# What does the acronym CIO stand for in the context of Black civil rights? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 16, 2017, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-acronym-cio-stand-for-in-the-context-of-black-civil-rights/804617 "2017-12-16T06:12:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![davidmich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e56c9b/32.png) [@davidmich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidmich)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2017, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-acronym-cio-stand-for-in-the-context-of-black-civil-rights/804617/1 "2017-12-16T06:12:52Z")
What does the acronym CIO stand for in the following context? I look forward to your feedback “At the time of her arrest, Rosa Parks was Secretary of the Montgomery local of the NAACP, a branch that had deep roots in the city’s trade union movement. A few years earlier, as an advisor to the local’s Youth Council, she helped young African-Americans organize a campaign to borrow books from whites-only libraries. And just months before the boycott she spent time at the Highlander Folk School– a legendary leftist organizing academy supported by and influential in the growth of the CIO – as part of a program on how to organize in the climate fostered by the Supreme Court’s 1954 Brown v. Board of Educationdecision. Suffice it to say she wasno novicewhen she held her ground on the bus.” ---
**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2017, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-acronym-cio-stand-for-in-the-context-of-black-civil-rights/804617/2 "2017-12-16T06:17:09Z")
[Congress of Industrial Organizations](https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=15&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwiqicz68I3YAhUJ7GMKHQy6CTQQFghhMA4&url=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FCongress_of_Industrial_Organizations&usg=AOvVaw2Zhb-dsqkH0Y55kW_rlZuD)? ---
**Author:** ![davidmich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e56c9b/32.png) [@davidmich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidmich)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2017, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-acronym-cio-stand-for-in-the-context-of-black-civil-rights/804617/3 "2017-12-16T06:20:52Z")
> [@Nametag](#): > > [Congress of Industrial Organizations](https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=15&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwiqicz68I3YAhUJ7GMKHQy6CTQQFghhMA4&url=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FCongress_of_Industrial_Organizations&usg=AOvVaw2Zhb-dsqkH0Y55kW_rlZuD)? Thanks Nametag. I thought so too, but I’m not sure. ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2017, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-acronym-cio-stand-for-in-the-context-of-black-civil-rights/804617/4 "2017-12-16T15:00:46Z")
Typically I hear it in the context AFL-CIO, where the major union organizations have amalgamated… ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2017, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-acronym-cio-stand-for-in-the-context-of-black-civil-rights/804617/5 "2017-12-16T15:14:15Z")
The CIO was significant from a civil rights perspective, because, unlike the AFL, it didn’t allow segregated or all white unions membership. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2017, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-acronym-cio-stand-for-in-the-context-of-black-civil-rights/804617/6 "2017-12-16T17:52:24Z")
> [@Captain\_Amazing](#): > > The CIO was significant from a civil rights perspective, because, unlike the AFL, it didn’t allow segregated or all white unions membership. True. The AFofL was skilled trades, which meant white men. The unions in the AFofL wanted to keep it that way. The CIO was made up of unions that helped women and minorities organize.