Brown also held positions as First International Vice President of the executive committee of the Workers' Defense Federation and the Coalition of Black Trade Unions (CBTU).

[3] Born August 4, 1948, in Charleston, South Carolina, Brown attended Simon Graz High School in Philadelphia in 1966.

At 15, Brown worked alongside her mother, Ann Belle Jenkins Shands, in a movement to unionize the Manhattan Shirt Factory in Charleston, South Carolina.

She was instrumental in bringing together textile conglomerate JP Stevens, which in 1980 led 4,000 workers contracted through the newly formed ACTWU.

She teaches at Cornell University and consults with Trinity College on African American issues.