Color of Work Contributor(s): Minchin, Timothy J. (Author) |
|
ISBN: 0807849332 ISBN-13: 9780807849330 Publisher: University of North Carolina Press OUR PRICE: $45.13 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: July 2001 Annotation: Histories of the civil rights movement have generally overlooked the battle to integrate the South's major industries. The paper industry, which has played an important role in the southern economy since the 1930s, has been particularly neglected. Using previously untapped legal records and oral history interviews, Timothy Minchin provides the first in-depth account of the struggle to integrate southern paper mills. Minchin describes how jobs in the southern paper industry were strictly segregated prior to the 1960s, with black workers confined to low-paying, menial positions. All work literally had a color: every job was racially designated and workers were represented by segregated local unions. Though black workers tried to protest workplace inequities through their unions, their efforts were largely ineffective until passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act opened the way for scores of antidiscrimination lawsuits. Even then, however, resistance from executives and white workers ensured that the fight to integrate the paper industry was a long and difficult one. |
Additional Information |
BISAC Categories: - History | United States - 20th Century - Social Science | Ethnic Studies - African American Studies - Political Science | Labor & Industrial Relations |
Dewey: 331.133 |
LCCN: 00068312 |
Lexile Measure: 1550 |
Physical Information: 0.66" H x 6.14" W x 9.21" (0.99 lbs) 296 pages |
Themes: - Chronological Period - 20th Century - Ethnic Orientation - African American |
Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
Publisher Description: Histories of the civil rights movement have generally overlooked the battle to integrate the South's major industries. The paper industry, which has played an important role in the southern economy since the 1930s, has been particularly neglected. Using previously untapped legal records and oral history interviews, Timothy Minchin provides the first in-depth account of the struggle to integrate southern paper mills. Minchin describes how jobs in the southern paper industry were strictly segregated prior to the 1960s, with black workers confined to low-paying, menial positions. All work literally had a color: every job was racially designated and workers were represented by segregated local unions. Though black workers tried to protest workplace inequities through their unions, their efforts were largely ineffective until passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act opened the way for scores of antidiscrimination lawsuits. Even then, however, resistance from executives and white workers ensured that the fight to integrate the paper industry was a long and difficult one. |
Contributor Bio(s): Minchin, Timothy J.: - Timothy J. Minchin teaches American history at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. He is author of What Do We Need a Union For?: The TWUA in the South, 1945-1955 and the award-winning Hiring the Black Worker: The Racial Integration of the Southern Textile Industry, 1960-1980. |