Oral history interview with Keith Edwards

Collection

Identifier: SR 11397

Staff Only

Audio recording and transcript of interviews with Keith Edwards

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Scope and Contents

This oral history interview with Keith Edwards was conducted by Noah Thomas in eight sessions, from November 4, 2013, to May 29, 2014. The interview was conducted as part of the Oregon Labor Oral History Program, which collects oral histories of individuals who have advocated for working people of Oregon, including public figures, union members, and workers. Several sessions were recorded at Concordia University in Portland, Oregon. In addition to the audio recordings of the interview, a transcript is available.

In this interview, Edwards discusses his family background and early life in Pratt, Kansas, and in Portland, Oregon. He also talks about his experiences as the child of a gay father, about the death of his younger brother in 1982, and about the lives and careers of his grandparents, aunts, and uncles. He talks about briefly studying math at Portland State University, and describes how he avoided the draft during the Vietnam War. He then discusses becoming an electrician and joining the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 48. He describes his experience as an apprentice and journeyman electrician, including work he did at the Trojan Nuclear Power Plant. He then speaks about working as an electrician in New York, New York, during the 1980s, and compares IBEW Local 48 in Portland to Local 3 in New York City. He speaks extensively about his work as business manager for Local 48, and discusses Local 48’s market recovery program, which ensured union members could work on any available electrical job while still earning union wages. He speaks about the IBEW’s Code of Excellence, and about education and training that the union offers to its members. He speaks about the Electrical Workers Minority Caucus within Local 48, which he cofounded in 1974. He closes the interview by discussing his plans for retirement, talking about business managers who succeeded him, and sharing his thoughts about the future of the IBEW.

Dates

Creation: 2013 November 4-2014 May 29

Creator

Edwards, Keith (LeRoy Alan Keith), 1949- (Interviewee, Person)
Thomas, Noah (Interviewer, Person)
Pacific Northwest Labor History Association (Organization)

Conditions Governing Access

Collection is open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

Copyright for this interview is held by the Oregon Historical Society. Use is allowed according to the following statement: Creative Commons - BY-NC-SA, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/

Biographical note

LeRoy Alan Keith Edwards was born in Los Angeles, California, in 1949. The next year, he moved with his family to Pratt, Kansas, and in 1958, the family moved to Portland, Oregon. Edwards attended Portland State University, then dropped out to work. In 1969, he became an electrician and joined the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Portland Local 48. In 1974, he cofounded the Electrical Workers Minority Caucus, which advocated for greater diversity in Local 48. In 1991, he became Local 48’s first Black business manager, and he later became an international business representative for the union.

Edwards married twice, first in 1972 to Cathy Louise Bard, with whom he had three children. They divorced in 1978, and the next year, he married Antoinette Jones. She had one child when they married, and they later had one child together.

Sources: Vital records in Ancestry.com; information provided by Edwards in his interview; “Change makers: Electrical Workers Minority Caucus turns 50,” by Don McIntosh and Mallory Gruben, Northwest Labor Press, June 20, 2024 (accessed May 12, 2025), https://nwlaborpress.org/2024/06/change-makers-electrical-workers-minority-caucus-turns-50/#:~:text=In%201974%2C%20Keith%20Edwards%2C%20Omar,an%20overwhelmingly%20white%20construction%20union

Extent

0.1 Cubic Feet (10 audiocassettes (9 hr., 7 min., 16 sec.) + transcript (238 pages))

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Abstract

Oral history interview with Keith Edwards, conducted by Noah Thomas in eight sessions, from November 4, 2013, to May 29, 2014, as part of the Oregon Labor Oral History Program. Edwards discusses his career as an electrician with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 48, from his apprenticeship in the 1970s to his work as international business representative for the union.