of students is not clear. Some sources list 20, others 15, and some say just 12. Most of them were union members. Just under half of all students were immigrants, and more than half had never graduated from high school. Attendees came from all over the United States, and immigrants came from all over the world. Although most students were Christian, many were Jewish, and religious tolerance was enforced at the school. Students ranged in age from their late teens into their early 40s. The age range of students tended to narrow in Brookwood's later years, with most students aged 21-to-30 years of age (although some were older and some younger). Brookwood had 40 students in 1926 and 42 students in May 1927. Later classes saw enrollment expand to as many as 50 students, although most years the number was 30 to 40. Students in the first class came mostly from four industries: coal mining, garment manufacturing, machining, and textile manufacturing. In time, students from the agricultural, baking, carpentry, education, electronics manufacturing, food preparation, maritime, metalworking, painting, plumbing, railroad, retail, shoemaking, tailoring, taxicab, textile, upholstery, and woodworking sectors as well as the building trades. Brookwood was co-educational from the beginning. During its history, about a third of all its students were women. Brookwood was also racially integrated, and black students participated fully and equally in the life of the school. An African American student was elected student body president, and another elected to the board of directors. Courses emphasized the problems of black workers, and noted black labor leaders such as A. Philip Randolph and W. E. B. Du Bois lectured there. Brookwood's student body was also international in make-up. By 1925, the school had five foreign students (two from Denmark, and one each from Belgium, Japan, and the United Kingdom). That same year, the school (with financial assistance from the Workers' Education Bureau) began sending its students overseas to study at foreign labor colleges. Brookwood leadership and faculty expected their students to work in the labor movement, and most did. A survey of the school's graduates found that 80 percent of them worked for labor unions. Brookwood's graduates were so numerous, they formed a sizeable percentage of the mid-level staffers working in American labor unions throughout most of the 20th century. AFL conflicts with Brookwood AFL control of the WEB Since its founding in 1886, the American Federation of