Historical/Biographical Note

The Colbys, a New England family, settled at Colby's Landing, California, where Josephine Colby was born on April 14, 1878. Colby was tutored at home, then attended high school in Berkeley. She earned a bachelor's degree in 1899 from the University of California, and studied in Chicago at the American Conservatory of Music. Colby was married briefly to Louis Kramer, from 1921-24. She resided at Brookwood Labor College in Katonah, New York, and owned a cottage in Nantucket, Massachusetts which she sometimes leased in the summer.

Colby was dubbed "Polly" by her colleagues and students, ostensibly because there was already a Josephine (Bennett) at Brookwood. Previously a high school teacher in Oakland and Fresno California (1915-19), and an instructor at Chicago Labor College (1921), Colby was an instructor of basic English grammar, structure, and composition. These skills were particularly vital to Brookwood students, many of whom were of foreign origin and limited educational backgrounds. In her twelve year tenure (1922-34) at Brookwood, Colby served as one of the faculty directors on the Brookwood Board of Directors, taught daily classes, advised individual students, and worked on a manuscript titled "Grammar for Workers," which was never completed. Colby also directed the Brookwood Players and the school chorus.

Brookwood Labor College was the successor of a short-lived Brookwood School, begun by William Mann Fincke in the autumn of 1919. Brookwood opened its doors to students in October 1921. The college featured a two-year course in the social sciences which, according to the college prospectus, was intended to "educate workers to work in the workers' movement."

In 1925 Brookwood became incorporated. Within a few years after its establishment Brookwood was officially endorsed, and in most cases financially supported, by thirteen national and international unions. The college was also one of forty affiliates of the Workers' Education Bureau (WEB). Through its classroom training, institute and conference programs, and its influence in the Labor Publication Society (which issued the monthly magazine Labor Age) Brookwood became a source of opposition to American Federation of Labor (AFL) leadership and policies. The AFL leadership in turn became increasingly suspicious of Brookwood. In 1928 the AFL censured Brookwood and demanded that all affiliates withdraw support from the college. The following year, Brookwood spearheaded the formation of the Conference for Progressive Labor Action. (CPLA)

Three factors were crucial to Brookwood's decline in the 1930s: fewer unions lent financial support, depression conditions prevailed, and the departure of A.J. Muste (faculty chairman) in 1933 left the college without strong leadership. Although Brookwood finally closed its doors in 1937, many Brookwood staff and graduates played roles in the emerging Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) during the 1930s and 1940s.

In addition to her Brookwood classes, Colby taught evening classes for the New York Central Trades and Labor Council College and the International Ladies Garment Workers Union and taught at the Barnard and Bryn Mawr Summer Schools for Women Workers in Industry.

Colby was actively involved in the development of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) during the early 1920s as First Secretary of the California State Federation of Teachers; Vice President and Field Secretary, AFT; and Director of Publicity, Chicago office. She was instrumental in organizing Workers' Education Local 189 (composed of the Brookwood faculty), and served as its president and later secretary.

After relinquishing her Brookwood post in 1934, Colby went to Moscow and taught English to technicians at the Institute of Languages. No precise death date has been confirmed; however, one of Colby's correspondents believes that she died in 1938.

Sources

Jonathan Bloom. "Brookwood Labor College, 1921-33: Training Ground for Union Organizers", MA Thesis, Rutgers University, 1978. Copy at Tamiment Library/Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives, NYU.

James O. Morris. Conflict within the AFL, Chapter IV and V. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University, 1958.