Rose Finkelstein Norwood

Rose Finkelstein Norwood (September 10, 1890 – September 25, 1980) was an American labor organizer. During her long career she led labor campaigns for telephone operators, garment and jewelry workers, boiler makers, library staffers, teachers, sales clerks, and laundry workers. She was active in many labor and civil rights organizations, including the Boston Women's Trade Union League, the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. She was a vocal opponent of antisemitism, racism, and fascism, a lifelong supporter of women's rights and workers' education, and an advocate for the elderly.

Early life Rose Finkelstein was born on September 10, 1890, in Kiev, Russian Empire (now Kyiv, Ukraine) the second of eight children of Henry Finkelstein, a Jewish distillery worker, and Fanny Schafferman. Her family moved to the United States when she was a year old. The family settled initially in East Cambridge, Massachusetts, before moving to the Jamaica Plain neighborhood of Boston. She attended Jamaica Plain High School until her senior year, when she quit school to work as a telephone operator for New England Telephone.

As a child in East Cambridge, Rose was bullied by Irish-American youths who yelled "Christ Killer" and threw bricks at her as she walked to school. During one such attack she suffered a serious head wound, and one of her assailants was subsequently sent to prison. The family was forced to move to a less hostile neighborhood. The experience had a lasting influence on Rose, making her more sensitive to oppression and informing her anti-fascist, Zionist beliefs. Despite a lack of support from TOU's male union leaders, the predominately female operators won major concessions: their wages were increased, split shifts were abolished, and their right to organize was guaranteed. Her grandson, Stephen H. Norwood, is a noted historian and author.

Rose Norwood is remembered in connection with the WTUL on the Boston Women's Heritage Trail.