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EDITORIAL
After this historic November 3rd mid-term election, working and oppressed people need more than hope right now?
Election Day was full of oppressed peoples and working class energy! "NO to Trumpism and MAGA !" is already yielding powerful results. Our passionate volunteer network must continue to engage our co-workers, community, family and others! Joining and organizing with us, as we carry forward our demands for affordability, housing, health care for all , as well as an end to their billions of dollars WAR, political corruption/theft, attacks on voting, EEO, diversity and workers rights, unbridled AI Data centers, terrorizing our communities with ICE's detentions and murders.
WE must continue to speak with our neighbors, co-workers, invite them to our FOL World Cultural Center meetings, gatherings and make more calls, texts, e-mails across our own local communities where we are building active engagement of workers and people's power everyday. STAY ENGAGED AFTER NOVEMBER 3rd!
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Our newest FRUIT OF LABOR SINGING ENSEMBLE album, PEACE, POWER & SOULFUL RESISTANCE, is here!! It has been in the making for quite some time now, making this musical medicine slowly and more carefully than our past recordings. This one needed time because as activists, organizers and cultural worker artists we have been on the various battlefronts of our workplaces, community and mass working people actions and events. On this one, we had to "Catch A Second Breathe "(as the song goes...) in the studio before singing out again in our peoples street marches, rallies, mass peoples gatherings, and political airwaves.
This newest album...PEACE POWER SOULFUL RESISTANCE is our musical call to YOU...our fans and newcomers alike... to join the urgently needed and growing social movement for WORLD PEACE with justice, real POLITICAL POWER (not just protest and electoral wins) for Black, Brown Immigrants, Women, LGBTQ and all workers. POWER to challenge todays oppressive & exploitative systematic power of the rich oligarchs, greedy corporations and their self-serving government.
Trump's MAGA must go and can't count on just voting them out and the Dems in. We must use our people's power to challenge with working class organization and a strategy led by the most oppressed. We must engage millions of other everyday Black, Brown, oppressed, workers and working people in today's rising tide of heartfelt SOULFUL RESISTANCE.
Our foes are in an all-out war on US. Taking away our gains of hard fought for voting, civil /workers/ human rights/safe healthy environment with a awesome quality of life. We need affordable healthcare/ quality housing/food and a healthy safe Mother Earth. We must bring an end to state sanctioned white supremacy & violence, corporate/government use of AI and technology for surveillance, repression and exploitation of workers, Black/Brown people/immigrants and oppressed nations/people.
Our music is rooted in our people's history and traditions as Black working-class people of oppressed nations. We as cultural worker artists are creating and sharing our music to inspire, educate, engage and liberate our SOULFUL sprit of resistance. Another and better world is possible....Listen up and feel this music vibe...It will make you see the world we are fighting for!
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Letter from our reader:
Greetings FRUITOF LABOR!
Did you know that the gospel singer Mahalia Jackson was a domestic worker in New Orleans and Chicago before she became a nationally and internationally known gospel singer? Even after Mahalia Jackson began her fledgling singing career she continued to work as a domestic for families in Chicago. According to authors Tim Tyson and Mary D. Williams in their new book Mahalia Jackson, Moving On Up a Littler Higher: The Story of an American Civil Rights Pioneer if the powerful voiced, entrepreneurial-minded Jackson had not become a singer of acclaim she probably would have been a very successful domestic or to paraphrase have her own agency.
Elder Laughinghouse, the story of Mahalia Jackson and to a lesser degree is greatly connected to the Civil Rights Movement in Durham NC. The articles in the Herald Sun from the 1950s and 1960s show how Black clergy and various ecumenical and secular organizations rallied and protested to break down Jim Crow policies and voting rights discrimination. However, compare that to contemporary Black clergy in Durham today-- on the precipice of the midterm elections! One of the narratives not often told when Dr. King and others organized and galvanized at local Durham African American churches in the 1950s and 1960s was the rank and file workers perspective. Black workers were always well represented in these gatherings. I come from a family of domestics workers through my great grandmother and grandmother in South Carolina and my great aunt here in Durham, so I know first hand that domestic workers and factory workers were in great numbers at many of these church rallies.
Today when people see video of Mahalia Jackson singing at the March on Washington (and who had a great impact on the spiritual and mental health well being of Martin Luther King, Jr.), they are seeing a proud domestic worker.
Elder Laughinghouse, the remarkable--albeit generally unknown-- story of Mahalia Jackson is such an important one, that I have asked authors Tim Tyson and Mary D. Williams to be in discussion with Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis, Jr. on the former's book Friday, November 20, 2026, 6:30 pm at the Durham County Library Main Library. Because Ms. Jackson was an entrepreneur, musician and domestic worker we would be honored to have Black Workers for Justice or Fruit of Labor to be a co-sponsor of this program followed by a book signing. There would be no fiscal cost to your organization to be a co-sponsor. But we would like to include your logo, along with Durham County Library, the NC Council of Churches and Norton Publishing on the promotional literature.
Initially, since Revs. Grady Davis and Douglas E. Moore (Boston University Theology classmates and confidantes of Dr. King) and Floyd E. McKissick, Sr. were at the forefront of galvanizing and organizing ecumenical and secular organizations around civil/voting rights, we planned to put this conversation on at a church. Have a choir sing one of Mahalia's songs etc. Actually Dr. Grady Davis and Love H. Whelchel were the only ministers in Durham that supported Rev. Chavis during his Wilmington 10 trials and tribulations.
Also, Elder Laughinghouse did you know that Mahalia Jackson was also familiar with Marcus Garvey's UNIA from her days in youth in New Orleans and other Black empowerment organizations?
Carter B. Cue
| | NOVEMBER 2026 CALENDAR OF EVENTS | | |
2nd & 4th, Sundays; 1:00-4:00 PM; Black Farmers Market at the Montague Plaza at 2718 Rock Quarry Rd, Raleigh, NC. Go out and support Black Farmers growing healthy food to nourish our communities!
2nd, Monday; 3:00-5:00 PM; Kitchen Creations with Eatwell Exchange sponsors a Youth Cooking Class; St Monica Teen Center 15N Tarboro St.; Raleigh, NC. A fun hands on cooking experience to help teens build confidence in the kitchen while discovering how delicious healthy eating can be. Free. Contact Jasmine at jasmine@eatwellexchange.org for more information.
7th, Saturday; 6:30-8:30 PM: Join us for Family Friendly Karaoke! We’ll sing together, eat together, and share positive vibes. All ages are welcome, from children to elders. Come nod your head, tap your feet, bounce your shoulders and sing along with the beat. Contact Angaza at (919) 272-5169 for more info and to RSVP.
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12-14; Thursday – Saturday; Race Forward - Facing Race National Conference. Facing Race is the nation’s largest multiracial, intergenerational racial justice conferenceWe can achieve racial justice by learning from the many wins of movement leaders and ancestors of the past, and understanding that time and again, we have only been successful when we have risen together in solidarity. Thus, this year’s Facing Race theme is Rooted in Resistance, Powered by Solidarity. Fruit of Labor Singing Ensemble brings songs of inspiration to the opening program! For more information: www.facingrace.raceforward.org
15th, Sunday; 12:30 PM; Black Land Loss Clinic & RCCFJBE Membership Orientation; Beaver Dam Community Center; 945 Ledbetter Road, Rockingham, NC;
Key Discussion Areas:
1. Protecting Black Family Land: Heirs’ property, ancestral land, and preventing generational land loss
2. Environmental Justice: Local concerns about land, water, and the proposed Amazon data center, including
3: RCCFJBE Membership & Spring Expungement Clinic: Welcome new members, recruit volunteers, expand outreach, and connect residents with legal resources.
| 21st, Saturday; 6:00-9:00 PM; Social Justice Fundraiser! Live Music, Food, Dancing, Trivia, Prizes, Good News & Fun! $20 donation or 4 people can get in for the price of 3! RSVP to fruitoflaborwcc@netscape.com or call (919) 876-7187. | |
Mark Your Calendar
December 27, Sunday; 3:00-6:00 PM; African-American Community Kwanzaa Celebration at FOLWCC! Music, Karamu-Feast, Poetry, Good News, Poetry, Dancing, Storytelling, Vendors. If you are interested in being on the planning committee, please contact us at (919) 876-7187 or email fruitoflaborwcc@netscape.com.
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Coming this fall at the Fruit of Labor World Cultural Center
Community Quilting Classes
It's A Girl Thing!!: Rag-a-WHAT?? Quilting has a long and important history in the African American community and on the African continent before the slave trade industry began. Born out of necessity, enslaved women created quilts to supplement their sparse bedding. These quilts served as a creative outlet for the women to assert their agency, identity, and legacy during a time when reading and writing were illegal for them. Learn about this rich history while creating your own easy Rag Quilt. This class will be taught by experienced quilter, Cynthia Hayes. Our first class will be 3 to 4 hours depending on how well people sew. There will be a total of 4 classes, the rest of the classes will be 2 hours or less. The first class covers a history, introduction and the quilt top squares. The cost of the class will be $35 each person. Contact Cynthia Hayes at chayes10@gmail.com with your interest in registering for the class, questions about dates and time of classes and a list of items/supplies needed for the class.
Information: Easy Rag Quilt
We will make a Rag Quilt using a Jelly Roll. A jelly roll is a roll of pre-cut strips of fabric, each piece of fabric measuring 2½ x 44/45" and there are 40 fabric strips in a roll. Jelly roll patterns tend to be fairly simple. They're perfect for making quick, eye-catching quilts in your favorite color scheme. A jelly roll rag quilt is an ideal project for a beginner quilter.
If you find that you do not have all the items the first day of class don't stress, quilters are like family, we care and share, and there will always be someone with more than enough to lend a helping hand.
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FOLWCC Special Event Rental
Need a special place for your special event?
Award-Winning Fruit of Labor World Cultural Event Center
Main Center | Café –Meeting Room | Outdoor Garden Area
The Fruit of Labor World Cultural Center and the World Cultural Café are your place. The 2,000 sq. ft. World Cultural Center, with a big screen and surround sound theater, is the ideal intimate setting for:
- Parties & Game Nights
- Movie Screenings
- Organizational & Business Meetings
- Receptions
- Classes, Seminars & Workshops
- Gatherings to Watch Sporting Events
- Conferences
- Art Shows
- Religious & Family Gatherings
- Small Concerts & Fundraisers
- Bridal & Baby Showers
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