Working-class agency and racial inequality

International Review of Social History

Volumn 41, Issue 3, 1996, Pages 407-420

  Nelson, Bruce ^a  

^a NONE

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 0030336743     PISSN: 00208590     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/s0020859000114087     Document Type: Article

References (47)

1. 1 See Thomas Sugrue, "The Structure of Urban Poverty: The Reorganization of Space and Work in Three Periods of American History", in Michael B. Katz (ed.), The "Underclass" Debate: Views from History (Princeton, 1993), pp. 85-117; idem, "Crabgrass-Roots Politics: Race, Rights, and the Reaction against Liberalism in the Urban North, 1940-1964", Journal of American History, 82 (1995), pp. 551-578; idem, "'Forget Your Inalienable Right to Work': Deindustrialization and Its Discontents at Ford, 1950-1953", International Labor and Working-Class History, 48 (1995), pp. 112-130.
2. 1 See Thomas Sugrue, "The Structure of Urban Poverty: The Reorganization of Space and Work in Three Periods of American History", in Michael B. Katz (ed.), The "Underclass" Debate: Views from History (Princeton, 1993), pp. 85-117; idem, "Crabgrass-Roots Politics: Race, Rights, and the Reaction against Liberalism in the Urban North, 1940-1964", Journal of American History, 82 (1995), pp. 551-578; idem, "'Forget Your Inalienable Right to Work': Deindustrialization and Its Discontents at Ford, 1950-1953", International Labor and Working-Class History, 48 (1995), pp. 112-130.
3. 1 See Thomas Sugrue, "The Structure of Urban Poverty: The Reorganization of Space and Work in Three Periods of American History", in Michael B. Katz (ed.), The "Underclass" Debate: Views from History (Princeton, 1993), pp. 85-117; idem, "Crabgrass-Roots Politics: Race, Rights, and the Reaction against Liberalism in the Urban North, 1940-1964", Journal of American History, 82 (1995), pp. 551-578; idem, "'Forget Your Inalienable Right to Work': Deindustrialization and Its Discontents at Ford, 1950-1953", International Labor and Working-Class History, 48 (1995), pp. 112-130.
4. Robert Griffith, "Forging America's Postwar Order: Domestic Politics and Political Economy in the Age of Truman", in Michael J. Lacey (ed.), The Truman Presidency (Cambridge, 1989), pp. 57-88; Elizabeth Fones-Wolf, Selling Free Enterprise: The Business Assault on Labor and Liberalism, 1945-60 (Urbana, 1994); Nelson Liechtenstein, The Most Dangerous Man in Detroit: Walter P. Reuther and the Fate of American Labor (New York, 1995), pp. 226-240.
5. Robert Griffith, "Forging America's Postwar Order: Domestic Politics and Political Economy in the Age of Truman", in Michael J. Lacey (ed.), The Truman Presidency (Cambridge, 1989), pp. 57-88; Elizabeth Fones-Wolf, Selling Free Enterprise: The Business Assault on Labor and Liberalism, 1945-60 (Urbana, 1994); Nelson Liechtenstein, The Most Dangerous Man in Detroit: Walter P. Reuther and the Fate of American Labor (New York, 1995), pp. 226-240.
6. Robert Griffith, "Forging America's Postwar Order: Domestic Politics and Political Economy in the Age of Truman", in Michael J. Lacey (ed.), The Truman Presidency (Cambridge, 1989), pp. 57-88; Elizabeth Fones-Wolf, Selling Free Enterprise: The Business Assault on Labor and Liberalism, 1945-60 (Urbana, 1994); Nelson Liechtenstein, The Most Dangerous Man in Detroit: Walter P. Reuther and the Fate of American Labor (New York, 1995), pp. 226-240.
7. Barbara S. Griffith, The Crisis of American Labor: Operation Dixie and the Defeat of the CIO (Philadelphia, 1988), p. 77.
8. John Bodnar, Roger Simon and Michael P. Weber, Lives of Their Own: Blacks, Italians, and Poles in Pittsburgh, 1900-1960 (Urbana, 1982), p. 62.
9. Joseph Bazdar to Thomas Shane, 9 March 1950, Folder 21, Box 3, Records of the United Steelworkers of America (USWA), Civil Rights Department, Historical Collections and Labor Archives, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA.
10. Sam Camens to Thomas Shane, 10 March 1950, ibid.
11. United Steelworkers of America, Committee on Civil Rights, Steelworkers Fight for Human Equality! (n.p., n.d.), pp. 15-17.
12. One such volume is Richard L. Rowan, The Negro in the Steel Industry, part 4 of Herbert R. Northrup et al., Negro Employment in Basic Industry: A Study of Racial Policies in Six Industries (Philadelphia, 1970).
13. Herbert Hill to Roy Wilkins ("Memorandum Re: United States Steel Corporation and United Steelworkers of America, AFL-CIO [,] Birmingham, Alabama"), 13 September 1965, Box A195, Group III, Records of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, DC; Herbert Hill, "Black Workers, Organized Labor, and Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act: Legislative History and Litigation Record", in Herbert Hill and James E. Jones, Jr (eds), Race in America: The Struggle for Equality (Madison, 1993), pp. 309-313 .
14. Herbert Hill to Roy Wilkins ("Memorandum Re: United States Steel Corporation and United Steelworkers of America, AFL-CIO [,] Birmingham, Alabama"), 13 September 1965, Box A195, Group III, Records of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, DC; Herbert Hill, "Black Workers, Organized Labor, and Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act: Legislative History and Litigation Record", in Herbert Hill and James E. Jones, Jr (eds), Race in America: The Struggle for Equality (Madison, 1993), pp. 309-313 .
15. Atlanta Daily World, 23 November 1962, p. 5.
16. Herbert Hill, "The Problem of Race in American Labor History" (paper presented at the Southern Historical Association annual meeting, New Orleans, 19 November 1995), p. 11.
17. Lester Rubin, The Negro in the Longshore Industry, The Racial Policies of American Industry, Report No. 29 (Philadelphia, 1970), pp. 136-141.
18. Nancy Quam-Wickham, "Who Controls the Hiring Hall? The Struggle for Job Control in the ILWU During World War II", in Steve Rosswurm (ed.). The CIO's Left-Led Unions (New Brunswick, 1992), pp. 47-67; Brace Nelson, "Harry Bridges, the ILWU, and Race Relations in the CIO Era", Working Paper No. 2, Occasional Paper Series, Center for Labor Studies, University of Washington (Seattle, 1995), p. 15.
19. Nancy Quam-Wickham, "Who Controls the Hiring Hall? The Struggle for Job Control in the ILWU During World War II", in Steve Rosswurm (ed.). The CIO's Left-Led Unions (New Brunswick, 1992), pp. 47-67; Brace Nelson, "Harry Bridges, the ILWU, and Race Relations in the CIO Era", Working Paper No. 2, Occasional Paper Series, Center for Labor Studies, University of Washington (Seattle, 1995), p. 15.
20. Faue even manages a monumental distortion of the argument of my book, Workers on the Waterfront: Seamen, Longshoremen, and Unionism in the 1930s (Urbana, 1988). According to Faue, I argue therein that the progressive organizing activity of "cadres [. . .] ran repeatedly into grassroots resistance to change". In fact, that is the exact opposite of the book's argument. In my discussion of the famed West Coast maritime strike of 1934, for example, I state that "the Communist presence in the strike gave it a more disciplined and organized character and a more effective leadership [. . .] But the scope and dynamism of the conflict far exceeded the ability of the rather insignificant number of Communists to control or direct it. The fact is that the Big Strike was an authentic rank-and-file rebellion that had long been waiting to happen." Nelson, Workers on the Waterfront, p. 145; see also pp. 161-162, and passim.
21. Faue even manages a monumental distortion of the argument of my book, Workers on the Waterfront: Seamen, Longshoremen, and Unionism in the 1930s (Urbana, 1988). According to Faue, I argue therein that the progressive organizing activity of "cadres [. . .] ran repeatedly into grassroots resistance to change". In fact, that is the exact opposite of the book's argument. In my discussion of the famed West Coast maritime strike of 1934, for example, I state that "the Communist presence in the strike gave it a more disciplined and organized character and a more effective leadership [. . .] But the scope and dynamism of the conflict far exceeded the ability of the rather insignificant number of Communists to control or direct it. The fact is that the Big Strike was an authentic rank-and-file rebellion that had long been waiting to happen." Nelson, Workers on the Waterfront, p. 145; see also pp. 161-162, and passim.
22. Faue even manages a monumental distortion of the argument of my book, Workers on the Waterfront: Seamen, Longshoremen, and Unionism in the 1930s (Urbana, 1988). According to Faue, I argue therein that the progressive organizing activity of "cadres [. . .] ran repeatedly into grassroots resistance to change". In fact, that is the exact opposite of the book's argument. In my discussion of the famed West Coast maritime strike of 1934, for example, I state that "the Communist presence in the strike gave it a more disciplined and organized character and a more effective leadership [. . .] But the scope and dynamism of the conflict far exceeded the ability of the rather insignificant number of Communists to control or direct it. The fact is that the Big Strike was an authentic rank-and-file rebellion that had long been waiting to happen." Nelson, Workers on the Waterfront, p. 145; see also pp. 161-162, and passim.
23. Bruce Nelson, "Auto Workers and Electoral Politics: The Detroit Municipal Election of 1937" (paper presented at the North American Conference on Labor History, Detroit, 19 October 1989); idem, "Reflections on Industrial Workers and Electoral Politics in the CIO Era" (paper presented at the Center for Labor-Management Policy Studies, Graduate School and University Center, City University of New York, 15 May 1990). See also Daniel Nelson, "The CIO at Bay: Labor Militancy and Politics in Akron, 1936-1938", Journal of American History, 71 (1984), pp. 565-586. The "culture of unity" argument has been developed most fully and impressively by Lizabeth Cohen, Making a New Deal: Industrial Workers in Chicago, 1919-1939 (Cambridge, 1990).
24. Bruce Nelson, "Auto Workers and Electoral Politics: The Detroit Municipal Election of 1937" (paper presented at the North American Conference on Labor History, Detroit, 19 October 1989); idem, "Reflections on Industrial Workers and Electoral Politics in the CIO Era" (paper presented at the Center for Labor-Management Policy Studies, Graduate School and University Center, City University of New York, 15 May 1990). See also Daniel Nelson, "The CIO at Bay: Labor Militancy and Politics in Akron, 1936-1938", Journal of American History, 71 (1984), pp. 565-586. The "culture of unity" argument has been developed most fully and impressively by Lizabeth Cohen, Making a New Deal: Industrial Workers in Chicago, 1919-1939 (Cambridge, 1990).
25. Bruce Nelson, "Auto Workers and Electoral Politics: The Detroit Municipal Election of 1937" (paper presented at the North American Conference on Labor History, Detroit, 19 October 1989); idem, "Reflections on Industrial Workers and Electoral Politics in the CIO Era" (paper presented at the Center for Labor-Management Policy Studies, Graduate School and University Center, City University of New York, 15 May 1990). See also Daniel Nelson, "The CIO at Bay: Labor Militancy and Politics in Akron, 1936-1938", Journal of American History, 71 (1984), pp. 565-586. The "culture of unity" argument has been developed most fully and impressively by Lizabeth Cohen, Making a New Deal: Industrial Workers in Chicago, 1919-1939 (Cambridge, 1990).
26. Bruce Nelson, "Auto Workers and Electoral Politics: The Detroit Municipal Election of 1937" (paper presented at the North American Conference on Labor History, Detroit, 19 October 1989); idem, "Reflections on Industrial Workers and Electoral Politics in the CIO Era" (paper presented at the Center for Labor-Management Policy Studies, Graduate School and University Center, City University of New York, 15 May 1990). See also Daniel Nelson, "The CIO at Bay: Labor Militancy and Politics in Akron, 1936-1938", Journal of American History, 71 (1984), pp. 565-586. The "culture of unity" argument has been developed most fully and impressively by Lizabeth Cohen, Making a New Deal: Industrial Workers in Chicago, 1919-1939 (Cambridge, 1990).
27. Steve Fraser, "The 'Labor Question'", in Steve Fraser and Gary Gerstle (eds), The Rise and Fall of the New Deal Order, 1930-1980 (Princeton. 1989), p. 73; Lichtenstein, The Most Dangerous Man in Detroit, p. 484. On Father Coughlin and the environment in which his world-view held sway, see Ronald H. Bayor, Neighbors in Conflict: The Irish, Germans, Jews, and Italians of New York City, 1929-1941 (Baltimore, 1978), pp. 87-108; Alan Brinkley, Voices of Protest: Huey Long, Father Coughlin, and the Great Depression (New York, 1982); Gerald H. Gamm, The Making of New Deal Democrats: Voting Behavior and Realignment in Boston, 1920-1940 (Chicago, 1989), pp. 137-159; Michael Kazin, The Populist Persuasion: An American History (New York, 1995), pp. 109-133.
28. Steve Fraser, "The 'Labor Question'", in Steve Fraser and Gary Gerstle (eds), The Rise and Fall of the New Deal Order, 1930-1980 (Princeton. 1989), p. 73; Lichtenstein, The Most Dangerous Man in Detroit, p. 484. On Father Coughlin and the environment in which his world-view held sway, see Ronald H. Bayor, Neighbors in Conflict: The Irish, Germans, Jews, and Italians of New York City, 1929-1941 (Baltimore, 1978), pp. 87-108; Alan Brinkley, Voices of Protest: Huey Long, Father Coughlin, and the Great Depression (New York, 1982); Gerald H. Gamm, The Making of New Deal Democrats: Voting Behavior and Realignment in Boston, 1920-1940 (Chicago, 1989), pp. 137-159; Michael Kazin, The Populist Persuasion: An American History (New York, 1995), pp. 109-133.
29. Steve Fraser, "The 'Labor Question'", in Steve Fraser and Gary Gerstle (eds), The Rise and Fall of the New Deal Order, 1930-1980 (Princeton. 1989), p. 73; Lichtenstein, The Most Dangerous Man in Detroit, p. 484. On Father Coughlin and the environment in which his world-view held sway, see Ronald H. Bayor, Neighbors in Conflict: The Irish, Germans, Jews, and Italians of New York City, 1929-1941 (Baltimore, 1978), pp. 87-108; Alan Brinkley, Voices of Protest: Huey Long, Father Coughlin, and the Great Depression (New York, 1982); Gerald H. Gamm, The Making of New Deal Democrats: Voting Behavior and Realignment in Boston, 1920-1940 (Chicago, 1989), pp. 137-159; Michael Kazin, The Populist Persuasion: An American History (New York, 1995), pp. 109-133.
30. Steve Fraser, "The 'Labor Question'", in Steve Fraser and Gary Gerstle (eds), The Rise and Fall of the New Deal Order, 1930-1980 (Princeton. 1989), p. 73; Lichtenstein, The Most Dangerous Man in Detroit, p. 484. On Father Coughlin and the environment in which his world-view held sway, see Ronald H. Bayor, Neighbors in Conflict: The Irish, Germans, Jews, and Italians of New York City, 1929-1941 (Baltimore, 1978), pp. 87-108; Alan Brinkley, Voices of Protest: Huey Long, Father Coughlin, and the Great Depression (New York, 1982); Gerald H. Gamm, The Making of New Deal Democrats: Voting Behavior and Realignment in Boston, 1920-1940 (Chicago, 1989), pp. 137-159; Michael Kazin, The Populist Persuasion: An American History (New York, 1995), pp. 109-133.
31. Steve Fraser, "The 'Labor Question'", in Steve Fraser and Gary Gerstle (eds), The Rise and Fall of the New Deal Order, 1930-1980 (Princeton. 1989), p. 73; Lichtenstein, The Most Dangerous Man in Detroit, p. 484. On Father Coughlin and the environment in which his world-view held sway, see Ronald H. Bayor, Neighbors in Conflict: The Irish, Germans, Jews, and Italians of New York City, 1929-1941 (Baltimore, 1978), pp. 87-108; Alan Brinkley, Voices of Protest: Huey Long, Father Coughlin, and the Great Depression (New York, 1982); Gerald H. Gamm, The Making of New Deal Democrats: Voting Behavior and Realignment in Boston, 1920-1940 (Chicago, 1989), pp. 137-159; Michael Kazin, The Populist Persuasion: An American History (New York, 1995), pp. 109-133.
32. Steve Fraser, "The 'Labor Question'", in Steve Fraser and Gary Gerstle (eds), The Rise and Fall of the New Deal Order, 1930-1980 (Princeton. 1989), p. 73; Lichtenstein, The Most Dangerous Man in Detroit, p. 484. On Father Coughlin and the environment in which his world-view held sway, see Ronald H. Bayor, Neighbors in Conflict: The Irish, Germans, Jews, and Italians of New York City, 1929-1941 (Baltimore, 1978), pp. 87-108; Alan Brinkley, Voices of Protest: Huey Long, Father Coughlin, and the Great Depression (New York, 1982); Gerald H. Gamm, The Making of New Deal Democrats: Voting Behavior and Realignment in Boston, 1920-1940 (Chicago, 1989), pp. 137-159; Michael Kazin, The Populist Persuasion: An American History (New York, 1995), pp. 109-133.
33. "Proceedings of the Seventh Constitutional Convention of the United Steelworkers of America" (Atlantic City, NJ, 20-24 September 1954), p. 163; Lichtenstein, The Most Dangerous Man in Detroit, pp. 315-316.
34. "Proceedings of the Seventh Constitutional Convention of the United Steelworkers of America" (Atlantic City, NJ, 20-24 September 1954), p. 163; Lichtenstein, The Most Dangerous Man in Detroit, pp. 315-316.
35. Ibid., p. 316; Kevin Boyle, The UAW and the Heyday of American Liberalism, 1945-1968 (Ithaca, 1995), p. 126.
36. Ibid., p. 316; Kevin Boyle, The UAW and the Heyday of American Liberalism, 1945-1968 (Ithaca, 1995), p. 126.
37. Douglas S. Massey and Nancy A. Denton, American Apartheid: Segregation and the Making of the Underclass (Cambridge, 1993), p. 15; Arnold R. Hirsch, Making the Second Ghetto: Race and Housing in Chicago, 1940-1960 (Cambridge, 1983).
38. Douglas S. Massey and Nancy A. Denton, American Apartheid: Segregation and the Making of the Underclass (Cambridge, 1993), p. 15; Arnold R. Hirsch, Making the Second Ghetto: Race and Housing in Chicago, 1940-1960 (Cambridge, 1983).
39. William Kornblum, Blue Collar Community (Chicago, 1974), pp. 92-111.
40. Sugrue, "Crabgrass-Roots Politics", pp. 570-571.
41. Ibid., p. 565.
42. John T. McGreevy, Parish Boundaries: The Catholic Encounter with Race in the Twentieth-Century Urban North (Chicago, 1996), quoted on pp. 78, 263. See also Eileen M. McMahon, Which Parish Are You From? A Chicago Irish Community and Race Relations (Lexington, 1995).
43. John T. McGreevy, Parish Boundaries: The Catholic Encounter with Race in the Twentieth-Century Urban North (Chicago, 1996), quoted on pp. 78, 263. See also Eileen M. McMahon, Which Parish Are You From? A Chicago Irish Community and Race Relations (Lexington, 1995).
44. Arnold R. Hirsch, "Massive Resistance in the Urban North: Trumbull Park, Chicago, 1953-1966", Journal of American History, 82 (1995), pp. 522-550, quoted on pp. 538, 522.
45. McGreevy, Parish Boundaries, pp. 100, 189, 190-191.
46. John Broome, "Regarding the appeal by colored members of Local 309", n.d., Folder 52, Box 7, USWA, Civil Rights Department.
47. Among many examples, perhaps the most prominent is Dinesh D'Souza, The End of Racism: Principles for a Multicultural Society (New York, 1995).