other cities. That's at least
in part thanks to Hattie's years of tireless organizing work.

(04:19):
I am living proof that a maid can own a home,
She can buy her cars, she can pay taxes on
that home, she can send her kids to college, Hattie said.
Hattie passed away on July twelfth, twenty twelve. She was
seventy nine years old. All month, We're talking about ragers.

(04:39):
For more information, check us out on Facebook and Instagram
at Wamanica Podcast special thanks to Liz Kaplan, my favorite
sister and co creator. Talk to you tomorrow