Organized Labor and the Black Worker, 1619-1981

by Philip S. Foner, Robin D. G. Kelley (Foreword by)

Overview

In this classic account, historian Philip Foner traces the radical history of Black workers’ contribution to the American labor movement.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781608467877
Publisher:	Haymarket Books
Publication date:	01/02/2018
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	520
Sales rank:	1,004,006
Product dimensions:	8.50(w) x 4.90(h) x 1.30(d)

About the Author

Philip S. Foner (1910-1994) was an American historian and professor who taught and lectured all over the world. He wrote and edited more than a hundred books, including the ten-volume History of the Labor Movement in the United States and The Black Panthers Speak.
 

Robin D. G. Kelley is Professor and Gary B. Nash Endowed Chair in U.S. History at UCLA. He is the author of Hammer and Hoe, Race Rebels, Freedom Dreams: The Black Radical Imagination, and Thelonious Monk: The Life and Times of an American Original, among other titles. His writing has been featured in the Journal of American History, American Historical Review, Black Music Research Journal, African Studies Review, New York Times, The Crisis, The Nation, and Voice Literary Supplement.

Table of Contents

Foreword Robin D. G. Kelley ix

Preface xxi

1 From Slavery to Freedom 3

2 The Reconstruction Period 17

3 The Colored National Labor Union 30

4 The Knights of Labor and the Black Worker 47

5 The AF of L and the Black Worker, 1881-1915 64

6 The AF of L and the Black Worker, 1881-1915 (Cont.) 82

7 The Railroad Brotherhoods and the IWW, 1890-1915 103

8 The Black Worker on the Eve of World War I 120

9 The Rise of the Black Industrial Working Class, 1915-18 129

10 The AF of L and the Black Worker During World War I 136

11 Postwar Black Militancy 144

12 The AF of L and the Black Worker, 1921-29 158

13 The Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters 177

14 Black Workers During the Great Depression 188

15 The AF of L and the Black Worker, 1934-35 204

16 The CIO and the Black Worker, 1935-39 215

17 World War II 238

18 The Economic Status of the Black Worker, 1945-55 269

19 The Cold War Witch Hunts and the Black Worker 275

20 The National Negro Labor Council, 1951-55 293

21 The AFL-CIO and the Black Worker: The First Five Years 312

22 The Negro-Labor Alliance, 1960-65 332

23 The Negro-Labor Alliance, 1965-68 355

24 Memphis and Charleston: Triumph of the Negro-Labor Alliance 378

25 Black Power in the Unions 397

26 The Black Worker, 1970-1981 425

Notes 441

Selected Bibliography 468

Index 472

Editorial Reviews

"Foner's careful and detailed scholarship makes this the best one-volume study of blacks and the labor movement currently available."
—The Black Scholar

"The standard of accuracy and reasoned argument maintained in this work should make it the standard on its subject for a long time."
—Professor Davivd Herreshoff, Journal of American History

"This readable and authoritative work represents a significant contribution to the literature of black unionism in the United States."
—Joel Hettger, U.S. Department of Labor History, Library Journal

"Foner's book provides considerable illumination of the an important and often overlooked aspect of American labor history."
—Professor Norman Lederer, American Academy of Political and Social Science.

“Simply the best treatment of the history of the black worker yet to appear and is likely to be the standard work in the field for a long time to come.”
—William K. Tabb, Review, Review of Black Political Economy

"Organized Labor and the Black Worker … documents a very long history of trade union and white working-class intransigence to Black working-class advancement alongside episodes of interracial class unity and the elusive promise of a radical future…. His book is filled with anecdotes of working-class racism undermining genuine workers’ power in favor of the paltry protections of white privilege—from the erection of occupational color bars by unions to the outbreaks of wildcat strikes against the hiring of black workers. But it is also peppered with episodes of anti-racism and interracial unity, from the Knights of Labor and the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) to the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO)…. Foner reminds us that African Americans provided leadership to white workers—or at least they tried. From the Colored National Labor Union to the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, from the League of Revolutionary Black Workers to the Coalition of Black Trade Unions, Black labor militants appealed to whites and other workers of color for solidarity. Indeed, solidarity is the book’s central message; when white workers attempt to go it alone or build exclusionary racist unions, they don’t win…. A stunning achievement; it still stands as the most comprehensive treatment to date of African American workers and the labor movement.”
—Robin D. G. Kelley, from the Foreword

From the Publisher