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The Black Worker, Volume 4

The Black Worker During the Era of the American Federation of Labor and the Railroad Brotherhoods

Edited by Philip S. Foner and Ronald L. Lewis

With a Foreword by Keona K. Ervin


Published over the course of six years, the eight volumes of The Black Worker: From Colonial Times to the Present contain a voluminous amount of archival material. Through their publication, Philip S. Foner, Ronald L. Lewis, and Robert Cvornyek birthed a new generation of Black labor history scholarship. Theirs was big, synthesis-style, social, political, intellectual, and institutional history that tried to capture as broadly as possible the patterns, trends, and themes that made race and class, and the Black labor experience, in particular, significant, shaping forces in United States history. With its compelling perspective on the salience of Black labor history along with its sheer breadth and depth, The Black Worker was and is required reading for students of labor and working-class history and African American history.


Prior to publication of The Black Worker, Black workers were largely absent from or mere footnotes in established histories; dominant narratives presented a “house of labor” occupied primarily if not exclusively by white, male, industrial workers. These accounts paid little attention to unions’ widespread practice of racial exclusion and discrimination, nor to attempts by Black workers to organize their own labor. Through its documentation of these practices, The Black Worker in no small part helped to bring about acknowledgment of these practices and the start of inclusiveness.


Inserting the voices and actions of the marginal into the canon of history was of monumental importance. By incorporating new voices into the standard chronology of American labor history, The Black Worker helped to push the field to revise its core keywords and conceptual underpinnings.

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Table of Contents

The Black Worker: A Documentary History from Colonial Times to the Present (Volume 4)

  • Cover
  • Series Page
  • Title Page
  • Copyright
  • Foreword
  • Contents
  • Preface
  • Part I: The American Federation of Labor and the Black Worker, 1881–1903
    • Introduction
    • The A. F. of L. and the racial issue
    • 1. First Annual Meeting of the American Federation of Labor in Pittsburgh, 1881
    • 2. Report of President Samuel Gompers to the A, F. of L. Convention of 1900
    • 3. Committee on the President’s Report, A. F. of L. Convention of 1900
    • 4. Amendment to the A. F. of L. Constitution, Article 12, Section 6, Adopted in 1900
    • 5. Broke Up the Union
    • 6. The Industrial Color-Line in the North
    • 7. H. W. Sherman to Samuel Gompers, October 6, 1900
    • 8. H. W. Sherman to Samuel Gompers, October 10, 1900
    • 9. H. W. Sherman to Samuel Gompers, November 7, 1900
    • 10. Trade Union Attitude Toward Colored Workers
    • 11. The Alabama State Federation of Labor Convention, 1901
    • 12. Status of the Negro in the Trades Union Movement
    • 13. Alabama State Federation of Labor Convention at Selma, Alabama, 1902
    • 14. The Negro Mechanics of Atlanta
    • 15. Attitude of a Negro Bricklayer on Union Policies
    • New Orleans General Strike of 1892
    • 16. V. Schelin to Chris Evans, November 1, 1892
    • 17. Deeds of Violence
    • 18. Still General
    • 19. “Senegambian Schemes”
    • 20. A General Strike
    • 21. John M. Callaghan to Samuel Gompers, November 7, 1892
    • 22. V. Schelin to Chris Evans, November 8, 1892
    • 23. A Plucky Baker
    • 24. The Committee of Five
    • 25. John M. Callaghan to Samuel Gompers, November 13, 1892
    • 26. John M. Callaghan to Samuel Gompers, November 13, 1892
    • 27. R. P. Fleming to Sir [Samuel Gompers], November 16, 1892
    • 28. Samuel Gompers to John M. Callaghan, November 21, 1892
    • 29. Hall of Workingmen’s Amalgamated Council of New Orleans
    • 30. Gompers’ Testimony
    • Samuel Gompers, A. F. of L. Organizers and Officials, and Black Workers: Correspondence, 1889–1895
    • 31. Samuel Gompers to James H. White, September 14, 1889
    • 32. N. E. St. Cloud to Samuel Gompers, November 1, 1890
    • 33. Josiah B. Dyer to Samuel Gompers, November 17, 1890
    • 34. J. B. Horner to Samuel Gompers, May 30, 1891
    • 35. J. C. Roberts to Samuel Gompers, November 8, 1891
    • 36. J. C. Roberts to Samuel Gompers, November 20, 1891
    • 37. James L. Barrie to Chris Evans, December 10, 1891
    • 38. Western Central Labor Union Seattle, Washington, December 10, 1891
    • 39. Jerome Jones to Samuel Gompers, December 15, 1891
    • 40. Samuel Gompers to R. T. Coles, April 28, 1891
    • 41. Charles P. Overgard to Samuel Gompers, March 23, 1892
    • 42. Charles Overgard to Samuel Gompers, April 7, 1892
    • 43. C. C. Taber to Samuel Gompers, April 24, 1892
    • 44. Charles Overgard to Samuel Gompers, May 4, 1892
    • 45. C. C. Taber to Samuel Gompers, May 31, 1892
    • 46. P. J. McGuire to Samuel Gompers, October 24, 1892
    • 47. Samuel Gompers to J. Geggie, October 27, 1892
    • 48. E. M. McGruder to Samuel Gompers, March 20, 1893
    • 49. Samuel Gompers to E. M, McGruder, April 3, 1893
    • 50. John F. O’Sullivan to Augustine McCraith, June 18, 1895
    • 51. John F. O’Sullivan to Augustine McCraith, July 6, 1895
    • Samuel Gompers and George L. Norton, First Black Organizer for the A. F. of L.: Correspondence, 1891–1894
    • 52. A. S. Leitch to Samuel Gompers, June 8, 1891
    • 53. A. S. Leitch to Samuel Gompers, June 30, 1891
    • 54. George Norton to Samuel Gompers, July 10, 1891
    • 55. A. S.” Leitch to Samuel Gompers, July 15, 1891
    • 56. George L. Norton to Chris Evans, October 23, 1891
    • 57. G. L. Norton to Samuel Gompers, January 28, 1892
    • 58. Living Wages
    • 59. Strike of St. Louis Negro Longshoremen, 1892
    • 60. Samuel Gompers to George L. Norton, April 13, 1892
    • 61. George L. Norton to Samuel Gompers, April 28, 1892
    • 62. George L. Norton to Samuel Gompers, April 28, 1892
    • 63. Samuel Gompers to George L. Norton, May 3, 1892
    • 64. Albert E. King to Samuel Gompers, May 7, 1892
    • 65. John M. Callaghan to Samuel Gompers, May 10, 1892
    • 66. John M. Callaghan to Samuel Gompers, May 15, 1892
    • 67. Samuel Gompers to George L. Norton, May 16, 1892
    • 68. Samuel Gompers to George L. Norton, May 17, 1892
    • 69. Samuel Gompers to John M. Callaghan, May 17, 1892
    • 70. Samuel Gompers to John M. Callaghan, May 24, 1892
    • 71. George L. Norton to Samuel Gompers, May 25, 1892
    • 72. John M. Callaghan to Samuel Gompers, May 29, 1892
    • 73. Samuel Gompers to George L. Norton, June 3, 1892
    • 74. John M. Callaghan to Samuel Gompers, June 5, 1892
    • 75. John M. Callaghan to Samuel Gompers, June 12, 1892
    • 76. George L. Norton to Samuel Gompers, June 19, 1892
    • 77. John M. Callaghan to Samuel Gompers, June 28, 1892
    • 78. John M. Callaghan to Samuel Gompers, August 3, 1892
    • 79. William Brannick to A. F. of L. Executive Committee, August 5, 1892
    • 80. John M. Callaghan to Samuel Gompers, October 26, 1892
    • 81. Samuel Gompers to George L. Norton, February 7, 1893
    • 82. George L. Norton to Samuel Gompers, July 13, 1893
    • 83. George L. Norton to Samuel Gompers, February 7, 1894
    • The A. F. of L., The Machinists’ Union, and the Black Worker
    • 84. Call For a National Convention of Machinists, Blacksmiths and Helpers
    • 85. Harry E. Aston to Samuel Gompers, April 20, 1891
    • 86. L. C. Fry to Samuel Gompers, April 7, 1892
    • 87. Douglas Wilson to Samuel Gompers, April 14, 1893
    • 88. Nothing But Prejudice
    • 89. James O’Connell to Samuel Gompers, November 1, 1893
    • 90. Daniel J. Sullivan to John McBride, March 26, 1895
    • 91. This Word White
    • 92. James Duncan to W. S. Davis, April 1, 1895
    • 93. Edward O’Donnell to Augustine McCraith, April 15, 1895
    • 94. Thomas J. Morgan to John McBride, May 18, 1895
    • 95. Thomas J. Morgan to John McBride, July 2, 1895
    • 96. Daniel J. Sullivan to John McBride, July 24, 1895
    • 97. Edward O’Donnell to John McBride, July 26, 1895
    • 98. I. A. M. Is Chartered
    • Discrimination in the Bricklayers’ and Masons’ International Union: Correspondence between Union Officials and Robert Rhodes, A Black Bricklayer
    • 99. Robert Rhodes to William Dobson, January 14, 1903
    • 100. William Dobson to George Frey, March 17, 1903
    • 101. George Frey to William Dobson, March 22, 1903
    • 102. Robert Rhodes to William Dobson, March 24, 1903
    • 103. William J. Bowen to George Frey, April 6, 1903
    • 104. Robert Rhodes to Mr. Dobson, April 10, 1903
    • 105. William J. Bowen to Robert Rhodes, April 20, 1903
    • 106. William Bowen to George Frey, April 20, 1903
    • 107. George Frey to William Bowen, April 26, 1903
    • 108. Robert Rhodes to William Bowen, April 27, 1903
    • The Galveston Longshoremen Strike of 1898
    • 109. The Mallory Troubles
    • 110. A Mass Meeting Held
    • 111. White or Black Labor
    • 112. A Black Point of View
    • 113. Affiliation
    • 114. Political Pulling
  • Part II: The Pullman Porters, The Railroad Brotherhoods, and the Black Worker, 1886–1902
    • Introduction
    • The Pullman Porters, the Railroad Unions, and Racial Discrimination
    • 1. Spies on Pullman Cars
    • 2. Sleeper Service
    • 3. The Railway Porters
    • 4. Proposed Porters’ Strike
    • 5. A Strike That Should Not Succeed
    • 6. The Reliable Laborer
    • 7. The Strike
    • 8. A Lesson That is Being Learned
    • 9. The Right to Strike and the Right to Work
    • 10. Effects of the Strike
    • 11. The Race Question
    • 12. Could Not Draw the Color Line
    • 13. The Color Line in Texas
    • 14. Appeal to Negro Workers
    • 15. William D. Mahon to Samuel Gompers, November 22, 1900
    • 16. John T. Wilson to Frank Morrison, August 22, 1903
    • The Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and The “Negro Question”
    • 17. W. S. Carter to Samuel Gompers, October 3, 1896
    • 18. W. S. Carter to Samuel Gompers, October 26, 1896
    • 19. The Negro Question
    • 20. Hostility
    • 21. From Local 289
    • 22. The Race Question
    • 23. Mixed Labor
    • 24. The Southern Negro
    • 25. A Call for the Admission of Blacks Into the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen
    • 26. Firemen Respond to the Call for Admission of Blacks
    • The Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen and the Demand for Black Exclusion
    • 27. Negro Domination
    • 28. The Negro in Train and Yard Service
    • 29. The Negro in Train and Yard Service
    • 30. Herculean Lodge, No. 574
    • 31. The Negro No Good
    • 32. Louisville, Ky.
    • 33. Grand Fork
    • 34. Columbia, S.C.
    • 35. Memphis, Tenn.
    • 36. Memphis, Tenn.
    • 37. Negro Labor: Benefit or Detriment?
    • 38. Chattanooga, Tenn.
    • 39. “Nig”
    • 40. Atlanta, Georgia
  • Part III: The United Mine Workers of America and the Black Worker
    • Introduction
    • Richard L. Davis, United Mine Workers’ Leader, 1891–1900
    • 1. A Frank Letter
    • 2. Davis Hot
    • 3. Davis Declines
    • 4. Davis Appreciates
    • 5. Edmonds Himself
    • 6. The Wanderers
    • 7. Encouraging
    • 8. Brazil, Indiana
    • 9. Land of Bondage
    • 10. Still Unsettled
    • 11. Number Three
    • 12. Very Plain Talk
    • 13. A Contract
    • 14. Congo
    • 15. Rendville
    • 16. Wants to Know
    • 17. May Want a Job
    • 18. R. L. Davis
    • 19. Glasgow
    • 20. To Glasgow’s of Last Week—“No Fair Shake”
    • 21. The Colored Race and Labor Organizations
    • 22. Glasgow Again
    • 23. R. L. to Glasgow
    • 24. Another Chapter
    • 25. All Right Now
    • 26. A Mistake
    • 27. Wrong Impression
    • 28. Mineral Point, Ohio
    • 29. From Rendville, Ohio
    • 30. Just a Word
    • 31. No Race Bias
    • 32. The Rendville Man
    • 33. R. L. Davis
    • 34. R. L. Davis
    • 35. R. L. Davis
    • 36. The Right Step
    • 37. Davis
    • 38. Honest and Manly
    • 39. A Strong Protest
    • 40. Wallace’s Reply to Davis
    • 41. Wallace’s Reply to Davis (cont’d.)
    • 42. What Has He Done?
    • 43. Couldn’t Tell
    • 44. Case of R. L. Davis
    • 45. Thanks
    • 46. R. L. Davis, Member of Executive Board
    • 47. Original
    • 48. Betrayed
    • 49. Working Steadily
    • 50. Glad
    • 51. R. L. Davis
    • 52. R. L. Davis
    • 53. R. L. Davis
    • 54. R. L. Davis
    • 55. R. L. Davis
    • 56. R. L. Davis
    • 57. The Sage
    • 58. Old Dog Reports
    • 59. R. L. Davis
    • 60. R. L. Davis
    • 61. R. L. Davis
    • Letters of William R. Riley
    • 62. Serious Mistake
    • 63. A Few Words From Riley
    • 64. Riley Indignant
    • 65. Negro vs. Nigger
    • 66. Riley’s Report
    • 67. Riley Again
    • 68. Rev. William Riley
    • Other Black Coal Miners
    • 69. Colored Mine
    • 70. Our Colored Sister
    • 71. Color Question
    • 72. Coal Miners’ Band—Excursion
    • 73. Free Debate
    • 74. Pratt City, Alabama
    • 75. A Miner
    • 76. Alabama News
    • 77. Clark of Rendville
    • 78. A Little History
    • 79. Monthly Mass Meeting
    • 80. Colored Odd Fellows
    • 81. A Colored Brother From Grape Creek
    • 82. Chasm of Prejudice
    • 83. F. A. Bannister
    • 84. Two Black Miners Present Contrasting Views at the Illinois State U.M.W. Convention, 1900
    • 85. The Joint Convention in Alabama
  • Part IV: Black Coal Miners and the Issue of Strikebreaking
    • Introduction
    • Importation and Black Strikebreaking
    • 1. Two Advertisements
    • 2. Colored Men Reflect
    • 3. White and Colored Laborers Detrimental
    • 4. Negro Miners in Demand
    • 5. The Negro and Strikes
    • 6. The Mining Riots
    • 7. Labor Outlook For Colored Men
    • 8. The Spring Valley Riot
    • 9. The Spring Valley Affair
    • 10. Some Day
    • 11. Work For Negro Miners
    • 12. Interview With a White U.M.W. Member
    • Imported Black Miners and the Pana-Virden Strike, 1898–1899
    • 13. Wanted
    • 14. Misrepresentation
    • 15. Negroes in Strikers’ Places
    • 16. Affairs at Pana
    • 17. Misunderstood “Dodger”
    • 18. Ex-Convicts Poor Miners
    • 19. Affairs at Pana
    • 20. Carry Their Point
    • 21. Live Wires Placed Around the Stockade Keep Men in Prison
    • 22. Slow to Go Away Again
    • 23. Timely Address
    • 24. Deserted By Their Employers
    • 25. On the Banks of the Railroad
    • 26. Affairs At Virden and Pana
    • 27. The Situation
    • 28. Strikers Shot Down By Guards at Virden, Militia Ordered Out
    • 29. Pana and Virden
    • 30. The Virden Riot
    • 31. Under the Thumb of Unionism
    • 32. Tanner of Illinois
    • 33. The Illinois Strike
    • 34. Governor Tanner Responsible
    • 35. The Illinois Riot
    • 36. Tannerism
    • 37. Gov. Tanner Revolutionary
    • 38. No Difference
    • 39. Fighting For a Job
    • 40. Colored Men
    • 41. Gov. Tanner’s “Niggers”
    • 42. Illinois in Rebellion
    • 43. Women Among the Killed and Wounded
    • 44. Another Stab
    • 45. Pana Strike to End
    • 46. 600 Negro Miners Turned Out
    • 47. Employ Negroes in Time of Peace Too
    • 48. The Negroes Must “Git”
    • 49. The Murder of the Miners
    • 50. Not Settled
    • 51. A Warning Voice
    • 52. Colored Miners in a Frenzy
    • 53. The Mine Riot at Carterville, Ill.
    • 54. Brutal Murder
    • 55. A Colored Mother
  • Part V: Along the Color Line: Trade Unions and the Black Worker at the turn of the Twentieth Century
    • Introduction
    • The Color Line in the South
    • 1. Opposition to Negro Compositors
    • 2. Negro Compositors in the South
    • 3. Skilled Labor
    • 4. The Negro As a Worker
    • 5. Trade Exiles
    • 6. Colored Women Not Wanted
    • 7. Spontaneous Protest
    • 8. The Negro: His Relation to Southern Industry, by Will H. Winn
    • 9. The Laborers’ War
    • 10. How Our Educated Young Men and Women Can Find Employment, by Booker T. Washington
    • 11. Colored Labor in Cotton Mills
    • 12. Strike of Mill Workers at Fulton Cotton Mills
    • 13. Colored People’s Plea
    • 14. To Reduce Negro Labor
    • 15. Labor Unions Assailed
    • 16. The Color Line in Organization
    • 17. Negroes in Atlanta
    • 18. Training Negro Labor
    • 19. Industrial Education Washington
    • 20. Industrial Education
    • 21. Trusts Smile
    • 22. Critical Position of is the Solution, by Booker T. Not the Only Solution the Negro
    • The Color Line in the North
    • 23. Douglass on Work
    • 24. Encouraging
    • 25. Color Line
    • 26. Color Line in Baseball
    • 27. Black Tradesmen North and South
    • 28. Accepted As Co-Workers
    • 29. What Our Working Men Want, by John Durham
    • 30. John Durham on Unions and Black Workers
    • 31. Illiterate Negro-Haters
    • 32. Color Line in Trades Unions
    • 33. Labor Unions and the Negro
    • 34. Indianapolis Street Railroad vs. Colored Men
    • 35. The Race Needs an Example—Shall Indianapolis Set Tt?
    • 36. Speaking For Their Race
    • 37. The New Gospel of Organized Labor
    • 38. An Open Letter to John Burns, Esq.
    • 39. Exclusion Is Wicked
    • 40. The Industrial Color Line in the North and the Remedy
    • 41. A New Industrial Apostle
    • 42. Became a White Man in Order to Succeed
    • 43. The Race Problem Again
    • 44. Labor Day
    • 45. Bring Trades Unions to Terms
    • 46. Item
    • 47. Item
    • 48. Item
    • 49. Item
    • 50. The Industrial Situation
    • 51. Unionists Refuse to Parade Because Negroes are Barred
  • Part VI: Contemporary Assessments
    • Introduction
    • Status of the Black Worker at the turn of the Twentieth Century
    • 1. Letters to Albion W. Tourgee
    • 2. Excerpt from. Doctor Huguet: A Novel, by Ignatius Donnelly
    • 3. Hearings Before the Industrial Commission, 1898–1900
    • 4. Excerpt from The Negro Artisan, W. E. B. DuBois
    • 5. Excerpt from The Philadelphia Negro, W. E. B. DuBois
  • Notes
  • Index

Metadata

  • isbn
    9781439917688
  • publisher
    Temple University Press
  • publisher place
    Philadelphia, PA
  • restrictions
    CC-BY-NC-ND
  • rights
    Copyright © 1979 by Temple University—Of The Commonwealth System of Higher Education

    First published 1979. Reissued 2019.

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