It is Union and Liberty: Alabama Coal Miners, 1898-1998 - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0817310002 ISBN 13: 9780817310004

Publisher: University Alabama Press, 1999

Synopsis

This history of Alabama's coal miners documents the struggle not
only between labor and management but also between interracial unionism
and white supremacy.

Much of Alabama's labor history is written in its coal
fields. This book records the critical contribution that District 20 of
the United Mine Workers of America played in the state's labor movement
through its strong stands on such issues as child labor, public education,
and inter-racial unions.

Standing at the cutting edge of social and political
history, these essays cover five periods over a century of union activity:
the emergence of a militant labor force during mining's formative years;
the World War I era, when mine operators tried to divide black and white
labor; the increasing role of the state in labor relations during the interwar
years; rapid changes in the union between 1942 and 1975; and the 1977-79
strike, the largest in the United Mine Workers' history.

Through historic
photographs and depictions of living and working conditions, contributors
Edwin L. Brown, Colin J. Davis, Daniel Letwin, Brian M. Kelly, Peter Alexander,
Glenn Feldman, and Robert H. Woodrum portray the world that miners, both
black and white, made. In a state where racial segregation was the norm,
even the earliest District 20 contract proposals demanded equal pay for
equal work regardless of color. It Is Union and Liberty shows that the
UMW in Alabama stands apart from perceptions of southern trade unionism
as exclusionary and racially fragmented. It sheds light on an important
segment of the state's labor history and is a testament to District 20
on its centennial celebration.

Edwin Brown is Associate
Professor in the Center for Labor Education and Research and Colin Davis is Associate Professor in the Department of History, both at
the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

About this title

Review:

"It Is Union and Liberty is an essential read for anyone interested in southern and American working class history. The essays in this coherently structured and systematically developed collection span the 20th century. The authors provide important new insights on issues that have dominated studies of labor history in recent years, including interracial unionism, rank-and-file activism, welfare capitalism and industrial paternalism, union democracy, and the role of the state."—Gary Fink, Georgia State University

"If you work at a non-union mine, you are required to disclaim any connection with any labor organization; you must work for wages and under conditions fixed by the company. In fact, you must do anything that the 'boss' requires of you. He can dock you, he can fine you, he can lay you off, or he can fire you out, and you have no appeal. . . . It is union and liberty, or it is individualism and slavery. "—Birmingham Labor Advocate

About this edition

• Publisher: University Alabama Press
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0817310002
• ISBN 13: 9780817310004
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 208
• Editor: Brown Edwin L., Davis Colin J.