Description
Book SynopsisThousands of African Americans poured into northwest Indiana in the 1920s dreaming of decent-paying jobs and a life without Klansmen, chain gangs, and cotton. Black Freedom Fighters in Steel: The Struggle for Democratic Unionism by Ruth Needleman...
Trade ReviewAs a source of material on fighting racism at work, or on union organizing in general, this book is extremely valuable.
-- Diane Fieldes * The Journal of Industrial Relations *
Ruth Needleman's examination of black steelworkers in the Calumet region... stylistically forges new ground and may prod many to adopt her method of retelling history. Needleman presents a clear sense of the opportunities that were and were not available to black workers, of the role that blacks played in building the union, and of the ideological and strategic differences that existed between union men.
-- Peter B. Levy, York College * Journal of American History *
Table of Contents"Oh, that Kimbley, he's union crazy" - George Kimbley; "Slavery never ended at Inland" - William Young; "The only race that mattered was the human race" - John Howard; "Get your horses" - Curtis Strong; "Plain old-fashioned discrimination" - Jonathan Comer; "Change this segregated system!" - the National Ad Hoc Committee in Steel; "Between a rock and a hard place" - taking a job on staff; "Diplomats and rabble-rousers" - black radicalism and the union movement; "U pheavalin steel" - from the consent decree to global restructuring; "Fire in the belly" - a conversation among black labor leaders.
