Biography
Alice Burke, born Alice Phillips in Montana in 1909, was a Communist and Unemployed Council organizer in Birmingham, Alabama. She and Wirt Taylor were arrested on November 7, 1932, after leading a relief demonstration of Black and white unemployed workers. She was convicted in the city recorder’s court and again in circuit court on May 9, 1933. On June 5, the court imposed a $100 fine, 100 days of hard labor for failure to pay it and another 150 days of hard labor. While held in Jefferson County Jail, Burke wrote about its food, sanitation and treatment of prisoners. The International Labor Defense furnished $2,000 bond, securing her and Taylor’s release on July 24, 1933, pending appeal. She later ran as a Communist candidate for the U.S. Senate and governor of Virginia.
The Daily Worker of December 24, 1932, page 1, reports a separate arrest on the night of December 22 at a protest meeting in a white worker's home in East Lake, Alabama. Four policemen entered with drawn guns, and she was being held incommunicado. The paper identifies her as the wife of Donald Burke, the International Labor Defense southern organizer. This report does not establish the formal charge or disposition of this December arrest and is distinct from the November 7 relief-demonstration case.
The October 9, 1934 Daily Worker profile of Wirt Taylor names blocking traffic, disturbing the peace and meeting without a permit as the charges against Taylor and Alice Burke following their November 7, 1932 relief demonstration. It describes Taylor’s infected foot and the prison protests that helped secure medical attention. Its six-month and fine-based description differs from the separately recorded final hard-labor judgment; the report does not replace that judgment or establish an additional actual term. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1934/v11-n242-NAT-oct-09-1934-DW-LOC.pdf#page=5
A June 11, 1933 letter from Birmingham jail, printed June 15, describes Burke as ill while confined and discusses the defense campaign with Wirt Taylor. This corroborates her existing Birmingham custody; it does not establish another arrest or a physical release. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1933/v010-n143-NY-jun-15-1933-DW-LOC.pdf#page=3
The November 8, 1932 Birmingham report published November 9 describes the November 7 relief demonstration of Black and white unemployed workers. Taylor and Burke attempted to explain the delegation’s demands, and city commissioners ordered their arrest. This adds contemporary organizing context to the existing November 7 prosecution; the order itself supplies no new measured detention or release and does not alter the independently established July 24, 1933 bail endpoint. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1932/v09-n268-NY-nov-09-1932-DW-LOC.pdf#page=1
The September 6, 1933 Daily Worker describes Burke recently released on bond from Birmingham jail after organizing Black and white unemployed workers for relief. It announces a tour with Ruby Bates after Ada Wright returned to Chattanooga following her brother’s death. This corroborates the existing bail release without replacing the documented July 24 day with the September publication date, adding a second sentence or assuming the proposed tour occurred. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1933/v10-n214-sep-06-1933-DW-LOC.pdf#page=2
A November 11 Birmingham dispatch printed in the November 12, 1932 Daily Worker, page 1, reports an initial sentence of six months at hard labor and a $100 fine for the November 7 unemployment demonstration. It describes efforts to secure bail, not an accomplished release. This contemporary initial sentence is a separate stage from the later 1933 jury proceeding and judgment already documented in the case. The report does not state the exact initial sentencing day. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1932/v09-n271-NY-nov-12-1932-DW-LOC.pdf#page=1
Labor Defender, August 1933, PDF page 22: The Birmingham district report recalls their November 7, 1932 arrests at the old courthouse unemployment-relief meeting and reports two trials followed by a $100 fine and six months at hard labor in Judge McElroy’s court. It describes an intended Supreme Court defense campaign. This nominal six-month account differs from the separately documented June 5 judgment and does not replace it, prove six months actually served, or create another arrest. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/labordefender/1933/v09n08-aug-1933-lab-def.pdf#page=22
The June 22 report places them in custody following the November 7, 1932 unemployment demonstration and six-month sentences plus $100 fines. It describes additional confinement because the fines could not be paid and says Burke was ill and denied medical attention. The published term is not used as a complete actual duration. Daily Worker, June 22, 1933, original PDF page 2. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1933/v010-n149-NY-jun-22-1933-DW-LOC.pdf#page=2
A reported outside medical visit and food deprivation
The July 20 issue reports that Alice Burke was ill from bad food in Jefferson County Jail, Birmingham. It says an outside physician, Dr. Elkourie, visited on Wednesday while warden Erwin remained nearby; Burke described losing ten pounds and being refused medical attention and prescribed milk. The allegations are attributed to the newspaper’s account and Burke’s statements, not a new independent clinical finding. The article describes a campaign to obtain bond release for her and Wirt Taylor; this is an appeal, not proof of physical discharge. The general men’s food protest, flooding and solitary confinement are not assigned to Burke individually. No new arrest, admission, medical-event day field, discharge or numerical counter is inferred, and the existing July 24 bond release and distinct December 1932 arrest remain unchanged.
Daily Worker, July 20, 1933, original pages 2. Accounts and allegations are attributed to the newspaper.
A Birmingham dispatch dated Sunday January 29 names Alice Burke among ten people arrested Friday night at a private-home unemployed meeting in Fairfield. It explicitly says the defendants spent Friday night in jail and were bailed out Saturday, supporting January 27 arrest/admission and January 28 bail release. This is a separate episode from her November 1932 and December East Lake arrests. The resulting one-date-boundary interval does not measure the hours of the overnight hold.
The review reports Burke and Wirt Taylor released on bond after their Birmingham relief sentences. It corroborates the already recorded bail episode and supplies no new individual exact date.
Burke’s first-person Jefferson County jail letter describes racist labeling of her and Taylor, a warden suspended after her protest, vermin, medical neglect by Dr. Collins, inadequate food, blocked reading material and solitary punishment on an iron slab. The article links her to the November 7, 1932 arrest and pending appeal. Conditions are attributed to the letter; future appeal is not release.
