Sylvia Woods

Sylvia Woods

Claude Lightfoot Reception

A partial list of sponsors for a January 19, 1973 Reception in Chicago for Communist Party USA leader Claude Lightfoot included;

Linda Appelhans, Margaret Appelhans, Arnold Becchetti, Leon Beverly, Richard Criley, Reverend Martin Deppe, Ishmael Flory, Frances Gabow, Ben Green, Bill Hampton, FatherJohn Hill, Mrs. Christine Johnson, Jack Kling, Attorney Max Maiman, Margaret Palmer, John Pappademos, Ted Pearson, A. A. Rayner, Jr., Harold Rogers, Norman Roth, Attorney Irving Steinberg, Gil Terry, Robbylee Terry, Charles Wilson and Sylvia Woods.

Communist Party Affiliation

Quentin Young was close to the Communist Party USA at least until the early 1970s.

In Chicago on October 27, 1971 - The Presidential Ballroom of the Midland Hotel was packed with more than 400 people last Friday to mark the 8Oth birthday of Wiliam L.Patterson, the man who rocked the world with his charge of genocide against the U.S. imperialists. Spokesmen for the committee sponsoring the banquet told the Daily World that many who had delayed in getting reservations had to be turned away. Veterans of the working class movement said they could not remember an occasion bringing together such a broad spectrum of workers, trade unionists and professionals, in a tribute to a Communist leader.

Audience members included centenarian Jesse Hilton, Dr. Quentin Young, president of the Medical Committee for Human Rights, Sylvia Woods, chairman of the Chicago Committee to Free Angela Davis, Fr. William Hogan, chairman of the Clergy and Laity Concerned, and Obed Lopez, a leader of the Latin-American Defense Organization. Also present were Nick Jones and Virginia Jones, and Roberto Acuna of the United Farmworkers, and Sylvia Kushner, executive secretary of the Chicago Peace Council.

Illinois Communist Party

In 1976 Sylvia Woods was nominated as a candidate for the Illinois Communist Party USA as an elector for the Presidential and Vice Presidential candidates of the Communist Party USA, Gus Hall and Jarvis Tyner.

Honored by Freedom Road

Women from the national liberation struggles and the working class were honored at Freedom Road Socialist Organization/FightBack!’s annual event in Chicago, March 10 2018, to celebrate International Women’s Day. More than 60 activists heard about the Black liberation movement icons, Marion Stamps and Sylvia Woods.

Stamps, a member of the Black Panther Party, went on as an organizer in the Cabrini Green housing project to help elect Mayor Harold Washington in 1983. Marion’s memory was honored by her daughter, Tara Stamps, a leader in the Chicago Teachers Union.

Sylvia Woods began in the 1930s as a laundry worker who led a successful fight for unionization. A lifelong member of the Communist Party USA, she was the head of the Chicago Committee to Free Angela Davis, and founding co-chair of the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression. Her story was told by Mildred Williamson, who was recruited by Woods to the Alliance.