Early Life and Union Beginnings Hunter Poisal Wharton, born in Martinsburg, West Virginia on October 20, 1900, embarked on a life path that unexpectedly intertwined the worlds of labor activism and artistic expression. While he would become nationally recognized as a powerful voice for American workers, his early foundations included an education at the Carnegie Institute of Technology – a detail often overshadowed by his later prominence in union leadership. Wharton’s initial foray into the workforce took him to Pittsburgh, where he became immersed in the industrial landscape that would sha…