A Working People : : a History of African American Workers Since Emancipation

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Emancipation and the politics of Black labor -- Jim Crow's Black workers -- The great Black labor migration -- A new deal for Black workers -- The Black working-class movement for civil rights -- Opening the American workplace.
In this work, the author, a historian examines the economical, political and cultural forces that have beaten, built, and broken America's Black workforce for centuries, and since Emancipation. From the abolition of slavery through the civil rights movement and Great Recession, African Americans have been singularly disadvantaged members of the workforce, repeatedly denied access to the opportunities all Americans are to be afforded under the Constitution. They have faced a unique set of obstacles and prejudices on their way to becoming a productive and indispensable portion of the American workforce. African Americans have combined decades of collective action and community mobilization with the trailblazing heroism of a select few to pave their own way to prosperity. This latest installment of the African American History Series challenges the notion that racial prejudices are buried in our nation's history, and instead provides a narrative connecting the struggles of many generations of African American workers to those felt the present day. The author provides an account of what being an African American worker has meant since the 1860s, alluding to ways in which we can and must learn from our past, for the betterment of all workers, however marginalized they may be. This history is as factually astute as it is accessibly written, a tapestry of over 150 years of troubled yet triumphant African American labor history that we still weave today. -- From publisher's website.

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