Nelson "Jack" Edwards (deceased)
Vice President
UAW

Nelson "Jack" Edwards began his union career during the big surge to unions in the 1930s. After going north, from a farm near Montgomery, Alabama, to industrial Detroit, Edwards was elected UAW union steward to represent workers in Chrysler's Foundry plant. Later, he became active in Local 900, where he was elected to the local's bargaining committee in 1944. The International UAW appointed him an International Representative based on Detroit's west side in 1947. He held this post for 15 years, until May 1962, when delegates to the UAW's national convention elected him Member-at-large on the UAW's International Executive Board. A year later, in May 1963, he was asked by UAW President Walter P. Reuther to go to Birmingham, Alabama to assist African Americans in their historic struggle for equality. Sadly, shortly after Edwards was elected CBTU's first national treasurer, he was slain in Detroit in November, 1974. In honor of his long and distinguished career and his unflagging commitment to empowering black workers, CBTU established the prestigious Nelson "Jack" Edwards Award.