PART I: BLACK LABOR IN THE OLD SOUTH
BLACKS IN THE CRAFTS AND INDUSTRIES OF THE OLD SOUTH
2. An Overview: The American South
6. Carpenters, Caulkers, Bricklayers
18. Blacksmith’s Apprentice II
30. Slave Labor Upon Public Works in the South
32. Working at a Richmond Tobacco Factory
35. Strikes on Attack Against Slave Ownership
36. Tredegar Advertisement for Slaves
37. Annual Maintenance Cost per Industrial Slave, 1820–1861
39. Frederick Douglass Encounters Racial Violence in a Baltimore Shipyard
40. One Year in the Life of a Hired-Out Slave: William Wells Brown
SELF-PURCHASE BY SLAVE MECHANICS
41. Free Blacks Purchase Family Members
44. A Founder Purchases His Family’s Freedom
A SLAVE MECHANIC’S ESCAPE TO FREEDOM
46. The Escape from Slavery of Frederick Douglass, Black Ship-Caulker
OCCUPATIONS OF FREE BLACKS IN THE SOUTH
47. The Free Negro and the South
48. The Gainful Occupations of Free Persons of Color
49. Occupations of Slaves and Free Blacks in Charleston, 1848
50. Occupations of Negroes in Charleston in 1850
51. Occupations of Negroes in St. Louis in 1850
52. Leading Negro Occupations in Baltimore in 1850 and 1860
53. Occupations of Free Negroes Over Fifteen Years of Age in New Orleans, 1850
54. The Case of Henry Boyd, A Freed Carpenter
55. “As High as a Colored Man Could Rise”
57. Observations of Samuel Ringgold Ward on Discrimination
58. Well Put — The Colored Race at the North
PART II: RACE RELATIONS IN OLD SOUTHERN INDUSTRIES
THE DEBATE OVER THE USE OF FREE OR SLAVE MECHANICS
1. The Progress of Manufactures
3. James Hammond, “Progress of Southern Industry”
4. A Pro-Industrial Slavery Opinion
5. Letter From William P. Powell
PETITIONS AND PROTESTS OF WHITE MECHANICS AGAINST BLACK MECHANICS
6. Petition of Charleston Citizens to the State Legislature, 1822
7. White Artisans Claim Unfair Competition From Free Blacks
9. Georgia Mechanics’ Convention
11. Petition of Texas Mechanics
FREE BLACK WORKERS AND THE LAW
12. A Supplement to the Maryland Act of 1831 Relating to Free Blacks and Slaves
13. Incendiary Publications in Baltimore
15. Free Colored Population of Maryland
16. Note From the Diary of a Free Black
18. State of Delaware vs Moses Mc Colly, Negro
20. 1845 Act of Georgia Legislature Directed Against Black Mechanics
21. The Condition of the Free Negro in Louisiana
22. Exodus of Free Negroes From South Carolina
23. Arrival of Free Colored People From South Carolina
LABOR VIOLENCE IN BLACK AND WHITE
24. A Coal Mine — Negro and English Miners
25. Trouble Among the Brickmakers
OBSERVATIONS ON RACE RELATIONS
27. Southern Whites and Blacks Could Work Together
28. To the Contractors For Mason’s and Carpenter’s Work
29. A Visitor Comments on Race Relations in Virginia Coal Mines
30. Free and Slave Labor in Virginia
31. Slave-Labor vs. Free Labor
33. A Foreign Traveller’s Observations on Industrial Race Relations in the South
34. Two Black Foundrymen Prosper
35. Constitution of the Baltimore Society for the Protection of Free People of Colour, 1827
PART III: FREE BLACK LABOR IN THE NORTH
NORTHERN FREE BLACK OCCUPATIONS
1. Register of Trades of Colored People in the City of Philadelphia and Districts, 1838
2. Colored Inhabitants of Philadelphia
3. Trades and Occupations in Philadelphia, 1849
4. Occupations of Blacks in Philadelphia, 1849
5. The Colored People of Philadelphia, 1860
9. Occupations of Free Blacks Over Fifteen Years of Age in New York City, 1850
10. To Colored Men of Business
12. Employment of Colored Laborers in New York
13. The Problems Confronting Black Workers in New York, 1852
14. Black Workers in New York, 1859
16. David Walker’s “Grog Shop”
17. Black Workers in Boston, 1831
19. Occupations of Negroes in Boston, 1837
20. Occupations of Negroes in Boston, 1850
22. Negro Occupations in Massachusetts in 1860
23. The Colored People of Rhode Island
DISCRIMINATION AGAINST FREE BLACK WORKERS IN THE NORTH
24. Excerpt From Report of Pitty Hawkes on New York-African Free School, October 13, 1829
25. Ex-Slave Frederick Douglass Becomes a Free Black Worker
27. Henry Graves and His Hand Cart
28. New York City Corporation, vs Mr. Henry Graves and His Handcart
29. Henry Graves and His Handcart
PART IV: LIVING CONDITIONS AND RACE RELATIONS IN THE NORTH
2. Impediments to Honest Industry
3. Condition of the Free People of Color in Philadelphia
4. Poverty Among Blacks in Philadelphia
5. Education and Employment of Children
7. Inquiry into the Condition of Blacks in Cincinnati, 1829
8. The Difference Between the North and the South
9. Colorphobia in Philadelphia
10. The Racial Attitudes of a Leading White Labor Spokesman
WHITE ABOLITIONISTS AND JOBS FOR FREE BLACKS
11. Abolitionists! Do Give a Helping Hand!
12. White Abolitionists and Colored Mechanics in Philadelphia, I
13. White Abolitionists and Colored Mechanics in Philadelphia, II
14. Colored Mechanics — Free Labor Boots and Shoes
15. Martin R. Delaney Protests Job Discrimination Among White Abolitionists
16. “Is There Anything Higher Open to Us?”
17. The Late Riots in Providence
18. Letter From an Observer of the Providence Riot, 1831
19. Black Workers Assailed in Philadelphia
20. Committee Report on the Causes of the Philadelphia Race Riots, 1834
21. Robert Purvis’ Reaction to the Philadelphia Riot, 1842
22. Pecuniary Cost of the Philadelphia Riots of 1838
23. The Columbia (Pa.) Race Riots, 1834
24. Abolition Riots in New York
25. Alleged Rioting of the Stevedores
NORTHERN FREE BLACKS KIDNAPPED AND SOLD INTO SLAVERY
27. Boston Blacks Petition the General Court on Behalf of Three Victims
28. Caution! To the Colored People
29. Kidnapping in the City of New York
31. Liability to be Seized and Treated as Slaves
34. The Chivalrous James B. Gray
35. Association of Free Blacks to Aid Fugitive Slaves Freedmen Association, Boston, 1845
PART V: BLACK WORKERS IN SPECIFIC TRADES
1. Meeting of the Hotel and Saloon Waiters — Formation of a Protective Union
2. Advertisements of the Waiters Union
3. First United Association of Colored Waiters
4. Arouse Waiters: Traitors in the Camp
5. Meeting of the Waiters’ Protective Union
6. Coloured Seamen — Their Character and Condition, I
7. Coloured Seamen — Their Character and Condition, II
8. Coloured Seamen — Their Character and Condition, III
9. Coloured Seamen — Their Character and Condition, IV
10. Coloured Seamen — Their Character and Condition, V
13. William P. Powell on the Coloured Sailor’s Home
15. Extract From a Letter of Wm. P. Powell, Dated on Board Packet Ship De Witt Clinton
16. Black Seamen and Alabama Law
19. Resolutions Adopted at a Meeting of Boston Negroes, October 27, 1842
20. Free Black Seamen of Boston Petition Congress for Relief, 1843
22. Laws of South Carolina Respecting Colored Seamen
23. Coloured Seamen in Southern Ports
24. The Law Regarding Colored Seamen
25. Imprisonment of British Seamen
26. The British Seamen at Charleston
27. The Case of Manuel Pereira
29. The Colored Seamen Question in the House of Commons
30. Colored Seamen in South Carolina
31. Personal Account of a Black Seaman in the Port of Charleston
33. Strike on the Frigate Columbia
34. Black Caulkers Desert Baltimore
35. The Trouble Among the White and Black Caulkers
37. The Difficulty Among the Caulkers
38. More Violence in the Baltimore Ship Yards
PART VI: THE FREE BLACK WORKERS’ RESPONSE TO OPPRESSION
FREE BLACK UPLIFT: UNIONS, COOPERATIVES, CONVENTIONS, SCHOOLS
1. American League of Colored Laborers
2. Conventions of Colored People
6. Program of the Phoenix Literary Society, New York City, 1833
7. Manual Labor School for Colored Youth
8. Committee on Education Report, 1848 National Colored Convention, Cleveland, Ohio
9. To Parents, Guardians and Mechanics
10. “Make Your Sons Mechanics and Farmers, Not Waiters, Porters, and Barbers”
13. Resolutions Adopted by Negro National Convention, Rochester, 1853
14. Report, Committee on Manual Labor, National Negro Convention, Rochester, New York, 1853
15. Plan of the American Industrial School
16. The Colored People’s “Industrial College”
18. Editorial: The African Race in New York
19. Martin R. Delaney, “Why We Must Emigrate”
20. Frederick Douglass, “Why We Should Not Emigrate”
PART VII: THE NORTHERN BLACK WORKER DURING THE CIVIL WAR
THE WORSENING STATUS OF FREE BLACK WORKERS IN THE NORTH
1. John S. Rock at the First of August Celebration, Lexington, Massachusetts
2. Rights of White Labor Over Black
3. “Rights of White Labor Over Black” (Rebuttal)
4. Butts and Pork-Packers and Negroes
5. Riot on the Cincinnati Levi
8. Black and Immigrant Competition for Jobs
9. “More Riotous and Disgraceful Conduct”
11. The Disgraceful Riot in Brooklyn
13. Brutal and Unprovoked Assaults on Colored People
16. Eyewitness to the Detroit Riot
17. Strike Among the Negrophobists at the Navy Yard, Boston.
18. The Colored Sailor’s Home in New York
19. Report of the Colored Sailor’s Home
ANTI-NEGRO RIOTS IN NEW YORK CITY
20. Trouble Among the Longshoremen
22. Disgraceful Proceeding — Colored Laborers, Assailed by Irishmen
25. Personal Recollections of the Draft Riots
27. The Longshoremen’s Attitude Toward Blacks
28. The Colored Refugees at Police Headquarters
29. The Colored Sufferers by the Recent Riots — Meeting of Merchants
34. The Merchants Relief Committee
35. Employers Turn to Negroes Rather Than Irishmen Because of the Riots
36. How Blacks Should Meet the Rioters
BLACKS IN THE UNION ARMY AND NAVY
38. Statistics of Enlisted Men
39. Occupations for Black Enlistees
40. Give Us Equal Pay and We Will Go to War
41. Twenty Per Cent Off the Wages of Colored Wagoners
42. Proscription in Philadelphia
43. Out of the Frying-Pan Into the Fire
WHITE NORTHERNERS ANTICIPATE THE ADDITION OF EX-SLAVES TO THE LABOR FORCE
44. General James S. Wadsworth to Henry J. Ramond
45. Gen. Wadsworth’s Acceptance: An Editorial
PART VIII: CONDITION OF THE WORKER DURING EARLY RECONSTRUCTION
2. Biographical Information on Black Leaders in New Orleans
3. General Schurz on Black Workers
4. Work Only for Good Employers
5. Whitelaw Reid’s Observations on Newly Liberated Slaves in Selma, Alabama
6. To the Mass Meeting at the School of Liberty
9. Appeal to Support the Universal Suffrage Party
10. Notice. Freedmen’s Aid Association of New Orleans
14. Constitution of the Commercial Association of the Laborers of Louisiana
16. To the Editor of the Workingmen’s Advocate
18. Black Ship-Builders in North Carolina
19. A Louisiana Correspondent’s View of Radical Reconstruction
20. The Need for a Second Emancipation Proclamation
21. Two Letters from the South by William H. Sylvis
22. Cooperation Among the Freedmen
23. Regulations for Freedmen in Louisiana, 1865
24. Resolutions of the Freedmen’s Aid Association of New Orleans
25. Whitelaw Reid Witnesses a Plantation “Strike”
26. Chain-Gang for “Idle Negroes”
27. The Substitute for Slavery
29. Northern Laborers — Attention!
30. Letter to a New York Editor from a Freedman
32. Complaint of Tobacco Workmen
33. The Freedmen — A Strike Expected
34. June 18, 1866, First Collective Action of Black Women Workers
35. Meeting of Planters to Regulate the Price of Labor
36. Freedmen’s Bureau Meeting in Norfolk, Virginia
37. Southern Codes for Freedmen
39. White and Black Labor Unity in New Orelans, 1865
41. Discontent Among Negro Workers
43. A Difficulty Between Workingmen and a Contractor
46. The British Consul in Baltimore Reports on Problems Created Over Integrated Ship Crews
47. Black Stevedores Strike in Charleston, S. C.
48. Strike of the Longshoremen
49. Another Longshoremen Strike
50. “The Colored Tailors on a Rampage”
CONDITION OF BLACK WORKERS IN THE NORTH DURING RECONSTRUCTION
51. Home for “Colored Sailors”
52. Condition of the Colored Population of New York
53. A White View of the Black Worker
54. Estimated Number of Negroes in Selected Occupations in New York City, 1867
55. Characterization of Selected Occupations for Negroes in New York City, 1867
56. Coachmen’s Union League Society, Inc.
PART IX: EXCLUSION OF BLACKS FROM WHITE UNIONS DURING EARLY RECONSTRUCTION
RACE DISCRIMINATION IN THE COOPER’S UNION, 1868
1. “Birds of the Feather Flock Together”—A White Cooper’s View of Race
LEWIS H. DOUGLASS AND THE TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION
3. Mr. Douglass and the Printers
4. The Typographical Union — Prejudice Against Color
5. Frederick Douglass on the Rejection of His Son, Lewis
6. The Typographical Union’s Justification
7. The Typographical Union Denounced
10. Editorial Response to Lavalette’s Defense
EXCLUSION OF BLACKS FROM OTHER UNIONS
11. The Bricklayers and the “Colored Question”
12. Excluding Negroes from Workingmen’s Associations
PART X: THE DEMAND FOR EQUALITY
WHITE LABOR AND BLACK LABOR: THE BLACK VIEWPOINT
1. Frederick Douglass on the Problems of Black Labor
A WHITE LABOR VOICE FOR BLACK EQUALITY
5. Negro Labor in Competition with White Labor
6. The Boston Hod-Carriers’ Strike, 1865
7. “Manhood Suffrage the Only Safety for Freedom”
9. “The Brotherhood of Labor is Universal”
12. Movement to Bring Black Labor North
13. Eight-Hour Men in New Orleans Encounter a Stubborn Fact
15. Labor Strike at Washington
16. Can White Workingmen Ignore Colored Ones?
17. The Strike Against Colored Men in Congress Street
PART XI: BLACK RESPONSE TO COLORPHOBIA
THE NATIONAL LABOR UNION AND BLACK LABOR, 1866–1869
1. The “Colored Question” at the National Labor Union Convention, 1867
4. Address to the Workingmen of the National Labor Union
6. Elizabeth Cady Stanton Chides Black Unionists
1869 CONVENTION OF THE NATIONAL LABOR UNION
7. First Delegation of Black Unionists Admitted to a White Labor Convention
8. Philadelphia Labor Convention — Address of the Colored Delegates
9. “They Gained the Respect of All”
10. Resolution Passed at the Women’s Rights Convention in Cleveland, November 26, 1869
11. A Biographical Sketch of Isaac Myers Career
12. The Colored Men’s Ship Yard
13. Condition of the Colored People
14. The Convention of the Colored Men of the Republic
15. Colored Trades’ Union in Baltimore