"While there have been many accounts of the lives and conditions of blacks under slavery, this is the first documentary work to include substantial material on free black workers. It draws together a vast range of materials from newspapers, census reports, testimonies, speeches, letters, and many other sources to tell the story of this long-neglected side of black life. ; Each volume in the series includes an introduction, notes, and an index"--Book jacket.

In the 1960s and 1970s, the textile industry's workforce underwent a dramatic transformation, as African Americans entered the South's largest industry in growing numbers. Only 3.3 percent of textile workers were black in 1960; by 1978, this number had risen to 25 percent. Using previously untapped legal records and oral history interviews, Timothy Minchin crafts a compelling account of the integration of the mills. Minchin argues that the role of a labor shortage in spurring black hiring has been overemphasized, pointing instead to the federal government's influence in pressing the textile industry to integrate. He also highlights the critical part played by African American activists. Encouraged by passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, black workers filed antidiscrimination lawsuits against nearly all of the major textile companies. Still, Minchin notes, even after the integration of the mills, African American workers encountered considerable resistance: black women faced continued hiring discrimination, while black men found themselves shunted into low-paying jobs with little hope of promotion.

This is a book for those who want to know what really happens when, in circumstances of enormous complexity and under the impetus of the New Deal, an irresistible drive for labor organization runs head-on into an immovably imbedded race prejudice. It is based on interviews by the authors with those people most intimately concerned. Originally published in 1939. A UNC Press Enduring Edition -- UNC Press Enduring Editions use the latest in digital technology to make available again books from our distinguished backlist that were previously out of print. These editions are published unaltered from the original, and are presented in affordable paperback formats, bringing readers both historical and cultural value.

This book is a detailed, thought-provoking and comprehensive text that is valuable not only for students but also for all those interested in the development of civil liberties in the Human Rights Act era

Publishes in-depth articles on labor subjects, current labor statistics, information about current labor contracts, and book reviews.

"While there have been many accounts of the lives and conditions of blacks under slavery, this is the first documentary work to include substantial material on free black workers. It draws together a vast range of materials from newspapers, census reports, testimonies, speeches, letters, and many other sources to tell the story of this long-neglected side of black life. ; Each volume in the series includes an introduction, notes, and an index"--Book jacket.