Labor, civil rights, and the Hughes Tool Company / Michael R. Botson, Jr.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Botson, Michael R., 1951-

Series:

Kenneth E. Montague series in oil and business history ; no. 16.

Kenneth E. Montague series in oil and business history ; no. 16

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Hughes Tool Company.

Labor unions--Texas--History--20th century.

Labor unions.

Labor movement--Texas--History--20th century.

Labor movement.

African Americans--Employment.

African Americans.

African Americans--Civil rights.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (280 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

College Station : Texas A&M University Press, c2005.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Botson traces the Jim Crow unionism at Houston's Hughes Tool Company and the efforts of black union activists to bring civil rights issues into the workplace. He also examines the National Labor Relations Board's 1964 decision that racial discrimination by a union was illegal--the equivalent for black workers of Brown v. Board of Education. "Dr. Botson weaves together this tapestry of history with considerable skill and nuance, all the more heartfelt since he spent nine years as an industrial union worker, where he encountered some of the same problems he later discovered in his research of Hughes Tool."--George N. Green, University of Texas at Arlington

Contents:

Houston's working class and the origins of organized labor in the Bayou City

How it all began : Houston, labor, oil, and working at Mr. Hughes's place

Labor at Hughes Tool, 1929-1934 : hard times, Jim Crow, unions, and Uncle Sam

Industrial democracy comes to the monarchy of Hughes street : the Wagner Act, the CIO, and Hughes Tool, 1935-1940

Jim Crow wearing steel-toed shoes and safety glasses : Hughes Tool's race-based unionism, 1940-1943

The battle for union security and civil rights : labor's war at Hughes Tool, 1943-1946

The Independent Metal Workers Union era, 1946-1961

No gold watch for Jim Crow's retirement.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references (p. 239-253) and index.

ISBN:

1-299-05304-1

1-60344-614-1

OCLC:

826658073