Clik here to view.
A Third Reconstruction
Eric Foner on why the Reconstruction era is still vitally important today. He gives us the short history we need for the most basic understanding of the issues at play and why historians changed their...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Guy Carawan, RIP
Guy Carawan, the folk singer who taught the civil rights movement “We Shall Overcome” has died at the age of 87. Carawan is a super interesting guy, someone who came out of California at the very...
View ArticleWe Shall Overcome
On the death of Guy Carawan, I’ve been poking around various folk music sites and the like today and I thought this video of Pete Seeger explaining the development of We Shall Overcome was really...
View ArticleClik here to view.
This Day in Labor History: May 21, 1968
On May 21, 1968, the Poor People’s Campaign began setting up its encampment in Washington, D.C., called Resurrection City. Attempting to go on after the assassination of Martin Luther King while he...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Selma
So I finally watched Selma. A few observations long after the debate has dissipated. 1. The main issue in the Selma debate was the portrayal of Lyndon Johnson. Critics said the portrayal was too...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Selma Lives
I was reading this old Pete Axthelm profile of Ken Stabler from 1980. A real classy guy. Among the highlight is when he and his team set up a reporter they hated for a cocaine bust. The only affair...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Uber and Civil Rights
Uber executives love to compare themselves to civil rights leaders. Because there’s nothing closer to being Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King than being a millionaire CEO. But despite this, one might...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Clik here to view.
This Day in Labor History: August 28, 1963
On August 28, 1963, the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom took place in Washington, DC. This famous event is of course most often remembered for Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech, or...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Civil Rights Footage from Portland
For Martin Luther King Day, The Oregonian complied some footage of the civil rights movement in Portland. This is powerful stuff. The two most riveting segments are of the racial tensions at the high...
View ArticleClik here to view.
How the Wagner Act Laid the Groundwork for Affirmative Action
Very interesting Touré Reed analysis at Jacobin: The case for affirmative action — like unionization before it — proceeded from the view that anti-discrimination policy was in the public interest....
View ArticleClik here to view.
Erik Visits an American Grave, Part 20
This is the grave of Martin Luther King, Jr. Martin Luther King is a man who gave one speech in his life. In that speech he talked about dreams in such a vague way that he actually meant to give...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Fifty Years of Black Power
Fifty years ago this month, the term “Black Power” became known to Americans as the participants in the March Against Fear picked it up as their slogan. N.D.B. Connolly, whose book you should read,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Textbooks and the Civil Rights Movement
Rev. Ben Chavis, right, raises his fist as fellow protesters are taken to jail at the Warren County PCB landfill near Afton, North Carolina on Thursday, Sept. 16, 1982. Chavis is one of the members of...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Stein’s History
Judith Stein is one of the finest historians working today. Her book, Pivotal Decade, is a superb discussion of the 1970s and the economic shift away from manufacturing to financialization. Critical...
View ArticleClik here to view.
This Day in Labor History: July 2, 1964
On July 2, 1964, President Lyndon Baines Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act. Today’s post evaluates the impact of Title VII of the law. Title VII prohibited discrimination by covered employers on the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Black Protest and Transportation
Interesting essay on the connections between recent Black Lives Matter protests that block freeways and the long-term relationship between transportation networks and race. Transportation, however,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
This Day in Labor History: August 28, 1963
On August 28, 1963, the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom took place in Washington, DC. This famous event is of course most often remembered for Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech, or...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Civil Rights Footage from Portland
For Martin Luther King Day, The Oregonian complied some footage of the civil rights movement in Portland. This is powerful stuff. The two most riveting segments are of the racial tensions at the high...
View ArticleClik here to view.
How the Wagner Act Laid the Groundwork for Affirmative Action
Very interesting Touré Reed analysis at Jacobin: The case for affirmative action — like unionization before it — proceeded from the view that anti-discrimination policy was in the public interest....
View Article
