eBook

Black and blue

Paul Frymer

2008,2011,2007

Overview

In the 1930s, fewer than one in one hundred U.S. labor union members were African American. By 1980, the figure was more than one in five.Black and Blueexplores the politics and history that led to this dramatic integration of organized labor. In the process, the book tells a broader story about how the Democratic Party unintentionally sowed the seeds of labor's decline. The labor and civil rights movements are the cornerstones of the Democratic Party, but for much of the twentieth century these movements worked independently of one another. Paul Frymer argues that as Democrats passed separate legislation to promote labor rights and racial equality they split the issues of class and race into two sets of institutions, neither of which had enough authority to integrate the labor movement. From this division, the courts became the leading enforcers of workplace civil rights, threatening unions with bankruptcy if they resisted integration. The courts' previously unappreciated power, however, was also a problem: in diversifying unions, judges and lawyers enfeebled them financially, thus democratizing through destruction. Sharply delineating the double-edged sword of state and legal power,Black and Bluechronicles an achievement that was as problematic as it was remarkable, and that demonstrates the deficiencies of race- and class-based understandings of labor, equality, and power in America.

• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Subject: 20th century / Activism / Affirmative action / African Americans / African Americans -- Civil rights -- History -- 20th century / American Federation of Labor / Anti-discrimination law / Apprenticeship / Bayard Rustin / Civil rights / Civil Rights Act / Civil Rights Act of 1964 / Class action / Closed shop / Coalition of Black Trade Unionists / Collective bargaining / Court order / Criticism / Democracy / Democratic parties / Democratic Party (U.S.) / Democratic Party (U.S.) -- History -- 20th century / Duty of fair representation / Economic inequality / Election / Employment / Employment discrimination / Equal Employment Opportunity Commission / Equal Protection Clause / Fair Employment Practice Committee / Government agency / Gunnar Myrdal / Herbert Hill (labor director) / History / HISTORY / United States / 20th Century / Institution / International Brotherhood of Teamsters / Judiciary / Karen Orren / Labor & Employment / Labor & Industrial Relations / Labor policy / Labor policy -- United States -- History -- 20th century / Labor relations / Labor unions / Labor unions -- United States -- History -- 20th century / Laborer / Labour law / Labour movement / Labour movements / LAW / LAW / Labor & Employment / Lawyer / Legislation / Legislative history / Legislator / Local union / Lochner era / National Association for the Advancement of Colored People / National Labor Relations Act / National Labor Relations Board / Plaintiff / Policy / Political agenda / POLITICAL SCIENCE / POLITICAL SCIENCE / Labor & Industrial Relations / Politician / Politics / Politics of the United States / Precedent / Provision (contracting) / Race relations / Racial hierarchy / Racism / Railway Labor Act / Regulatory agency / Seniority / Social inequality / Southern Democrats / Statute / Strikebreaker / Theda Skocpol / Trade union / Trade unions / U.S.A / Union shop / United Automobile Workers / United States / United States -- Race relations -- History -- 20th century / United States Department of Labor / Voting / W. E. B. Du Bois / Workforce / Working class / World War II
• ISBN: 0691134650, 9780691134659, 9780691130811, 0691130817, 9781400837267, 140083726X