Biography
Albert Shanker was a New York City teacher and union organizer who led the United Federation of Teachers and later the American Federation of Teachers. He advocated collective bargaining and improvements in school funding and classroom conditions. His leadership of the 1968 Ocean Hill-Brownsville strike became a deeply divisive episode in the conflict over community control of schools. The UFT chronology records two separate jail terms: 15 days in 1967 following that year's teachers' strike, and another 15 days in 1969 for the 1968 strike. The two periods are recorded separately here; the duration of the strikes is not counted as incarceration.
Photo credit
The dictionary identifies Shanker as president of the United Federation of Teachers and records a BA at the University of Illinois and an MA at Columbia. It situates his union leadership in bitter disputes about educational methods, race and antisemitism. It supplies no additional jail period.
Jacob Rader Marcus, editor, and Judith M. Daniels, associate editor, The Concise Dictionary of American Jewish Biography, printed page 584 (PDF page 579).
