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The Black Worker, Volume 6

The Era of Post-War Prosperity and the Great Depression, 1920-1936

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 During the Post-War Prosperity and the Great Depression, 1920–1936—Volume VI

  • Cover
  • Series Page
  • Title Page
  • Copyright
  • Foreword
  • Contents
  • Preface
  • Part I: Economic Condition of the Black Worker
    • Introduction
      • The Twenties
        • 1. Howard
        • 2. The Hosts of Black Labor
        • 3. Industrial Relations and Labor Conditions
        • 4. Edward Kiefhaber to Robesonia Iron Co.
        • 5. John Gocher to Interstate Employment Agency
        • 6. John Gocher to A. F. Woodward
        • 7. Recent Northward Migration of the Negro
        • 8. An Experiment with Negro Labor
        • 9. The Negro in Chicago Industries
        • 10. Negroes at Work in Baltimore
        • 11. Department of Labor
        • 12. Industrial Employment of the Negro in Pennsylvania
        • 13. Negro Labor and Public Utilities, I
        • 14. Negro Labor and Public Utilities, II
        • 15. Negro Labor and Public Utilities, III
        • 16. Reid Tells of Fight for Skilled Workers
        • 17. Youth Told to Get Into the Trades
        • 18. Lack of Race Consciousness
        • 19. Negro Worker O.K. If Handled Right
        • 20. Economic Goals
        • 21. Present Status of Negro Labor
        • 22. Present Trends in Employment of Negro Labor
        • 23. Negro in the Industrial South
        • 24. Industrial and Labor Conditions
      • The Thirties
        • 25. The Economic Crisis of the Negro
        • 26. Industrial and Labor Conditions
        • 27. Two Letters
        • 28. New Frontier of Negro Labor
        • 29. An Emergency is On!
        • 30. Frances Perkins to Eugene Kinkle Jones
        • 31. Industrial and Labor Conditions
        • 32. Impacts of Depression Upon Negro in Philadelphia
        • 33. New Fields for Negro Labor in Texas
        • 34. Wage Differential Based on Race
        • 35. Black Wages for Black Men
        • 36. Negro in Industry and Urban Life
        • 37. Negro Worker and N.R.A.
        • 38. N.R.A. Codifies Wage Slavery
        • 39. National Recovery Act in U.S.A.
        • 40. Black Inventory of the New Deal
        • 41. To Boycott or--Not to Boycott?
        • 42. The Negro in Pittsburgh's Industries
        • 43. Relative Efficiency of Negro and White Workers
        • 44. Negro in Industry
        • 45. Life of Negroes in the Automobile Industry
        • 46. Negro Seamen in the U.S.A.
        • 47. Social-Economic Status of Negroes in the District of Columbia
  • Part II: Black Women Workers
    • Introduction
      • Negro Women in Industry
        • 1. Colored Women as Industrial Workers in Philadelphia
        • 2. Making Over Poor Workers
        • 3. The Negro Working Woman
        • 4. Negro Woman in the Trade Union Movement
        • 5. Bootleggers Welcome on the North Side
        • 6. Strike of Negro Nurses at New Orleans
        • 7. Women Workers
        • 8. Start Campaign to Help Negro Women's Strike
        • 9. Two More Women Jailed
        • 10. Something New--Negro Women Strikers
        • 11. Police Jail Two Negro Women in Chicago Strike
        • 12. The Negro Working Woman
        • 13. Must Organize Negro Women to Stop Scabbing
        • 14. Women Day Workers League
        • 15. Eva, The Black Working Girl
        • 16. Pay for Negro Laundry Slaves
        • 17. Negro Woman Cigar Slaves in Walkout
        • 18. Women in Industry
        • 19. No Race Prejudice in Needle Trades Union
        • 20. Jim Crow Union
        • 21. Colored Dressmakers
        • 22. Starving Negro Woman Worker
        • 23. Slavery in Atlanta Laundry
        • 24. Negro Women Slave for $4 Weekly in Charleston
        • 25. 50-Year-Old Negro Woman Set for Fight
        • 26. Unorganized Domestic Toilers are Prey to Rich
        • 27. Garment Union Comes to the Negro Worker
        • 28. A Labor Study (South)
        • 29. Negro Labor Committee in Drive to Aid Women
        • 30. Newspaper Guild Indorses Domestic Workers' Union
        • 31. Disadvantage of Being Female and Black
  • Part III: The Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters and Other Black Unions in the Train Service
    • Introduction
      • The Porters' Struggle for Recognition
        • 1. A Message to the Slacker Porter
        • 2. Truth About the Brotherhood
        • 3. Organizing Negroes
        • 4. Pullman Company and the Pullman Porter
        • 5. Company Unions A La Pullman
        • 6. Pullman Porters Break All Records
        • 7. Bulletin
        • 8. Pullman "Company Union" Slavery
        • 9. New Pullman Porter
        • 10. To the Organizing Committees
        • 11. Find Negroes Can be Organized
        • 12. Porters Step Ahead
        • 13. Crusading for the Brotherhood
        • 14. Toward the Home Stretch
        • 15. Our Next Step
        • 16. Pullman Porters Voting Solidly
        • 17. Voice of Negro Labor, Frank R. Crosswaith
        • 18. Answer Wall Street Fiction About Porters
        • 19. The Brotherhood's Anniversary
        • 20. Porters Ditch Company Union
        • 21. Porter Asserts His Manhood
        • 22. Open Letter to the Pullman Company
        • 23. Porters' Union Goes South
        • 24. Pullman Porters' Organization
        • 25. Porters Get Inside Data on Wage Tilt
        • 26. Status of Pullman Porters' Case
        • 27. Before the Interstate Commerce Commission
        • 28. Press Opinion on Porters' Case
        • 29. Trade Union Committee
        • 30. Our Next Step
        • 31. Pullman Porters Win Pot of Gold
      • The Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters at American Federation of Labor Conventions
        • 32. A. Philip Randolph to Milton P. Webster
        • 33. 1933 Convention
        • 34. 1934 Convention
      • Selected Correspondence Between A. Philip Randolph and Milton P. Webster
        • 35. Webster to Randolph, March 15, 1928
        • 36. Randolph to Webster, March 19, 1928
        • 37. Randolph to Webster, March 24, 1928
        • 38. Webster to Randolph, March 24, 1928
        • 39. Randolph to Webster, March 26, 1928
        • 40. Webster to Randolph, March 27, 1928
        • 41. Randolph to Webster, April 2, 1928
        • 42. Randolph to Webster, April 5, 1928
        • 43. Webster to Randolph, June 9, 1928
        • 44. Randolph to Webster, June 11, 1928
        • 45. Webster to Dad Moore, June 11, 1928
        • 46. Randolph to Webster, June 14, 1928
        • 47. Webster to Dad Moore, June 26, 1928
        • 48. Randolph to Webster, June 27, 1928
        • 49. Randolph to Webster, June 28, 1928
        • 50. Randolph to Webster, June 28, 1928
        • 51. Randolph to Webster, August 8, 1928
        • 52. Randolph to Webster, August 9, 1928
        • 53. Randolph to Webster, August 30, 1928
      • Other Black Unions in the Train Service
        • 54. Railway Men's International Benevolent Industrial Assn.
        • 55. Negro Railroad Men Hold Session in Birmingham
        • 56. E. F. Roberts Explains Work of Colored Firemen's Organization
        • 57. R. L. Mays Busy With His Men
        • 58. Successful Meeting of Rail Men
        • 59. Colored Trainmen Will Not Take Part in Strike
        • 60. Negro Firemen Are Organized
        • 61. Colored Workmen Threatened and Leave Job
        • 62. My Attitude Toward Negro Labor
        • 63. Union Styles
        • 64. A Successful Negro Labor Union
        • 65. Stop These Murders!
        • 66. Murder for Jobs
        • 67. Murder for the Jobs
        • 68. Negro Firemen
        • 69. Railway Employees Rally to Save Their Jobs
  • Part IV: The American Federation of Labor and the Black Worker
    • Introduction
      • The A.F.L. and the Color Line
        • 1. Whites Withdraw from Federation
        • 2. A.F. of L. Wipes Out Color Line
        • 3. "No Colored Line," Says Federation of Labor
        • 4. The A.F. of L. Convention
        • 5. Message to Negro Workers
        • 6. To the American Federation of Labor
        • 7. The A.F. of L's Convention
        • 8. The Freight Handlers
        • 9. A.F. of L. Unions Admit Colored Workers
        • 10. Letter to Hugh Frayne
        • 11. Negroes Asked to Join Unions
        • 12. The A.F. of L. and the Negro
        • 13. A.F. of L. is Openly Against Negro Labor
        • 14. Solving America's Race Problem
        • 15. Metal Trades Department
        • 16. Attempts to Organize Negro Workers
        • 17. American Federation of Labor and the Negro
        • 18. A Labor Convention
        • 19. Organization of Negro Labor
        • 20. The A.F. of L.
        • 21. Industrial Unions and the Negro Worker
      • William Green and Black Workers
        • 22. Organizing the Negro Workers
        • 23. Our Negro Worker
        • 24. Negro Wage Earners
        • 25. American Federation of Labor Convention
        • 26. National Unions Admit Race Workers
        • 27. The A.F. of L. and the Negro
        • 28. William Green to Elmer Anderson Carter
        • 29. National Negro Labor Conference
        • 30. Labor and the Negro
        • 31. Open Letter to William Green
        • 32. Negro Wage-Earners and Trade Unions
        • 33. An Open Letter to William Green
      • Selected A.F. of L. Convention Resolutions on Black Labor
        • 34. 1920 Convention
        • 35. 1925 Convention
        • 36. 1933 Convention
        • 37. 1935 Convention
        • 38. 1936 Convention
  • Part V: The Left
    • Introduction
      • The Socialists
        • 1. Eugene V. Debs to the Editors of the Messenger, April 9, 1923
        • 2. The Messenger and Its Mission
        • 3. A United Negro Trades
        • 4. Menace of Negro Communists
        • 5. Meddling in the Porters Union
        • 6. Communism and the Negro, I
        • 7. Communism and the Negro, II
        • 8. A Negro Looks at the 1932 Presidential Race
        • 9. Political Future of the Negro
        • 10. Negro's Road to Freedom
        • 11. Notes For Speakers
        • 12. True Freedom
      • Ben Fletcher and the International Workers of the World
        • 13. I. W. W. Means "I Won't Work"
        • 14. Colored and White Workers Solving the Race Problem for Philadelphia
        • 15. Forum of Local 8
        • 16. Task of Local 8
        • 17. Miscarriage of Justice
        • 18. A Call to Solidarity!
        • 19. Longshoremen Fighting for Life
        • 20. Philadelphia Waterfront's Unionism
        • 21. Negro and Organized Labor, by Ben Fletcher
        • 22. Craft Union Color Line
        • 23. Likes Lecture of Ben J. Fletcher
      • Otto Hall and the Trade Union Education League
        • 24. Call Negro Workers to Meet
        • 25. Abolish Race Discrimination
        • 26. T.U.E.L. Negro Department in Campaign for Unity
        • 27. Organize Negro Workers
        • 28. Negro Trade Union Militants Show A.F.L. Sellout of Porters
        • 29. Negro Workers in Northern Industry
        • 30. Interview With Otto Hall
      • The American Negro Labor Congress and the National Negro Congress
        • 31. Negroes Warned Not to be Caught in Trap
        • 32. American Negro Labor Congress
        • 33. Negroes and Labor
        • 34. The Negro and Labor
        • 35. A.F. of L. and the Negro Worker
        • 36. Equality Demanded
        • 37. Negroes Seek "Full Social Equality"
        • 38. Big Labor Meeting Opens
        • 39. Negroes Strike Back at Unions
        • 40. Plot to Make Our Blacks Red
        • 41. Editorial: Negro Labor and Communism
        • 42. Interracial Banquet
        • 43. National Negro Congress
        • 44. National Negro Congress
        • 45. National Negro Labor Congress (U.S.A.)
      • The Communist Party, the Trade Union Unity League, and the Black Worker
        • 46. Union, by Langston Hughes
        • 47. Solidarity of Labor in the South
        • 48. The African Blood Brotherhood
        • 49. Color Line in Labor Unions
        • 50. Communists Boring into Negro Labor
        • 51. Striker Approaches Negro Problem With Intelligent Outlook
        • 52. Problems and Struggles of Negro Workers
        • 53. Negro Workers Play Vital Role in Charlotte T.U.U.L. Conference
        • 54. Negro Workers and the Cleveland Unity Convention
        • 55. Negro Miners Must Organize
        • 56. Why Every Negro Miner Should Join the N.M.U.
        • 57. Labor Enters National Drive to Save Atlanta Organizers
        • 58. Trade Union Program for Negro Workers
        • 59. Some Experiences in Organizing Negro Workers
        • 60. Investigation of Communist Propaganda, 1930; Testimony of A. Philip Randolph
        • 61. 400 Fight Lynch Law at Meeting in South
        • 62. Negro Masses Unemployed
        • 63. Pray, Don't Fight
        • 64. The Jobless Negro
        • 65. An Appeal to Negro Workers and Toilers
        • 66. Georgia Imprisons Negro Red
        • 67. Appeal for Negro in Red Conviction
        • 68. Workers of Atlanta!
        • 69. Angelo Herndon's Speech to the Jury
        • 70. Angelo Herndon v. State of Georgia
        • 71. Angelo Herndon is Free!
  • Part VI: Black Labor at the Crossroads
    • Introduction
      • Black Workers and the Unions
        • 1. An Open Letter to the South
        • 2. Notice
        • 3. Warning to Colored Laborers
        • 4. Negro Workers Refuse Pittance to Labor
        • 5. Labor Unions and the Negro
        • 6. White Supremacy in Organized Labor
        • 7. The Mixed Union
        • 8. Equal Division of Labor on the Wharf
        • 9. J. H. Walker to Ben F. Ferris, April 1, 1925
        • 10. The Negro in Industry
        • 11. Textile Strikers Welcome Negroes
        • 12. Negro Workers at the Crossroads
        • 13. Decline of the Negro Strikebreaker
        • 14. Negro Workers and the Unions
        • 15. Shall Negro Worker Turn to Labor or to Capital?
        • 16. Whites Oust Negro Under N.R.A. in South
        • 17. White Textile Workers of South Learning to Unite With Negro Brothers
        • 18. Peter A. Carmichael to H. L. Kerwin, March 26, 1935
        • 19. Peter A. Carmichael to H. L. Kerwin, April 29, 1935
        • 20. The Negro and Union Labor
        • 21. Trade Unionism
      • Three Negro Labor Committees
        • 22. Trade Union Committee for Organizing Negroes
        • 23. Greatest Labor Meeting in the History of Harlem
        • 24. Call for the First Negro Labor Conference
        • 25. Proceedings of the First Negro Labor Conference, 1935
      • The Committee for Industrial Organization and the Black Worker
        • 26. C.I.O. and Negro Labor
        • 27. Industrial Unionism and the Negro
        • 28. "Plan Eleven"--Jim Crow in Steel
        • 29. Labor
  • Notes and Index
  • Notes
  • Index

Metadata

  • isbn
    9781439917763
  • publisher
    Temple University Press
  • publisher place
    Philadelphia, PA
  • restrictions
    CC-BY-NC-ND
  • rights
    Copyright © 1981 by Temple University—Of The Commonwealth System of Higher Education

    First published 1981. Reissued 2019.

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