Birmingham Labor Advocate

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The Birmingham Labor Advocate was a weekly newspaper published in Birmingham from 1888 to 1948 and allied with the international labor movement and, specifically the American Federation of Labor (AFL).

Founded as a daily in 1888 by Jere Dennis, an AFL organizer, the paper switched to a weekly schedule in 1891 and became the official mouthpiece for the Birmingham Trades Council, which Dennis served as president in 1893.

William Mailly, a miner blacklisted after the 1894 miners' strike, served Dennis as Associate Editor from 1895 to 1896. By 1903 the paper, published weekly on Saturdays from offices at 216½ 20th Street North, was also affiliated with the United Mine Workers District 20, the Alabama State Federation of Labor, and the Bessemer and Ensley Central Labor Bodies.

James H. F. Mosley took over as publisher after Dennis left in 1896 to run for the Alabama House of Representatives. Mailly stayed on as associated editor. At that time the paper's offices were located at 112½ 20th Street North. A fire on December 28, 1905 caused the Labor Advocate to move from 216½ 20th Street North to temporary offices in the Hood Building on the northwest corner of 3rd Avenue North and 20th Street. In 1908 the paper was printed at the American Newspaper Union at 2229 1st Avenue South. In 1909 the newspaper offices had returned to the Hood building. occupying room 450.

In 1910 Percy Hurlbutt, the secretary of the Journeyman Tailors' Union of America Local No. 75 became publisher of the Labor Advocate. By 1920 the publication office had moved to 411½ 20th Street North, near the Tutwiler Hotel. In the early 1940s it was located in the Peoples' Drug building at 1729 3rd Avenue North.

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