Reich - A working people: a history of African American workers since emancipation

A Working People

The African American History Series

Series Editors:

Jacqueline M. Moore, Austin College

Nina Mjagkij, Ball State University

Traditionally, history books tend to fall into two categories: books academics write for each other, and books written for popular audiences. Historians often claim that many of the popular authors do not have the proper training to interpret and evaluate the historical evidence. Yet popular audiences complain that most historical monographs are inaccessible because they are too narrow in scope or lack an engaging style. This series, which will take both chronological and thematic approaches to topics and individuals crucial to an understanding of the African American experience, is an attempt to address that problem. The books in this series, written in lively prose by established scholars, are aimed primarily at nonspecialists. They focus on topics in African American history that have broad significance and place them in their historical context. While presenting sophisticated interpretations based on primary sources and the latest scholarship, the authors tell their stories in a succinct manner, avoiding jargon and obscure language. They include selected documents that allow readers to judge the evidence for themselves and to evaluate the authors conclusions. Bridging the gap between popular and academic history, these books bring the African American story to life.

Volumes Published

Booker T. Washington, W.E.B. Du Bois, and the Struggle for Racial Uplift

Jacqueline M. Moore

Slavery in Colonial America, 16191776

Betty Wood

African Americans in the Jazz Age: A Decade of Struggle and Promise

Mark Robert Schneider

A. Philip Randolph: A Life in the Vanguard

Andrew E. Kersten

The African American Experience in Vietnam: Brothers in Arms

James Westheider

Bayard Rustin: American Dreamer

Jerald Podair

African Americans Confront Lynching: Strategies of Resistance

Christopher Waldrep

Lift Every Voice: The History of African-American Music

Burton W. Peretti

To Ask for an Equal Chance: African Americans in the Great Depression

Cheryl Lynn Greenberg

The African American Experience During World War II

Neil A. Wynn

Through the Storm, Through the Night: A History of African American Christianity

Paul Harvey

A Working People: A History of African American Workers since Emancipation

Steven A. Reich

A Working People

A History of African American Workers since Emancipation

Steven A. Reich

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, inc.

Lanham Boulder New York Toronto Plymouth, UK

Published by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.

A wholly owned subsidiary of The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc.

4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200, Lanham, Maryland 20706

www.rowman.com

10 Thornbury Road, Plymouth PL6 7PP, United Kingdom

Copyright 2013 by Rowman & Littlefield

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote passages in a review.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Reich, Steven A. (Steven Andrew), 1965

Working people : a history of African American workers since emancipation / Steven A. Reich.

pages cm. (The African American history series)

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-1-4422-0332-7 (cloth : alk. paper) ISBN 978-1-4422-0333-4 (ebook) 1. Working class African AmericansHistory. 2. African AmericansEmploymentHistory. 3. African AmericansCivil rightsHistory. 4. LaborUnited StatesHistory. I. Title.

HD8081.A65R45 2013

331.6396073dc23

2013018733

The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information SciencesPermanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.

Printed in the United States of America

Negroes are almost entirely a working people. There are pitifully few Negro millionaires and few Negro employers. Our needs are identical with labors needs: decent wages, fair working conditions, livable housing, old-age security, health and welfare measures, conditions in which families can grow, have education for their children, and respect in the community.

Martin Luther King Jr., AFL-CIO National Convention, Miami Beach, Florida, December 11, 1961

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