From NKAA, Notable Kentucky African Americans Database (main entry)
Thomas, Augusta Yvonne Beeler
(born: September 17, 1932 - died: October 10, 2018)This entry was suggested by Dewey Parker.
Augusta Y. Beeler Thomas spent her life fighting as a civil rights and labor activist. She was the wife of Jay V. Thomas. She was born in Louisville, KY, the daughter of Rothchild Beeler and Margaret Lee Beeler Clay. The family moved to Atlanta, GA, where Augusta was a classmate of Martin Luther King, Jr. Her family would move back to Louisville where Augusta graduated from Central High School. She would return to Atlanta to attend Clark University. She also attended the Homer G. Phillips School of Nursing in St. Louis, MO.
In 1959, Augusta Thomas served as the assistant secretary and reporter for the Parisianettes Club in Louisville. In 1960, Augusta Thomas was a participant in the lunch counter sit-ins in Greensboro, NC. In 1966, she was hired as a nursing assistant at the Louisville Veterans Administration Hospital. She was a member of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) for 52 years. Within the organization she was the National Vice President for Women and Fair Practices (WFP) from 2009-2018, working out of Washington, D.C. Thomas and a group of AFGE staff and members had created the Women’s Affairs Department in 1974. The department merged with the Fair Practices Department and became WFP. Thomas also developed the Young Organizing Unionists for the Next Generation program and the Pride program within AFGE. She promoted voter protection.
In Louisville, she was president of the Derby City Chapter of the Coalition of Labor Union Women (CLUW), starting in 1966. Starting in 1981, she was elected to the National Fair Practice Human Rights Commission. She was the Fair Practice/Affirmative Action Coordinator. Thomas served in several leadership positions in her local union, including vice-president and president. Starting in 1988, she was president of the A Philip Randolph Institute Louisville Chapter. The 6th District AFGE created the Augusta Thomas Humanitarian Award in her honor. The award is given every three years to an AFGE member who has served as a civil rights and labor activities as was Augusta Thomas. In 2013, Augusta Thomas received the Carl and Ann Braden Lifetime Achievement Award during the Annual Unity Dinner in Louisville, KY.
Sources: "Club activities," The Louisville Defender, 02/19/1959, p.11; "Profile of Black Labor Leaders. Women in the labor movement: August Thomas," Louisville Defender, 02/09/1898, p.14; "Three honored at Unity Dinner," The Louisville Defender, 12/26/2013, pp.2 & 4; Kevin Banatte and Kenneth Quinnell. "Black History Month Labor Profiles: Augusta Thomas," AFL-CIO Bog, 02/16/2015 (online); Berry Craig. "How Augusta Thomas was a tireless champion of workers' rights, civil rights," 03/22/2022, courier-journal.com (online); "AFGE Mourns Loss of Two Iconic Labor Leaders," an AFGE webpage (online); Berry Craig. "Remembering Augusta Thomas," Courier-Journal, Forum Section, 03/27/2022, pp.E1 & E4; "AFGE Honors Augusta Thomas’s Legacy in Headquarters Building," 02/27/2023, an AFGE webpage (online); see online obituary of Augusta Yvonne "Evon" Beeler Thomas at Legacy.com (online).