Biography
Ellen R. Budow was born in 1952 and became active against the Vietnam War while attending Evanston Township High School. She later studied art and art history at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and participated in the Residence Halls Student Labor Organization (RHSLO)'s campaign to obtain recognition, collective bargaining rights, and improved conditions for student food-service and dormitory workers. During the RHSLO strike of May 1971, Budow was arrested with three other activists following a disruptive protest in Gordon Commons. Tried during the summer, she was convicted of disorderly conduct and sentenced to two months; she remained free pending appeal as of December 2, 1971, and it has not yet been established whether she ultimately served the sentence. Budow later moved to Massachusetts, where she worked as an organizer or labor activist with the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE). She died in 1974, at approximately twenty-two, reportedly after pneumonia was misdiagnosed. She is buried in Dissenters' Row near the Haymarket Martyrs' Monument at Forest Home Cemetery in Forest Park, Illinois.
