Beatrice Lumpkin (1918–2026)

Beatrice Lumpkin, a tenured professor of mathematics at Malcolm X College and a lifelong labor activist, passed away on June 15, 2026.   She was 107 years old.

Born Beatrice Shapiro on August 3, 1918, in the Bronx, New York, to Russian Jewish immigrant parents who were members of the Jewish Labour Bund, Lumpkin’s commitment to social justice was forged early. At just 16, while a freshman at Hunter College, she led a successful milk boycott against a cafeteria price hike—her first act of student organizing. That same spirit of defiance would define her next eight decades.

While Bea is best known, and rightly so,  as a CTU member and activist, she was a member of Local 1600 during the fighting strike years of the late 1960s and 1970s.  After years of blue-collar work in laundries, machine shops, and assembly lines, Lumpkin pursued her passion for education. She became an accredited mathematics teacher, first in the Chicago public schools and later as an associate professor at Malcolm X College, part of the City Colleges of Chicago. There, she was a beloved educator who brought history to life in her math classes, researching the origins of mathematics in Africa to counter eurocentrism in the curriculum. She authored several books on history and mathematics, including Young Genius in Old Egypt, and her scholarship appeared in publications such as The Mathematics Teacher and Historia Mathematica.

As a member of the Cook County College Teachers Union (CCCTU), which represents faculty and staff across Cook County’s community colleges, Lumpkin was a fierce advocate for her colleagues and her students. A leader in the Chicago Teachers Union, she organized tirelessly for fair wages, working conditions, and the dignity of all educators. She was also a co-founder of the Coalition of Labor Union Women in 1974, helping to amplify women’s voices in the labor movement.

Lumpkin’s activism extended far beyond the classroom. She and her husband, Frank Lumpkin—a steelworker who led a 17-year fight for justice after Wisconsin Steel closed without paying its workers—endured blacklists, red-baiting, and unemployment during the McCarthy era. Beatrice chaired the Wisconsin Steel Workers Women’s Committee, standing shoulder to shoulder with her husband in the struggle. Even in her later years, she joined picket lines in support of Chicago public school teachers and Wisconsin public sector workers fighting to preserve collective bargaining rights.

In her autobiography, Joy in the Struggle: My Life and Love, Lumpkin captured the essence of her remarkable journey—a testament to one person’s power to shape history. As she often said, finding joy in the struggle was not just her philosophy but her life’s practice.

Beatrice Lumpkin is survived by her children and grandchildren. Her legacy lives on in every student she taught, every union she helped build, and every activist she inspired.

Bea Lumpkin (seated in the blue shirt) with members of CCCTU at the 2022 IFT Convention.