RACE, LABOR AND UNIONISM: NEW ORLEANS DOCKWORKERS, 1900-1910 (LOUISIANA).
Item
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Title
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RACE, LABOR AND UNIONISM: NEW ORLEANS DOCKWORKERS, 1900-1910 (LOUISIANA).
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Identifier
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AAI8508729
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identifier
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8508729
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Creator
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ROSENBERG, DANIEL.
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Contributor
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Michael Wreszin | Eric Foner
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Date
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1985
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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History, Black
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Abstract
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In cosmopolitan New Orleans, during the "nadir" in American race relations, ten thousand white and Black dockworkers labored together. Working in the world's chief cotton port, Crescent City dockworkers responded to the hazards of seasonality by diversifying skills and joining other unions: this facilitated employment and promoted the notion of labor's interdependence.;But the gang-organized, multiracial, interdependent dock labor force entered the twentieth century split along racial lines. Shipping corporations imposed a faster work pace and heavier workload through open appeals to racial competition and endeavored purposefully to set the races at odds.;In response, white and Black dockworkers developed an approach that defied the norms of segregation, a form of interracial solidarity known as "half and half".;Through interracial agreements equitably dividing work and union leadership among white and Black dockworkers cut back the pace of work and laid the basis for the united general levee strike of 1907, a central focus of the present study. "Half and half" signified cooperation despite the procession of segregation. Joint work teams flouted employer efforts two separate the races on the job. During meetings, white and Black delegates spoke in alternating sequence from the floor. Interracial "juries" sat in judgement over intra-union and disciplinary matters. On the whole, dockworkers refused to take a single step without interracial consensus.;This study explores the experience of and assault upon "half and half" in the context of segregation's advance. It treats the 1907 general strike as the high point of interracial cooperation during the period. The study probes the nature of the work, dockworkers' views of Jim Crow, and industrial unionist trends, as well as the conclusions drawn by dockers after the levee race riots of the 1890's.;Ultimately, "half and half," particularly its application in the massive 1907 walkout, became the subject of an intensive state Investigation, which concluded: "The working of the white and negro races on terms of equality...has been the fruitful source of most of the trouble on the New Orleans levee." Hence, through disruption of interracial unionism lay the path to "levee peace." But that path would have to be blazed.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
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Program
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History
