Labor and Black History Month
Colonial Virginia, 1677, the colony leadership successfully ends Bacon’s Rebellion; an attempt by disgruntled settlers to steal land from nearby Indigenous tribes. The rebellion would turn out to have unintended consequences that would ripple throughout the new world. Bacon’s Rebellion was the first North American revolt that included settlers from the old world. What was more concerning to the European ruling class was the alliance between European indentured servants and indentured, enslaved, and free Africans.
Following Bacon’s rebellion, the white ruling class began to grant specific rights and privileges to “Christians.” Further, in 1680 Virginia, legislators prescribed thirty lashes for any slave who raised a hand to a Christian. The intention was to separate the lower class members of society; to drive a wedge between poor whites and the slaves stolen from Africa. These new privileges afforded to poor whites put them above Africans and empowered whites to abuse Africans without restraint.
The 1681 Servant Act in Jamaica would be one of the first to describe the newly created class with meager privileges as “whites” rather than “Christians.” This act would be copied and later used in South Carolina. The rights of non-Christian servants would be further stripped away with the introduction of the Virginia Slave Code in 1705. As time went on this trend would spread across the New World Colonies, cementing a clear loss for organized labor that would last for centuries.
This schism created by the ruling class codified racism and throughout history you can see how it continued to harm the working class. It is the goal of the ruling class to keep workers divided. However, we are all experiencing the harms that unbridled capitalism creates. Struggling to pay rent, making sure there’s food on the table, a good education for our children, and the desire to prosper and thrive with our communities. And this is the core of labor organizing. We must seek to improve the lives of all working class people. The ruling class is stealing surplus labor and profits from all workers, not just white workers. And it’s no coincidence that poverty wage jobs are disproportionately worked by Black workers as compared to their white counterparts. Black workers experience more systemic harm in every facet of life. And it’s because of an anti-labor decision made in 1680. The ruling class needed a scapegoat and chose Black people to bear the brunt of that harm.
It is not possible to support the labor movement without also supporting Black Lives Matter. Labor is a civil rights movement about supporting workers. The America we know today was built on the backs of Black labor. Labor and Black Lives Matter have always been and will always be inherently connected.
As this Black History Month draws to a close, take some time to learn about influential Black Unionists throughout history. A not at all comprehensive list of names can be found below.
Issac Myers
Mary McLeod Bethune
A. Philip Randolph
Bayard Rustin
Dorothy Lee Bolden
Hattie Canty
Curt Flood
Chris Smalls
Additionally, you can peruse the below list of books, movies, and podcasts.
Books
Black Labor, White Wealth: The Search for Power and Economic Justice, Dr. Claud Anderson
Organized Labor and the Black Worker, Philip S. Foner
Union Divided: Black Musicians’ Fight for Labor Equality, Leta E. Miller
Workers on Arrival: Black Labor in the Making of America, Joe William Trotter, Jr.
Black Folk: The Roots of the Black Working Class, Blair LM Kelley
Documentaries and Docu-series
Slavery by Another Name
Finally Got the News
Struggles in Steel
10,000 Black Men Named George
Podcasts
Black Work Talk
Working Wage: Black Labor Advocacy in the South
Fresh Air: Celebrating America’s Black Working Class
RE:WORK by the UCLA Labor Center
The Black Women’s Dept. of Labor
In Solidarity,
The DEIJ Committee