On her first day of work, she discovered African American women were not hired as typists in the front office and instead was sent to the canning department to pack stew in cans for the army.
[4] In 1953, Wyatt was "elected vice president of her branch, Local 56, becoming the first black woman to hold senior office in an American labor union".
[citation needed] Wyatt was the director of the Women's Affairs and Human Rights departments of the Amalgamated Meat Cutters.
This was also the year the Wyatts began their work with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, whom they helped raise funds with for the Montgomery Improvement Association.
In the early 1960s, Eleanor Roosevelt recognized her leadership abilities and appointed her to a position on the Labor Legislation Committee of the United States Commission on the Status of Women.
[5] African American women, with Addie Wyatt at the helm, had the unparalleled experience of working on the floors of the meatpacking plants as well as being integral parts of building the unions.
[4] This not only led African American to great confidence within the labor force, but also women in general becoming financially independent and effective contributors of the economy.
This was an important step forward, not only for the second wave feminist movement, but also for the advancement of minority women who may have felt left-out by the dominant, mainstream, white feminisms.
[citation needed] Addie Wyatt contributed to the change of the meatpacking industry by being a forefront component in the labor unions.
Wyatt not only became the first black woman to hold a senior office in an American labor union, but she was being recognized for her strong leadership traits.
Addie Wyatt did more than change the face of the meat packing industry but she gave the women that came after her the opportunity to follow in her footstep and go beyond what she did.
The church began in a small, oil stained floor, house garage (located at 90th Vernon in Chicago) with a congregation made up only of the Wyatts' children, siblings and a few close faithful friends.
Wyatt's picture appeared on the magazine's cover along with First Lady Betty Ford, tennis great Billie Jean King, and Rep. Barbara Jordan, one of the first black women elected to Congress.