25 Facts About Sandra Feldman

Sandra Feldman was an American educator and labor leader who served as president of the American Federation of Teachers from 1997 to 2004.

Sandra Feldman's mother worked part-time in a bakery, but was often ill.

Sandra Feldman attended James Madison High School in the New York City public school system.

Sandra Feldman entered Brooklyn College, where she studied English literature.

Sandra Feldman became active in socialist politics and the Civil Rights Movement.

Sandra Feldman soon became employment committee chairwoman of the Congress of Racial Equality in Harlem.

Sandra Feldman participated in several Freedom Rides, and was arrested twice.

Paul Sandra Feldman later became editor of the socialist magazine "New America" and a member of the Socialist Party's national executive committee.

From 1963 to 1966, Sandra Feldman worked to obtain a master's degree in literature at New York University.

Sandra Feldman continued to be active in the Civil Rights Movement, participating in the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in 1963.

Sandra Feldman was elected its secretary in 1983.

Sandra Feldman had been involved in early negotiations over additional funding for the independent school, and Ocean Hill-Brownsville principal Rhody McCoy alleged that Feldman had not objected to the disciplinary actions at the time they were made.

In many respects, Sandra Feldman was the UFT's point-person on the ground in Ocean Hill-Brownsville.

Sandra Feldman was deeply conflicted by her role in the strikes, and hurt by accusations of racial insensitivity.

Sandra Feldman had been elected an AFT vice president in 1974, serving on the national union's executive council and the executive council's executive committee.

Sandra Feldman was chair of the AFT's Educational Issues Program and Policy Council, a constitutionally mandated body which advised the AFT executive council on teacher issues.

Sandra Feldman ran for and won election as the AFT's president in July 1998, becoming the union's first female president since 1930.

In May 1997, Sandra Feldman was elected to the AFL-CIO executive council and appointed to the executive council's executive committee.

Sandra Feldman faced a number of significant challenges in her first two years in office.

Sandra Feldman oversaw several state and local merger efforts, particularly in Minnesota, Montana and Florida.

Sandra Feldman pushed for and won convention approval for the addition of an executive vice president for the AFT, the first new executive officer to be added to the union's governing structure in its history.

Sandra Feldman moved quickly to ensure that the plan was implemented, establishing several new executive council committees and task forces and seeking further constitutional and organizational changes to the union's political fund-raising efforts.

Sandra Feldman announced in March 2004 that she would retire as president of the AFT at its regular biennial convention in July.

Sandra Feldman died on September 18,2005, at the age 65.

Sandra Feldman was survived by her second husband, Arthur Barnes, two stepchildren, two grandchildren, and her brother and sister.