Black workers remember : an oral history of segregation, unionism, and the freedom struggle / Michael Keith Honey.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Honey, Michael K.

Series:

George Gund Foundation imprint in African American studies

The George Gund Foundation imprint in African American studies

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

African Americans--Employment--History--Sources.

African Americans.

Labor movement--United States--History--Sources.

Labor movement.

African American labor union members--History--Sources.

African American labor union members.

Race discrimination--United States--History--Sources.

Race discrimination.

African Americans--Interviews.

History.

African Americans--Employment.

United States.

Genre:

Interviews.

Sources.

Physical Description:

xxi, 402 pages, 24 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Berkeley : University of California Press, [1999]

Summary:

First-hand accounts are woven together by Honey in an effort to immortalize the crucial role Southern blacks played in shaping the economic, social, and cultural development of America. 32 photos.

Contents:

Preface: Black History as Labor History xvii

Introduction: The Power of Remembering 1

1 Segregation, Racial Violence, and Black Workers 15

Fannie Henderson Witnesses Southern Lynch Law 20

William Glover Recounts His Frame-up by the Memphis Police 23

Longshore Leader Thomas Watkins Escapes Assassination 29

2 From Country to City: Jim Crow at Work 43

Hillie and Laura Pride Move to Memphis 49

Matthew Davis Describes Heavy Industrial Work 54

George Holloway Remembers the Crump Era 59

Clarence Coe Recalls the Pressures of White Supremacy 72

3 Making a Way Out of No Way: Black Women Factory Workers 86

Irene Branch Does Double Duty as a Domestic and Factory Worker 93

Evelyn Bates Reflects on Her Lifetime of Factory Work 99

Susie Wade Tells How She Built a Life around Work 108

Rebecca McKinley Remembers the Strike at Memphis

Furniture Company 114

Interlude: Not What We Seem 123

4 Freedom Struggles at the Point of Production 132

Clarence Coe Fights for Equality 136

Lonnie Roland and other Black Workers Implement the Brown Decision on the Factory Floor 150

George Holloway's Struggle against White Worker Racism 154

5 Organizing and Surviving in the Cold War 177

Leroy Clark Follows the Pragmatic Road to Survival in the Jim Crow South 183

Leroy Boyd Battles White Supremacy in the Era of the Red Scare 194

Interlude: Arts of Resistance 213

6 Civil Rights Unionism 237

Leroy Boyd Tells How Black Workers Used the Movement for Civil Rights to Revive Local 19 241

Factory Worker Matthew Davis Becomes a Community Leader 247

Edward Lindsey Recalls Black Union Politics 255

Alzada and Leroy Clark Fight for Unionism and Civil Rights 261

Alzada Clark Organizes Black Women Workers in Mississippi 271

7 "I Am a Man": Unionism and the Black Working Poor 286

Taylor Rogers Relives the Memphis Sanitation Strike 293

James Robinson Describes the Worst Job He Ever Had 302

Leroy Boyd and Clarence Coe Recall a Strike and the Death of Martin Luther King 309

William Lucy Reflects on the Strike's Meaning and Outcome 314

8 The Fate of the Black Working Class: The Global Economy, Racism, and Union Organizing 322

Confronting Deindustrialization 324

Ida Leachman Tells How Her Union Continues to Organize Low-Wage Workers 335

George Holloway and Clarence Coe Reflect on the Importance of Unions and the Struggle against Racism 356

Epilogue: Scars of Memory 369.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 375-390) and index.

ISBN:

0520217748

OCLC:

41504597