PULLMAN PORTERS AND THE RISE OF PROTEST POLITICS IN BLACK AMERICA, 1925 - 1945 The John Hope Franklin Series In African American History And Culture

Bates, Beth Tomkins

ISBN 10: 0807826146 / ISBN 13: 9780807826140

Published by The University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill and London, 2001

About this Item

1st edition, 2001. A Near Fine copy in a Near Fine dust jacket. 8vo., 275 pp., bound in black cloth with photo illustrated black and white dust jacket. Very minor signs of shelf wear; text is clean and unmarked. Dust jacket now protected in mylar sleeve.

Seller Inventory # 31683

Bibliographic Details

• Title: PULLMAN PORTERS AND THE RISE OF PROTEST POLITICS IN BLACK AMERICA, 1925 - 1945 The John Hope Franklin Series In African American History And Culture
• Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill and London
• Publication Date: 2001
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0807826146
• ISBN 13: 9780807826140
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st edition.
• Condition: Near Fine
• Dust Jacket Condition: Near Fine
• Seller catalogs:
  • Social Science
  • Political Science

About this title

Synopsis

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.

About the Author

Beth Tompkins Bates is assistant professor of history in the Department of Africana Studies at Wayne State University in Detroit.