Pullman Porters and the Rise of Protest Politics in Black America, 1925-1945

Capa
Univ of North Carolina Press, 14/01/2003 - 304 páginas
Between World War I and World War II, African Americans' quest for civil rights took on a more aggressive character as a new group of black activists challenged the politics of civility traditionally embraced by old-guard leaders in favor of a more forceful protest strategy. Beth Tompkins Bates traces the rise of this new protest politics--which was grounded in making demands and backing them up with collective action--by focusing on the struggle of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters (BSCP) to form a union in Chicago, headquarters of the Pullman Company.

Bates shows how the BSCP overcame initial opposition from most of Chicago's black leaders by linking its union message with the broader social movement for racial equality. As members of BSCP protest networks mobilized the black community around the quest for manhood rights and economic freedom, they broke down resistance to organized labor even as they expanded the boundaries of citizenship to include equal economic opportunity. By the mid-1930s, BSCP protest networks gained platforms at the national level, fusing Brotherhood activities first with those of the National Negro Congress and later with the March on Washington Movement. Lessons learned during this era guided the next generation of activists, who carried the black freedom struggle forward after World War II.

 

Índice

Introduction
3
1 No More Servants in the House
17
2 The Politics of Paternalism and Patronage in Black Chicago
40
3 Biting the Hand That Feeds Us
63
4 Launching a Social Movement 19281930
87
5 Forging Alliances
107
6 NewCrowd Networks and the Course of Protest Politics 19351940
126
7 We Are Americans Too
148
8 Protest Politics Comes of Age
175
Notes
189
Bibliography
243
Index
265
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Beth Tompkins Bates is professor emerita at Wayne State University and author of The Making of Black Detroit in the Age of Henry Ford.

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