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"T
HE vast majority of black people
areworkersand the trade unionmovement,
even with all its imperfections and failings
is the most effective, and most powerful
defender of the interests of all American
workers, black as well as white."
--A. Philip Randolph
The vast majority of Black people have
aiways been a part of the work force in
America. Before the Civil War, in the era
known as the Antebellum Period, It is well
knownthatßlack slaves werethe backbone
of the labor force in the South (and to a
lesser degree in the North). We have all
read about "house slaves' and ‘field
hands." Slaves were the butlers, cooks,
maids and mammies in the Big House,
They also picked cotton, harvested
tobacco and cultivated crops in the fields.
It is less well known that the over
whelming majority of the craftsmen--
blacksmiths, carpenters, masons,
silversmiths and mechanics were slaves.
Slaves also predominated among the
industrial workers in southern mills, mines
and foundries. The animosity of poor
Whites toward Blacks had its inception in
this period.
While the majority of free Black people
lived in the North, a very small percentage
of northern Blacks were skilled. Black
people were barred from the appren
ticeships, through which crafts were
acquired. Northern Black men and women
found work mainly as manual laborers or
inthe service industries. Certain jobs were
reservedforthem, such aswaiters, porters,
janitors, cooks, maids and nannies--
"House Negro" jobs. There were a few
semi-professionals, such as barbers,
hairdressers and caterers.
Poor wages and indecent working
conditions led some of these workers to
form protective and benevolent labor
societies. An early example of this type of
organization was the Waiters Protective
Association of New York. This union was
so successful in winning demands from
employers that the white union asked the
leaders to participate in a joint conference
Hisiorical Perspective on the Role of
African Americans in ifie Labor Movemeni
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A. Philip Randolph, veteran labor and civil rights leader, was widely recognized
as the "dean of American civil rights leaders."
of unions. However, the Black workers
were not asked to join the white union.
There is no record of interracial unions
before the Civil War.
The first organization of Black workers
thatcame closertounionisminthe modern
sense was organized in New York City in
1850. (Frederick Douglass was elected
one of the vice presidents.) The stated
objectives of the American League of
Colored Laborers were three-fold:
1. Promoting unity among mechanics.
2. Fostering the training of agriculture,
industrial arts, and commerce.
3. Assisting members in establishing
their own businesses.
"Pulling Ourselves Up By Our Own Bootstraps"... A Series
Is your organization actively involved in AOIP Local Division organizing?
Most of the prominent Black leaders of the
time were more interested in industrial
education rather than trade unions. The
mainfocus of league members was toward
self-employed artisans.
The convention movement, which
flourished during the 1840's and 1850's on
both the local and national levels, offered
a forum in which the attendees could
discusscommoninterests and agree upon
a unified course of action. The idea of an
industrial college for Blacks won the
support of most of the Black leaders who
participated in these conventions. Plans
forsuchacollege were neverimplemented,
however, due to the lack of funds.
National BLACK MONITOR-November 1995
Part One
Much of the opposition to interracial
unions came from poor White workers,
most of whom were immigrants. For most
of this group, the American labor
movement was a vehicle for Ameri
canization. The union not only protected
their jobs, but also paved the way to
American citizenshipand acceptance. The
unions were the proverbial "‘melting pot."
Union halls became the socialization
centers in which the newly arrived could
learn the language and ways of
"Americans."
The Civil War set in motion an industrial
impulseintheSouth thathadbeen eclipsed
by the antebellum plantation society.
When the Reconstruction Period arrived
onthescene, 100,000 ofthe 120,000 skilled
workers in the South were ex-slaves and
free Blacks. There were 200,000 Black
industrial workers in southern mills, mines
and foundries. By 1890, southern Black
craftsmen had all but ceased to exist--88
percent of all southern Blacks were
employed in agriculture and domestic
service.
The few unions that existed South of the
Mason Dixon Line were organized by White
workers tofreeze out Black skilled workers.
Labor scouts for the textile mills and
tobacco factories recruited only poor
Whites. The threat of Black labor was used
as aweapon todiscourage White workers'
demands for higher wages and better
working conditions.
The American Federation of Labor (AFL)
was foundedin 1881 at Columbus Ohio by
25 trade unions. Many of these unions had
clauses in their charters excluding Black
workers from membership. The AFL
consisted of independentlocal craft unions.
To join a craft union takes years of
apprenticeship. These local unions were
ethnic unions. Jobs were linked to sons
and relatives of journeymen and masters.
For example Italian construction locals in
New York had no non-ltalian members,
White or Black.
In 1935, several industrial unions broke
away from the AFL and formed the
Committee, later Congress, of Industrial
Organizations (CIO), which organized
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