Sylvia Woods was born in New Orleans. Some of her views on life and labor rights were inspired by her father, a follower of Marcus Garvey and a military trade unionist. When Woods was 16, she moved to Chicago to find work. Due to the Great Depression, jobs were hard to get. Woods still managed to get a job at the Great Western Laundry on the Near West Side. Later on, she would stage her first strike at the laundry.