"Norma Rae" Inspiration Dies at 68

(AP)  Crystal Lee Sutton, whose fight to unionize Southern textile plants with low pay and poor conditions was dramatized in the film "Norma Rae," has died. She was 68.

Sutton died Friday in a hospice after a long battle with brain cancer, her son, Jay Jordan, said Monday.

"She fought it as long as she could and she crossed on over to her new life," he said.

Actress Sally Field portrayed a character based on Sutton in the movie and won a best-actress Academy Award.

Field said in a statement Sutton was "a remarkable woman whose brave struggles have left a lasting impact on this country and without doubt, on me personally. Portraying Crystal Lee Sutton in 'Norma Rae,' however loosely based, not only elevated me as an actress, but as a human being."

In 1973, Sutton was a 33-year-old mother of three earning $2.65 an hour folding towels at J.P. Stevens when a manager fired her for pro-union activity.

In a final act of defiance before police hauled her out, Sutton, who had worked at the plant for 16 years, wrote "UNION" on a piece of cardboard and climbed onto a table on the plant floor. Other employees responded by shutting down their machines.

Union organizers had targeted J.P. Stevens, then the country's second-largest textile manufacturer, because the industry was deeply entwined in Southern culture and spread across the region's small towns. However, North Carolina continues to have one of the lowest percentages of unionized workers in the country.

Bruce Raynor, president of Workers United and executive vice president of the Service Employees International Union, worked with Sutton to organize the Stevens plants. In 1974, the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union won the right to represent 3,000 employees at seven Roanoke Rapids plants in northeastern North Carolina.

"Crystal was an amazing symbol of workers standing up in the South against overwhelming odds - and standing up and winning," Raynor said Monday. "The fact that Crystal was a woman in the '70s, leading a struggle of thousands of other textile workers against very powerful, virulently anti-union mill companies, inspired a whole generation of people - of women workers, workers of color and white workers."

Sutton's son said his mother kept a photo of Field in the movie's climactic scene on her living room wall at her home in Burlington, about 20 miles east of Greensboro. But despite what many people think, she got little profit from the movie or an earlier book written about her, he said.

"When they find out she lived very, very modestly, even poorly, in Burlington, they're surprised," he said.

Jordan said his mother spent years as a labor organizer in the 1970s. She later became a certified nursing assistant in 1988 but had not been able to work for several years because of illnesses.

"She never would have been rich. She would have given it to anyone she called the working class poor, people that were deprived," Jordan said.

Sutton donated her letters and papers to Alamance Community College in 2007. She said: "I didn't want them to go to some fancy university; I wanted them to go to a college that served the ordinary folks."

[Sloughfoot]

Ordinary folk who made a difference. My hat is off to you.

[steve54z]

Textile Makers use Management who are addicted to methamphetamine, PCP, and heroin. Unions fought against these Felons on the exploitation of Workers. Mills profited greatly from low salaries to Labor. Congress must enact laws for collective bargaining. Employers circumvent current laws when abusing the appeals process and implementation of bogus training rules.

[cattiej]

There are many people like Crystal Lee Sutton. People who care about their fellow human beings. Not all of us can be rich but we can be kind to our neighbors. I am glad that a person like Crystal Lee lived and tried to help people. Can you say that same about yourself? God Bless Crystal and her family. They can be proud of her and her cause to help the poor garment workers. We lived in the South, the Republican bigwigs rule and keep the poor down, and now they are hiring illegal aliens in the south and not hiring American citizens. I suggest to you all that you boycott any products made by illegal aliens and start protesting in front of these factories..if you have the guts to do so, Crystal did!

[Bob Fitz]

Not everyone is born with the IQ to enter an institute of higher learning. Others have the academic skills but not the money to get a college education. Then there are those who are willing to work years, decades at menial jobs in factories as reliable employees enabling those WITH money to obtain more money. God rest and bless Mrs. Sutton.

[sabestu]

Mrs_cutout, You are an absolute idiot, you are ahead of your dammmn class!

[mojo1372]

I remember this lady fondly . as a person who worked in the garment industry I remember how badly people were treated in the domestic plants . she changed the quality of life for the workers.

[yurwordnmine]

Condolences to her family. Very brave woman!

[DaVicar6]

I liked Sally Field in "The Flying Nun".

[AttentionDeficit]

I thought she was mega cute in Smokey and the Bandit

[gramto8]

God has now given his punishment to her for unionizing that factory.

by mrs_cutout September 14, 2009 4:09 PM EDT


You cast your line. They take your bait. You reel them in. Every day, nothing changes. They just never learn.

[yurwordnmine]

So sad that someone would make such a rude comment about a woman that just died! Reminds me of the crackpots that go to other folks funerals and protest their causes (!!!) while the family of the deceased are there grieving.

[ladyofargonne]

She should have gotten royalties for everytime the book or movie was sold, rented or downloaded. Someone benefitted just not her. Fields won an Oscar. How many charities has she given to since then? Maybe the real Norma Rae should have been one of them.