Union Divided: Black Musicians' Fight for Labor Equality (Music in American Life)

Miller, Leta E.

ISBN 10: 0252087674 / ISBN 13: 9780252087677

Published by University of Illinois Press, 2024

About this Item

Supports Goodwill of Silicon Valley job training programs. The cover and pages are in Good condition! Any other included accessories are also in Good condition showing use. Use can include some highlighting and writing, page and cover creases as well as other types visible wear.

Seller Inventory # GWSVV.0252087674.G

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Union Divided: Black Musicians' Fight for Labor Equality (Music in American Life)
• Publisher: University of Illinois Press
• Publication Date: 2024
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0252087674
• ISBN 13: 9780252087677
• Binding: Soft cover
• Condition: good

About this title

Synopsis

An in-depth account of the Black locals within the American Federation of Musicians

In the 1910s and 1920s, Black musicians organized more than fifty independent locals within the American Federation of Musicians (AFM) in an attempt to control audition criteria, set competitive wages, and secure a voice in national decision-making. Leta Miller follows the AFM’s history of Black locals, which competed directly with white locals in the same territories, from their origins and successes in the 1920s through Depression-era crises to the fraught process of dismantling segregated AFM organizations in the 1960s and 70s. Like any union, Black AFM locals sought to ensure employment and competitive wages for members with always-evolving solutions to problems. Miller’s account of these efforts includes the voices of the musicians themselves and interviews with former union members who took part in the difficult integration of Black and white locals. She also analyzes the fundamental question of how musicians benefitted from membership in a labor organization.

Broad in scope and rich in detail, Union Divided illuminates the complex working world of unionized Black musicians and the AFM’s journey to racial inclusion.

About the Author

Leta E. Miller is an emerita professor of music at the University of California, Santa Cruz. She is the author, coauthor, or editor of fourteen books, including Chen Yi and Aaron Jay Kernis.