Labor History Links

The emergence of the sharecropping system in the South in the last three decades of the 19th century rested on an uneasy compromise between black farming families and the white landowners on whose land they labored. Sharecropping was an oppressive system but the experience of sharecropping families varied. In this interview done by historian Charles Hardy in 1984, Minnie Whitney, born in 1902, described the determined efforts of more progressive farmers like her father, who along with her mother struggled to maintain some self-sufficiency in the face of white determination to enforce African-American dependence on the sharecropping system.

The Writers is the only comprehensive qualitative analysis of the history of writers and writing in the film, television, and streaming media industries in America. Featuring in-depth interviews with over fifty writers--including Mel Brooks, Norman Lear, Carl Reiner, and Frank Pierson--The Writers delivers a compelling, behind-the-scenes look at the role and rights of writers in Hollywood and New York over the past century. Granted unprecedented access to the archives of the Writers Guild Foundation, Miranda J. Banks also mines over 100 never-before-published oral histories with legends such as Nora Ephron and Ring Lardner Jr., whose insight and humor provide a window onto the enduring priorities, policies, and practices of the Writers Guild. With an ear for the language of storytellers, Banks deftly analyzes watershed moments in the industry: the advent of sound, the Second World War, the blacklist, the ascension of television, the American New Wave, the rise and fall of VHS and DVD, and the boom of streaming media. The Writers spans historical and contemporary moments, drawing upon American cultural history, film and television scholarship, and the passionate politics of labor and management. -- Publisher
rontmatter -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Abbreviations Used in the Text -- Introduction -- 1. The Artist Employee -- 2. Two Front Lines -- 3. The Infant Prodigy -- 4. Mavericks -- 5. Confederation -- Conclusion -- Appendix A: Screenwriters and Selected Credits -- Appendix B: Methodology --

In this book, Mireya Loza sheds new light on the history of the Bracero Program (1942-1964), the binational agreement between the United States and Mexico that allowed hundreds of thousands of male Mexican workers to enter this country on temporary work permits. While this program and the issue of temporary workers has long been politicized on both sides of the border, Loza argues that the prevailing romanticized image of braceros as a family-oriented, productive, legal workforce has obscured the real, diverse experiences of the workers themselves. Focusing on underexplored aspects of workers' lives such as their transnational union organizing efforts, the sexual economies of both gay and straight workers, and the ethno-racial boundaries among Mexican Indigenous braceros, Loza reveals how these men defied perceived political, sexual, and racial norms. Basing her work on an archive of more than 800 oral histories from the United States and Mexico, Loza is the first scholar to carefully differentiate between the experiences of Spanish-speaking guest workers and the many Mixtec, Zapotec, Purhepecha, and Mayan laborers. In doing so, she demonstrates how these transnational workers were able to forge new identities in the face of intense discrimination and exploitation"-- Provided by publisher

Out in the Union tells the continuous story of queer American workers from the mid-1960s through 2013. Miriam Frank shrewdly chronicles the evolution of labor politics with queer activism and identity formation, showing how unions began affirming the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender workers in the 1970s and 1980s. She documents coming out on the job and in the union as well as issues of discrimination and harassment, and the creation of alliances between unions and LGBT communities. Featuring in-depth interviews with LGBT and labor activists, Frank provides an inclusive history of the convergence of labor and LGBT interests. She carefully details how queer caucuses in local unions introduced domestic partner benefits and union-based AIDS education for health care workers-innovations that have been influential across the U.S. workforce. Out in the Union also examines organizing drives at queer workplaces, campaigns for marriage equality, and other gay civil rights issues to show the enduring power of LGBT workers."
A brief chronology of LGBT labor history, 1965-2013
Prologue: Love and work and queer survival
From construction to couture: coming out in unionized workplaces
Outsiders as insiders: sexual diversity and union leadership
From common enemies to common causes: the labor movement and the gay movement in action and coalition
The heart of the matter: union politics, queer issues, and the life of the local
Organizing the gay unorganized: talking union, talking queer
Epilogue: When Connie married Phyllis

Dreams of Dead Bodies: Blackness, Labor, and Detective Fiction in American Literature argues that the detective genre's lineage lies in unexpected texts: experimental works on the margins of what we recognize as classical detective fiction today. It shows that authors like Edgar Allan Poe, Mark Twain, Pauline Hopkins, and Rudolph Fisher drew on detective fiction's puzzle-elements to wrestle with complicated questions about race and labor in the United States, such that the emergence of detective fiction is itself bound to a history of interracial conflicts and labor struggles. Unlike previous studies of detective fiction, this book foregrounds an interracial genealogy of detective fiction, building a nuanced picture of the ways that both black and white American authors appropriated and cultivated literary conventions that finally coalesced in a recognizable genre at the turn of the twentieth century. These authors tinkered with detective fiction's puzzle-elements to address a variety of historical contexts, including the exigencies of chattel slavery, the erosion of working class solidarities by racial and ethnic competition, and accelerated mass production. Dreams for Dead Bodies demonstrates that nineteenth- and early twentieth-century American literature was broadly engaged with detective fiction, and that authors rehearsed and refined its formal elements in literary works typically relegated to the margins of the genre. By looking at these margins, the book argues, we can better understand the origins and cultural functions of American detective fiction

The author draws on thousands of documents and interviews to examine the myths and achievements marking the life of the iconic Latino labor leader and civil rights activist, portraying him as a flawed but brilliant strategist who was often at odds with himself. Cesar Chavez founded a labor union, launched a movement, and inspired a generation. He rose from migrant worker to national icon, becoming one of the great charismatic leaders of the 20th century. Two decades after his death, Chavez remains the most significant Latino leader in U.S. history. Yet his life story has been told only in hagiography, until now. In this biography of Chavez, the author offers a searching yet empathetic portrayal. Chavez emerges here as a visionary figure with tragic flaws; a brilliant strategist who sometimes stumbled; and a canny, streetwise organizer whose pragmatism was often at odds with his elusive, soaring dreams. He was an experimental thinker with eclectic passions, an avid, self-educated historian and a disciple of Gandhian non-violent protest. This biography deepens our understanding of one of Chavez's most salient qualities: his profound humanity. The author traces Chavez's remarkable career as he conceived strategies that empowered the poor and vanquished California's powerful agriculture industry, and his later shift from inspirational leadership to a cult of personality, with tragic consequences for the union he had built. This book reveals how this most unlikely American hero ignited one of the great social movements of our time--Publisher information
Part I. March 1927-April 1962. Home
Sal si puedes
The priest, the organizer, and the lumber handler
Cesar finds his calling
Staying organized
The first disciples
David vs. Goliath, round one
No hay mal que por bien no venga
Part II. April 1962-July 1970. Viva La Causa
Chavez in command
The strike
Beyond Delano
The first big test
Chavez the leader
The fast
The celebrity
The boycott
Contracts
Part III. July 1970-June 1975. A very different strike
Nuestra Señora Reina de la Paz
Staking a national claim
Brother against brother
The perfect villain
The seeds are sown
The saint and the sinner
The end of the nonviolent Viet Cong
Part IV. June 1975-November 1978. Elections in the fields
The Crosby era
The cultural revolution
Slough off the old
Mecca
Trapped
The end game
Part V. November 1978-April 1993. From dream to nightmare
Una sola union
Playing defense
Chicano power
Selling the brand
The last fast
Three funerals

A generation of Americans came of age boycotting grapes, swept up in a movement that vanquished California's most powerful industry and accomplished the unthinkable: dignity and contracts for farm workers.
Four decades later, Cesar Chavez's likeness graces postage stamps, and dozens of schools and streets have been renamed in his honor.

But the real story of Chavez's farm workers' movement-both its historic triumphs and its tragic disintegration-has remained buried beneath the hagiography.

Drawing on a rich trove of original documents, tapes, and interviews, Miriam Pawel chronicles the rise of the UFW during the heady days of civil rights struggles, the antiwar movement, and student activism in the 1960s and '70s. From the fields, the churches, and the classrooms, hundreds were drawn to la causa by the charismatic Chavez, a brilliant risk-taker who mobilized popular support for a noble cause.

But as Miriam Pawel shows, the UFW was ripped apart by the same man who built it, as Chavez proved unable to make the transition from movement icon to union leader. Pawel traces the lives of several key members of the crusade, using their stories to weave together a powerful portrait of a movement and the people who made it.
A tour de force of reporting and a spellbinding narrative, The Union of Their Dreams explores an important and untold chapter in the history of labor, civil rights, and immigration in modern America.Some primary sources available at: https://unionoftheirdreams.com/Primary_Sources.php
Table of Contents
The Grape strike, September 1965-July 1970
Growing pains, August 1970-April 1973
War, again, April 1973-June 1975
The new world, June 1975-March 1977
Movement or a union?, April 1977-July 1978
Up from the fields, July 1978-January 1989

Miriam Thaggert illuminates the stories of African American women as passengers and as workers on the nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century railroad. As Jim Crow laws became more prevalent and forced Black Americans to 'ride Jim Crow' on the rails, the train compartment became a contested space of leisure and work. Riding Jane Crow examines four instances of Black female railroad travel: the travel narratives of Black female intellectuals such as Anna Julia Cooper and Mary Church Terrell; Black middle-class women who sued to ride in first class 'ladies' cars'; Black women railroad food vendors; and Black maids on Pullman trains. Thaggert argues that the railroad represented a technological advancement that was entwined with African American attempts to secure social progress. Black women's experiences on or near the railroad illustrate how American technological progress has often meant their ejection or displacement; thus, it is the Black woman who most fully measures the success of American freedom and privilege, or 'progress,' through her travel experiences"-- Provided by publisher

The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers was organized on May 8, 1863 in Detroit, MI. The organization was fraternal in nature and only open to locomotive engineers; locomotive firemen and other railroad employees formed their own organizations. This collection contains the records of the early years of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, Division 83, the first union organized in Springfield, MO. The records consist primarily of membership dues payment records (1871-1900, 1904-1905) and minutes (1871-1892, 1904-1907, 1916-1934, and 1944-1954).

UNITE formed after the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union (ILGWU) and the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union (ACTWU) merged in 1995. The majority of the digitized material here comes from the ILGWU in the 1930s-1980s and especially focuses on St. Louis, Missouri, but also includes material from other parts of Missouri as well as other states.

Claud Hawley was born in Aurora, Missouri, on August 24, 1903. In 1937, he founded the Union Labor Record. This collection consists of biographical information and material about Claud Hawley such as his obituary, where he was born, and where he went to school. It also contains letters and memos labor union mediator career. His scrapbook contains photographs of Hawley, his family, and his bowling teams; newspaper clippings; minstrel show materials; and other items.

The collection mainly consists of materials regarding the Missouri Farmers Association (MFA) Milling Company in Springfield, Missouri, including photographs of the inside of their building and of floods at their building in the late 1920s; MFA financials; and meeting minutes for the Exchange Managers of Southwest Missouri, especially regarding the purchase of a new mill. Also included in the collection is information regarding the Flour, Cereal, Feed Mill, and Grain Elevator Workers Union.

This collection of St. Louis-San Francisco Railway Company (Frisco) depot floor plans from the early 20th century includes stations in Missouri, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Kansas, Mississippi, Alabama, Texas, and Tennessee. Many of the plans show segregated bathrooms and waiting areas, as well as information such as when the stations were built and what materials were used.

This digital collection includes a selection of ephemera, documents, postcards, photographs, and artifacts used in creating Special Collections and Archives' Frisco Travel Exhibit in 2008. The original items come from several different collections related to the St. Louis-San Francisco Railway Company ("Frisco") now held by Special Collections and Archives.

A small selection from approximately 2,000 field recordings of Gordon McCann, a Springfield musician and historian who in the mid-1970s began collecting Ozarks fiddle tunes. Full recordings are available on the MSU Libraries YouTube Channel.

In 1982, Missouri State University's Dr. Katherine Lederer developed the exhibit "Springfield's Lost Black History" about the African American community from in and around Springfield, Missouri. Featuring images from her own collection, as well as materials made available to her by the community, this collection grew to include copies of over 450 photographs, documents, and published pages.

This collection is comprised of labor union charters and certificates of affiliation. The collection was received piecemeal at various times. The majority of the documents are from Springfield labor unions, but there are a few from other Missouri communities (Joplin and Jefferson City), as well as Wichita, Kansas, and Parsons, Kansas. Among the collection are charters from local women's auxiliaries.

This collection includes miscellaneous materials related to various Ozarks labor unions, such as dues books, constitutions, and a cipher code.

Otto Bowles was born October 19, 1904, to Lon and Cora Bowles in Lawrence County, Missouri. He served in the Navy from 1923 to 1929. He then moved to Springfield, Missouri, where he started working in construction as a laborer. He joined Laborers Union local 676 in 1938, serving as a steward on such jobs as the construction of the U. S. Medical Center and O'Reilly Hospital. In 1941 he was asked to serve as the secretary treasurer of the local, and accepted the job. Shortly afterward, the local's business agent was drafted into the Army, and Bowles held both offices until 1943. He also served as business manager of the Building and Construction Trades Council in Springfield. In 1947, he quit both union posts in Springfield to become business manager of the Greater Kansas City District Laborers' Council. This small collection contains minutes of the district council and memorabilia of Mr. Bowles.

St. Louis headquarters materials; UNITE formed after the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union (ILGWU) and the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union (ACTWU) merged in 1995. The majority of the digitized material here comes from the ILGWU in the 1930s-1980s and especially focuses on St. Louis, Missouri, but also includes material from other parts of Missouri as well as other states.IL

This collection contains the personnel records and other various documents of the Frisco Railroad. The collection is divided up into two series. The first contains personnel records listed in alphabetical order. These folders contain materials such as: personal letters, telegrams, accident reports, and applications and application letters. The second series, identified as “subject files,” contains various documents related to the railroad such as: lists of Frisco employees, railroad association reports, accident/wreck reports, Mr. Veregge’s website, and guest lists.

In 1983, Neal W. Moore, a retired union printer, publisher, and editor, founded the Ozarks Labor Union Archives (OLUA) with a few files and borrowed closet space. Mr. Moore's passion for labor history and working class issues, his involvement in the Ozarks Labor Historical Society, and his acquaintance with Missouri State Economics professor J. David Lages led to the establishment of the archives.

His appreciation of and dedication to the preservation of labor's history drove him to create a labor archives in a region considered to have few, if any, unions. Over two decades later, OLUA is a major repository for labor and working class records, with over 100 collections totaling over 1,300 linear feet of primary source material.

As part of his interest in labor issues, Mr. Moore wrote a great deal about the Ozarks' labor history and often spoke at conferences and to other groups. Much of that research has been compiled into an unpublished work, Labor Unions in the Ozarks.

This website takes the opportunity to showcase portions of Mr. Moore's work, who passed away in September 2005 at 90 years of age. Select a link below to view the article.

International Brotherhood of Teamsters in Missouri became part of Labor for Peace, an anti-war organization during this time

Told with great intimacy and compassion, The Bootleg Coal Rebellion uncovers a long-buried history of resistance and resilience among depression-era miners in Pennsylvania, who sunk their own mines on company grounds and fought police, bankers, coal companies and courts to form a union that would safeguard not just their livelihoods, but protect their collective autonomy as citizens and workers for decades. Community and Labor organizer Mitch Troutman brings this explosive and accessible American tale to life through the bootleggers' own words. Scholars, historians, organizers and activists will celebrate this story of the people who literally seized mountains and stood their ground to create the Equalization movement, the miners' union democracy movement, and the Communist-led Unemployed Councils of the anthracite region. This epic story of work, love and community stands as a testament to the power of collective action; a story that is sorely needed as communities today rise to confront neoliberal policies ravaging our planet

On July 12, 1917, in the mining town of Bisbee Arizona, twelve hundred striking miners and their supporters were rounded up by forces organized by the town sheriff and the mining companies, marched through the town, parked in the town & rsquo;s baseball field, and then put in boxcars and shipped into the New Mexican desert. The deportees were largely members or supporters of the radical IWW labor union and mostly foreign-born.

The roundup and deportation was part of a xenophobic and anti-radical campaign being carried out by bosses and the government throughout the country in the early days of US participation in World War I. The mine owners then took control of the town and patrols prevented any union miners from even entering it. This little-known story is a shocking and fascinating one on its own, but the sentiments exploited and exposed in Bisbee in 1917 speak to America today.