The Man Who Destroyed Jim Crow Unions Forever In 1962, Ivory Davis applied for an apprenticeship at Hughes Tool Company in Houston after 20 years of loyal service. Despite his experience, he was rejected—not because he lacked qualifications, but because he was Black. The company had operated a legal Jim Crow system for nearly 30 years, with the Independent Metal Workers Union maintaining segregated locals: all-white Local 1 and all-Black Local 2. When the 1961 union contract prohibited Black wor