@article{1478198,
      recid = {1478198},
      author = {Arnesen, Eric, },
      title = {Brotherhoods of Color : Black Railroad Workers and the  Struggle for Equality /},
      pages = {1 online resource (352 p.)},
      abstract = {From the time the first tracks were laid in the early  nineteenth century, the railroad has occupied a crucial  place in America's historical imagination. Now, for the  first time, Eric Arnesen gives us an untold piece of that  vital American institution--the story of African Americans  on the railroad. African Americans have been a part of the  railroad from its inception, but today they are largely  remembered as Pullman porters and track layers. The real  history is far richer, a tale of endless struggle,  perseverance, and partial victory. In a sweeping narrative,  Arnesen re-creates the heroic efforts by black locomotive  firemen, brakemen, porters, dining car waiters, and redcaps  to fight a pervasive system of racism and job  discrimination fostered by their employers, white  co-workers, and the unions that legally represented them  even while barring them from membership. Decades before the  rise of the modern civil rights movement in the mid-1950s,  black railroaders forged their own brand of civil rights  activism, organizing their own associations, challenging  white trade unions, and pursuing legal redress through  state and federal courts. In recapturing black railroaders'  voices, aspirations, and challenges, Arnesen helps to  recast the history of black protest and American labor in  the twentieth century.Table of Contents: Prologue 1. Race  in the First Century of American Railroading 2. Promise and  Failure in the World War I Era 3. The Black Wedge of Civil  Rights Unionism 4. Independent Black Unionism in Depression  and War 5. The Rise of the Red Caps 6. The Politics of Fair  Employment 7. The Politics of Fair Representation 8. Black  Railroaders in the Modern Era Conclusion Notes  Acknowledgments Index Reviews of this book: In this  superbly written monograph, Arnesen.shows how African  American railroad workers combined civil rights and labor  union activism in their struggles for racial equality in  the workplace.Throughout, black locomotive firemen,  porters, yardmen, and other railroaders speak eloquently  about the work they performed and their confrontations with  racist treatment.This history of the 'aristocrats' of the  African American working class is highly  recommended.--Charles L. Lumpkins, Library JournalReviews  of this book: Arnesen provides a fascinating look at U.S.  labor and commerce in the arena of the railroads, so much a  part of romantic notions about the growth of the nation.  The focus of the book is the troubled history of the  railroads in the exploitation of black workers from slavery  until the civil rights movement, with an insightful  analysis of the broader racial integration brought about by  labor activism.--Vanessa Bush, BooklistReviews of this  book: [An] exhaustive and illuminating work of  scholarship.--Publishers WeeklyReviews of this book:  Arnesen tells a story that should be of interest to a  variety of readers, including those who are avid students  of this country's railroads. He knows his stuff, and  furthermore, reminds us of how dependent American railroads  were on the backbreaking labor of racial and ethnic groups  whose civil and political status were precarious at best:  Irish, Chinese, Mexicans and Italians, as well as  African-Americans. But Arnesen's most powerful and  provocative argument is that the nature of discrimination  not only led black railroad workers to pursue the path of  independent unionism, it also propelled them into the  larger struggle for civil rights.--Steven Hahn, Chicago  Tribune},
      url = {http://library.usi.edu/record/1478198},
      doi = {https://doi.org/10.4159/9780674020283},
}