Editing Actors' Equity Association (section)

==Background==
Leading up to the Actors' and Producers' strike of 1929, [[Cinema of the United States|Hollywood]] and California in general had a series of workers' equality battles that directly influenced the film industry. The films ''The Passaic Textile Strike'' (1926), ''The Miners' Strike'' (1928) and ''The Gastonia Textile Strike'' (1929) gave audience and producers insight into the effect and accomplishments of labor unions and striking.<ref name="Steven J. Ross 1999">Steven J. Ross, ''Working-Class Hollywood'' (Princeton University Press, 1999) 221</ref> These films were set apart by being current documentaries, not merely melodramas produced for glamor.

In 1896, the first Actors Union Charter was recognized by the [[American Federation of Labor]] as an attempt to create a [[minimum wage]] for actors being exploited. It was not until January 13, 1913, that the Union Charter failed. It later reemerged as the Actors Equity Association, with more than 111 actors and [[Francis Wilson (actor)|Francis Wilson]] as its founding board president.<ref name="Steven J. Ross 1999"/>