The challenge of interracial unionism: Alabama coal miners, 1878-1921

654 Pages·1998·1.68 MB·English

by  Daniel Letwin

The Challenge of Interracial Unionism :
title:
Alabama Coal Miners, 1878-1921
author: Letwin, Daniel.
publisher: University of North Carolina Press
isbn10 | asin: 0807823775
print isbn13: 9780807823774
ebook isbn13: 9780807862872
language: English
Coal miners--Labor unions--Alabama--
History, African American coal miners--
subject
Alabama--History, African American labor
union members--Alabama--History.
publication date: 1998
lcc: HD6515.M615L478 1998eb
ddc: 331.88/122334/09761
Coal miners--Labor unions--Alabama--
History, African American coal miners--
subject:
Alabama--History, African American labor
union members--Alabama--History.
Page iii
The Challenge of Interracial Unionism
Alabama Coal Miners, 1878-1921
Daniel Letwin
The University of
North Carolina Press
Chapel Hill and London
Page iv
© 1998 The University of North Carolina Press
All rights reserved
Manufactured in the United States of America
The paper in this book meets the guidelines for
permanence and durability of the Committee on
Production Guidelines for Book Longevity of the
Council on Library Resources.
This book was set in Monotype Bulmer
by Keystone Typesetting, Inc.
Book design by April Leidig-Higgins.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Letwin, Daniel. The challenge of interracial
unionism: Alabama coal miners, 1878-1921/by
Daniel Letwin. p. cm. Includes bibliographical
references (p. ) and index.
ISBN 0-8078-2377-5 (cloth: alk. paper)
ISBN 0-8078-4678-3 (pbk.: alk. paper)
1. Trade-unions Coal miners Alabama History.
2. Afro-American coal miners Alabama
History. 3. Trade-unions Afro-American
membership Alabama History. I. Title.
HD6515.M615L478 1998 97-9365
331.88'122334'09761 dc21 CIP
Portions of this book originally appeared as
"Interracial Unionism, Gender, and `Social Equality'
in the Alabama Coalfields, 1878-1908," Journal of
Southern History 61, no. 3 (August 1995): 519-54.
02 01 00 99 98 5 4 3 2 1

Page v
To my parents,
Leon and Alita,
and to the memory of
my grandmother Bessie
Page vii
Contents
Preface ix
Introduction 1
1 9
The Rise of the Birmingham District
2 31
The World of the Alabama Coal Miners
3 55
The Greenback-Labor Party and the Knights of Labor
4 89
The United Mine Workers in the Populist Era
5 125
The United Mine Workers in the Age of Segregation
6 157
The United Mine Workers in the World War I Era
Epilogue 191
Notes 195
Selected Bibliography 257
Index 277
Page viii
Maps
1. Birmingham Coal Belt 11
2. Birmingham Coal Mining District 33
Page ix
Preface
THIS BOOK EXPLORES a question that has long concerned social
critics, and now a growing number of American historians as well:
How have black and white workers negotiated the dual identities of
race and class, in settings where both were charged with meaning? In
the introduction I discuss the narrative and themes of the book. Here I
want to convey how I came to study the coal miners of Alabama, and
to acknowledge those who have helped me along the way.
My interest in race and labor has deep roots. From my family I
absorbed the trade union ethics of solidarity and social justice, values
my father and mother had learned from their parents, Bessie and
Lazar, Manya and Zell. I first become aware of a broader world amid
the civil rights struggles
Page x
of the 1960s. Like many others of my generation, I began to ponder
what gave race such meaning and urgency in America. Central to my
emerging worldview were visions of a revitalized labor movement
with the commitment and power to overcome racism a barrier that
American unionism has at times transcended, but more often
succumbed to or actively fortified.
If these concerns germinated in my family, so did my sense that social
issues were complex and not always susceptible to dogmatic
formulations. My political sensibilities were shaped by ongoing, lively
discussion with my parents, Alita and Leon, and my brothers, Michael
and David. My parents and my grandmother Bessie the individuals to
whom this book is dedicated encouraged intellectual curiosity and
critical thinking, as qualities that both tempered and reinforced one's
social commitment.
My interest in issues of race and class deepened in college, where I
encountered the dynamic scholarship then flowering in both labor and
African American history. I arrived at graduate school undecided
between these two fields. Eventually I came to see the dilemma as
artificial. Blacks in the United States, after all, have in large part been
workers (whether slaves, sharecroppers, or wage earners), and
American working-class history has been profoundly affected by the
presence of African Americans and by ideologies of race. For my
dissertation topic I chose the Alabama coal fields during the rise of
Jim Crow because it seemed a promising context in which to explore
this relationship.
My work on the dissertation was supported by an Albert J. Beveridge
Grant from the American Historical Association, a John F. Enders
Research Assistance Grant from the graduate school of Yale
University, and two travel grants from the Yale history department.
Most of the writing took place during two years I spent teaching at