Mary Moultrie

Mary Moultrie grew up on Wadmalaw Island, South Carolina. Her father worked at the naval shipyard and her mother worked as a domestic worker and housewife. Seeing her parents struggle with the difficult situation of the black working-class, she gained first-hand knowledge of the discrimination and inequality workers confronted. In her teenage years, Mary Moultrie worked for African American civil rights activist, Esau Jenkins. Mary learned more about the kind of leadership that would be demanded of her during the hospital workers strike while speaking at the Citizen's Committee and NAACP meetings alongside Jenkins. She also worked in his restaurant called J&P. There, she was exposed to much of what Jenkins advocated for, such as black individuals' rights. This experience trained her for later engagements. Mary Moultrie attended Burke High school in Charleston, South Carolina and graduated in 1960. She then enrolled at Morgan State University (MSU) in Baltimore, Maryland where she completed one semester and later left the university. == Career ==

After graduating from Burke high a local black high school Moultrie found it difficult to find a job without an education or a degree. Moultrie's parents were not wealthy and in the 1960s, grants and loans were not available for students. After the 1969 Charleston hospital strike, Moultrie continued to work at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) for six years. However working there swiftly became an inconvenience, and she took the decision to step down from her position in December 1975 to avoid further problems. She then attended Charleston College for a period of two and a half years. She began working for the city in recreation but was still met with retaliatory acts at her new workplace. In 2004, she worked as a facility manager at St. Julian Devine, a community center in Charleston, South Carolina. There, she organized recreational activities for Charleston residents, including seniors, such as after-school and athletic programs. == Charleston Strike ==

In December 1967, five nurses were fired from the Medical College Hospital (MCH) in Charleston for insubordination. They were denied access to patients’ charts by white nurses. when unions were illegal. At the same time, the HEW investigated the firings and the five nurses were reinstated. The Charleston Strike began two days later, on March 20, 1969. During the strike, on April 22, 1969, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference held its first major march in Charleston. Mary Moultrie and Reverend Ralph David Abernathy led the procession, followed by close to 800 demonstrators. She turned to church-based work instead, remaining largely absent from activism until 2007, when she re-engaged with Local 1199. == See also ==