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Black Folk: The Roots of the Black Working Class
An award-winning historian illuminates the adversities and joys of the Black working class in America through a stunning narrative centered on her forebears.
There have been countless books, articles, and televised reports in recent years about the almost mythic “white working class,” a tide of commentary that has obscured the labor, and even the very existence, of entire groups of working people, including everyday Black workers. In this brilliant corrective, Black Folk , acclaimed historian Blair LM Kelley restores the Black working class to the center of the American story.
Spanning 200 years―from one of Kelley’s earliest known ancestors, an enslaved blacksmith, to the essential workers of the Covid-19 pandemic― Black Folk highlights the lives of the laundresses, Pullman porters, domestic maids, and postal workers who established the Black working class as a force in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Taking jobs white people didn’t want and confined to segregated neighborhoods, Black workers found community in intimate spaces, from stoops on city streets to the backyards of washerwomen, where multiple generations labored from dawn to dusk, talking and laughing in a space free of white supervision and largely beyond white knowledge.
As millions of Black people left the violence of the American South for the promise of a better life in the North and West, these networks of resistance and joy sustained early arrivals and newcomers alike and laid the groundwork for organizing for better jobs, better pay, and equal rights. As her narrative moves from Georgia to Philadelphia, Florida to Chicago, Texas to Oakland, Kelley treats Black workers not just as laborers, or members of a class, or activists, but as people whose daily experiences mattered―to themselves, to their communities, and to a nation that denied that basic fact.
Through affecting portraits of her great-grandfather, a sharecropper named Solicitor, and her grandmother, Brunell, who worked for more than a decade as a domestic maid, Kelley captures, in intimate detail, how generation after generation of labor was required to improve, and at times maintain, her family’s status. Yet her family, like so many others, was always animated by a vision of a better future. The church yards, factory floors, railcars, and postal sorting facilities where Black people worked were sites of possibility, and, as Kelley suggests, Amazon package processing centers, supermarkets, and nursing homes. can be the same today. With the resurgence of labor activism in our own time, Black Folk presents a stirring history of our possible future. 30 illustrations
There have been countless books, articles, and televised reports in recent years about the almost mythic “white working class,” a tide of commentary that has obscured the labor, and even the very existence, of entire groups of working people, including everyday Black workers. In this brilliant corrective, Black Folk , acclaimed historian Blair LM Kelley restores the Black working class to the center of the American story.
Spanning 200 years―from one of Kelley’s earliest known ancestors, an enslaved blacksmith, to the essential workers of the Covid-19 pandemic― Black Folk highlights the lives of the laundresses, Pullman porters, domestic maids, and postal workers who established the Black working class as a force in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Taking jobs white people didn’t want and confined to segregated neighborhoods, Black workers found community in intimate spaces, from stoops on city streets to the backyards of washerwomen, where multiple generations labored from dawn to dusk, talking and laughing in a space free of white supervision and largely beyond white knowledge.
As millions of Black people left the violence of the American South for the promise of a better life in the North and West, these networks of resistance and joy sustained early arrivals and newcomers alike and laid the groundwork for organizing for better jobs, better pay, and equal rights. As her narrative moves from Georgia to Philadelphia, Florida to Chicago, Texas to Oakland, Kelley treats Black workers not just as laborers, or members of a class, or activists, but as people whose daily experiences mattered―to themselves, to their communities, and to a nation that denied that basic fact.
Through affecting portraits of her great-grandfather, a sharecropper named Solicitor, and her grandmother, Brunell, who worked for more than a decade as a domestic maid, Kelley captures, in intimate detail, how generation after generation of labor was required to improve, and at times maintain, her family’s status. Yet her family, like so many others, was always animated by a vision of a better future. The church yards, factory floors, railcars, and postal sorting facilities where Black people worked were sites of possibility, and, as Kelley suggests, Amazon package processing centers, supermarkets, and nursing homes. can be the same today. With the resurgence of labor activism in our own time, Black Folk presents a stirring history of our possible future. 30 illustrations
9 pages, Audiobook
First published June 13, 2023
101 people are currently reading
4355 people want to read
About the author
Blair L.M. Kelley
6 books55 followersBlair LM Kelley, Ph.D. is an award-winning author, historian, and scholar of the African American experience. A dedicated public historian, Kelley works to amplify the histories of Black people, chronicling the everyday impact of their activism. Kelley is the Joel R. Williamson Distinguished Professor of Southern Studies at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and the incoming director of the Center for the Study of the American South, the first Black woman to serve in that role in the center’s thirty-year history.
Kelley is the author of two books. The first, Right to Ride: Streetcar Boycotts and African American Citizenship (UNC Press), awarded the 2010 Letitia Woods Brown Memorial Book Prize from the Association of Black Women Historians, chronicles the little-known Black men and women who protested the passage of laws segregating trains and streetcars at the turn of the twentieth century. Kelley’s newest book, Black Folk: The Roots the Black Working Class (Liveright), draws on family histories and mines the archive to illuminate the adversities and joys of the Black working class in America in the past and present. Black Folk was awarded a 2020 Creative Nonfiction Grant by the Whiting Foundation, and the 2022-23 John Hope Franklin/NEH Fellowship by National Humanities Center.
Kelley received her B.A. from the University of Virginia in History and African and African American Studies. She earned her M.A. and Ph.D. in History, and graduate certificates in African and African American Studies and Women’s Studies at Duke University.
Kelley is the author of two books. The first, Right to Ride: Streetcar Boycotts and African American Citizenship (UNC Press), awarded the 2010 Letitia Woods Brown Memorial Book Prize from the Association of Black Women Historians, chronicles the little-known Black men and women who protested the passage of laws segregating trains and streetcars at the turn of the twentieth century. Kelley’s newest book, Black Folk: The Roots the Black Working Class (Liveright), draws on family histories and mines the archive to illuminate the adversities and joys of the Black working class in America in the past and present. Black Folk was awarded a 2020 Creative Nonfiction Grant by the Whiting Foundation, and the 2022-23 John Hope Franklin/NEH Fellowship by National Humanities Center.
Kelley received her B.A. from the University of Virginia in History and African and African American Studies. She earned her M.A. and Ph.D. in History, and graduate certificates in African and African American Studies and Women’s Studies at Duke University.
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June 7, 2023
This immensely well researched book is a sight for sore eyes. I took my time while reading this book so that I could absorb all that the author was trying to convey. She started off with a personal history lesson on her ancestors that have helped pave the way for so many in her family, including her. It was such a treat to learn about how her ancestors have come up through generation after generation, fighting to stay alive, relevant, and impactful. I was thoroughly impressed throughout the entire book on how well researched these topics were, and how relatable all of this information was to me and how the entire Black culture can appreciate this history lesson about how Black folks came to work in this country.
As we all know from “schooling”, Black Americans started as enslaved people. Many people want to start our culture here, as if we didn’t have a BEFORE America story, but we did. We were Africans. Independent. Free. Intelligent. Resourceful. Beautiful people. People who were in tribes, families, royalty, kingdoms, dynasties. We had a rich culture in Africa before we were stolen into the bottom of ships, traversing the Middle Passage.
We were stolen. Kidnapped. Hoodwinked. Bamboozled. We were dragged here to America in chains against our will to work for the white people who had stolen land from Native Americans, for free, and by force. The enslaved had no rights. No voice. No power. Nothing. We were captured. Held in bondage from 1619 to 1865. We faced violence, death, dismembering, endless labor, degradation, humiliation, rape, molestation, abuse, discrimination, segregation, systemic racism and more since the moment we stepped foot on this land called America.
Our government was set up to exclude us as human beings from the very beginning.
The government is/was complicit in allowing inhumane treatment to be brought on us every waking moment of our lives. No Black person can ever truly be safe and secure here in this country. Especially not then, and not even in 2023. The violence that descends on us every single day has left us little room for us to simply be, let alone be successful. Every step we have made in this country towards progress, has been thwarted by white supremacy, which have been responsible in ensuring we don’t ever get a piece of the “American Dream.”
Despite all of that, we have been a force to reckon with. We have been inventors, teachers, orators, griots, seamstresses, tailors, blacksmiths, hair dressers, barbers, nannies, housecleaners, washerwomen, farmers, stable men, horse groomers, personal shoppers/dressers, models, personal attendants, companions, lovers, cooks, chefs, wine sommeliers, bakers, doctors, dentists, architects, engineers, mathmaticians, etc. You name it, we can do it. However, once we were “emancipated” by law and white folks didn’t own us, we were faced with even more brutality and racial oppression. Slavery in itself was the epitome of hell, but once we were “free” we were subjected to even more violence, degradation, poverty and humiliation. White supremacy was hell bent on keeping us in a place they belived as inferior people. We were tied to lawless rules that kept us perpetually in debt and grave violence. Yet, we knew our worth. We knew our power, and we observed the world around us to understand even more so the depth of our value. Our ancestors did their best to preserve the legacy they had, even while the whole world tilted against them. We built and rebuilt spaces of resistance, telling our children about the secrets of our selves, our communities, our dignity, and our survival. Even through the suffering, we kept joy in our hearts. We insisted on it. We collectively kept that in our beings, as this insistence on Black joy has remained with us to this day.
While emancipated from slavery, we were not emancipated from white supremacy. White supremacist tactics kept us out of skilled labor and relegated us to menial/hard labor, unskilled work, and domestic work. Even though we were not allowed to be in those skilled places because of being treated as inferior in every capacity of our daily lives, we continued to fight for our liberty and citizenship in this country. As Pullman porters, we organized our labor into a union in 1937, and the Brotherhood for Pullman porters was the first federally recognized Black union in American history.
Executive Order 8802 desegregated federal defense work and made a way for Black Americans to work in government, military and civil defense jobs, which Asa Philip Randolph helped lead the way with his threat of the March on Washington, which would have had 100,000 Black men and women present in the nations capitol. Fear alone was what made FDR concede to desegregate defense employment.
Unable to trade in the Produce Exchange with other farmers, Black farmers were shut out and made to sell their harvest at below market value prices. Due to unfair practices, Black people left the South in droves, and left the white farmers to fend for themselves for labor, making them complain of labor shortages, forcing them to work their own land, which they loathed.
Poor whites were more so violent because of their proximity to poverty. The poorer they were, they worse they treated Black folks. A successful Black farmer was such a disruption to the racial order, that whites simply killed, destroyed, or stole from Black folks.
Even though Black folks left and went North for possibly better treatment and pay, they were still met with discrimination and de facto segregation that kept them from enjoying the fruits of their labor. Black folks were kept out of home ownership, job security and career advancement, equal pay, fair business practices, equal education, and safe employment.
Though we are a resilent people, not every one survived. The lengths and extreme measures that white supremacy has to go through in order to keep us out is what has kept us in a wealth gap that is blatantly obvious.
This book focuses on the working Black class and the difficulties that Black folks had to work through in order to make a living on a day to day basis. We faced immeasurable amounts of violence and discrimination while sharecropping, being maids, Pullman porters, washerwomen, postal workers, and the like. We fought to unionize for better pay and fair treatment. We voted and organized voting registrations. We left the oppressive South in droves. We became entrepreneurs and successfully ran businesses in Black communities. We didn’t give up hope when The New Deal kept us out of skilled labor. We fought back to be included in government/military employment. We succeeded and thrived when we shouldn’t have for generations.
This book details all of the work Black folks had to go through just to work and be counted here in this country as a contributing member and citizen. We all have these stories in our families if you are a Black American descendent of slavery. This book is so very instrumental into the knowledge and education of our culture, that it is such an important read. We have to stay reminded that what you see today could not be possible without someone coming before us, making a path for us to be where we are right now. If it weren’t for people like A. Philip Randolph, for Black washerwomen refusing work on Sundays, for Pullman porters striking for 8 hour days and higher pay, for Black farmers demanding equal shares/compensation for their work, for postal carriers demanding for better treatment in the workplace, for Black Veterans who continued to voluntarily go into the service despite segregated treatment, for people registering others to vote, and be counted, we would not be able to be as far as we are right now. When Black lives matter, we all matter.
Even though many people think we are living in a post-racial world, we are not. The fight still continues. The racial wealth gap is still wide. Homeownership among minorities is still low. Equal pay and fair treatment is still being fought for. Ensuring people get paid their worth as entreprenuers is still high on the list. Shutting down discriminatory practices and systemic racism is still a thing TODAY.
Read this book. This book is so necessary to keep us vigilient in ensuring we are staying the course. Dismantling the patriarchy and white supremacy is still being fought for to this very day. Don’t turn away, but lean into books like this. Read them even though it may make you feel discomfort, embarrassed or called out. Fighting for equal rights, civil rights, liberty and citizenship should be a goal for each of us.
Thank you to Coriolis for putting this book in my hands. To the author Blair LM Kelly for this profound work of Black Folks and the roots of the working Black class, and to the publisher, Liveright, for a fair and honest review in exchange for this book.
A book that kept coming to mind as I read this is Half American by Matt Delmont. These two books should be staples in your reading catalog. Get them. Read them. They are worth it.
As we all know from “schooling”, Black Americans started as enslaved people. Many people want to start our culture here, as if we didn’t have a BEFORE America story, but we did. We were Africans. Independent. Free. Intelligent. Resourceful. Beautiful people. People who were in tribes, families, royalty, kingdoms, dynasties. We had a rich culture in Africa before we were stolen into the bottom of ships, traversing the Middle Passage.
We were stolen. Kidnapped. Hoodwinked. Bamboozled. We were dragged here to America in chains against our will to work for the white people who had stolen land from Native Americans, for free, and by force. The enslaved had no rights. No voice. No power. Nothing. We were captured. Held in bondage from 1619 to 1865. We faced violence, death, dismembering, endless labor, degradation, humiliation, rape, molestation, abuse, discrimination, segregation, systemic racism and more since the moment we stepped foot on this land called America.
Our government was set up to exclude us as human beings from the very beginning.
The government is/was complicit in allowing inhumane treatment to be brought on us every waking moment of our lives. No Black person can ever truly be safe and secure here in this country. Especially not then, and not even in 2023. The violence that descends on us every single day has left us little room for us to simply be, let alone be successful. Every step we have made in this country towards progress, has been thwarted by white supremacy, which have been responsible in ensuring we don’t ever get a piece of the “American Dream.”
Despite all of that, we have been a force to reckon with. We have been inventors, teachers, orators, griots, seamstresses, tailors, blacksmiths, hair dressers, barbers, nannies, housecleaners, washerwomen, farmers, stable men, horse groomers, personal shoppers/dressers, models, personal attendants, companions, lovers, cooks, chefs, wine sommeliers, bakers, doctors, dentists, architects, engineers, mathmaticians, etc. You name it, we can do it. However, once we were “emancipated” by law and white folks didn’t own us, we were faced with even more brutality and racial oppression. Slavery in itself was the epitome of hell, but once we were “free” we were subjected to even more violence, degradation, poverty and humiliation. White supremacy was hell bent on keeping us in a place they belived as inferior people. We were tied to lawless rules that kept us perpetually in debt and grave violence. Yet, we knew our worth. We knew our power, and we observed the world around us to understand even more so the depth of our value. Our ancestors did their best to preserve the legacy they had, even while the whole world tilted against them. We built and rebuilt spaces of resistance, telling our children about the secrets of our selves, our communities, our dignity, and our survival. Even through the suffering, we kept joy in our hearts. We insisted on it. We collectively kept that in our beings, as this insistence on Black joy has remained with us to this day.
While emancipated from slavery, we were not emancipated from white supremacy. White supremacist tactics kept us out of skilled labor and relegated us to menial/hard labor, unskilled work, and domestic work. Even though we were not allowed to be in those skilled places because of being treated as inferior in every capacity of our daily lives, we continued to fight for our liberty and citizenship in this country. As Pullman porters, we organized our labor into a union in 1937, and the Brotherhood for Pullman porters was the first federally recognized Black union in American history.
Executive Order 8802 desegregated federal defense work and made a way for Black Americans to work in government, military and civil defense jobs, which Asa Philip Randolph helped lead the way with his threat of the March on Washington, which would have had 100,000 Black men and women present in the nations capitol. Fear alone was what made FDR concede to desegregate defense employment.
Unable to trade in the Produce Exchange with other farmers, Black farmers were shut out and made to sell their harvest at below market value prices. Due to unfair practices, Black people left the South in droves, and left the white farmers to fend for themselves for labor, making them complain of labor shortages, forcing them to work their own land, which they loathed.
Poor whites were more so violent because of their proximity to poverty. The poorer they were, they worse they treated Black folks. A successful Black farmer was such a disruption to the racial order, that whites simply killed, destroyed, or stole from Black folks.
Even though Black folks left and went North for possibly better treatment and pay, they were still met with discrimination and de facto segregation that kept them from enjoying the fruits of their labor. Black folks were kept out of home ownership, job security and career advancement, equal pay, fair business practices, equal education, and safe employment.
Though we are a resilent people, not every one survived. The lengths and extreme measures that white supremacy has to go through in order to keep us out is what has kept us in a wealth gap that is blatantly obvious.
This book focuses on the working Black class and the difficulties that Black folks had to work through in order to make a living on a day to day basis. We faced immeasurable amounts of violence and discrimination while sharecropping, being maids, Pullman porters, washerwomen, postal workers, and the like. We fought to unionize for better pay and fair treatment. We voted and organized voting registrations. We left the oppressive South in droves. We became entrepreneurs and successfully ran businesses in Black communities. We didn’t give up hope when The New Deal kept us out of skilled labor. We fought back to be included in government/military employment. We succeeded and thrived when we shouldn’t have for generations.
This book details all of the work Black folks had to go through just to work and be counted here in this country as a contributing member and citizen. We all have these stories in our families if you are a Black American descendent of slavery. This book is so very instrumental into the knowledge and education of our culture, that it is such an important read. We have to stay reminded that what you see today could not be possible without someone coming before us, making a path for us to be where we are right now. If it weren’t for people like A. Philip Randolph, for Black washerwomen refusing work on Sundays, for Pullman porters striking for 8 hour days and higher pay, for Black farmers demanding equal shares/compensation for their work, for postal carriers demanding for better treatment in the workplace, for Black Veterans who continued to voluntarily go into the service despite segregated treatment, for people registering others to vote, and be counted, we would not be able to be as far as we are right now. When Black lives matter, we all matter.
Even though many people think we are living in a post-racial world, we are not. The fight still continues. The racial wealth gap is still wide. Homeownership among minorities is still low. Equal pay and fair treatment is still being fought for. Ensuring people get paid their worth as entreprenuers is still high on the list. Shutting down discriminatory practices and systemic racism is still a thing TODAY.
Read this book. This book is so necessary to keep us vigilient in ensuring we are staying the course. Dismantling the patriarchy and white supremacy is still being fought for to this very day. Don’t turn away, but lean into books like this. Read them even though it may make you feel discomfort, embarrassed or called out. Fighting for equal rights, civil rights, liberty and citizenship should be a goal for each of us.
Thank you to Coriolis for putting this book in my hands. To the author Blair LM Kelly for this profound work of Black Folks and the roots of the working Black class, and to the publisher, Liveright, for a fair and honest review in exchange for this book.
A book that kept coming to mind as I read this is Half American by Matt Delmont. These two books should be staples in your reading catalog. Get them. Read them. They are worth it.
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March 27, 2025
The origins of the Black working class—a must read!
The image "working class" often evokes the image of a white man, but that is far from the truth. Using her family's own oral histories and in-depth research, Kelley reveals the broad and varied history of the Black people who made and make up the working class, along with the systemic racism preventing many from rising higher.
From washer women to train porters to sharecroppers to factory worker to domestic workers to sex workers so much more, Kelley covers a vast scope of occupations and shows how the US was build upon the unpaid and underpaid—and unappreciated labors of Black people.
Pairs well with Fight Like Hell: The Untold History of American Labor, We Refuse: A Forceful History of Black Resistance, and Rooted: The American Legacy of Land Theft and the Modern Movement for Black Land Ownership.
The image "working class" often evokes the image of a white man, but that is far from the truth. Using her family's own oral histories and in-depth research, Kelley reveals the broad and varied history of the Black people who made and make up the working class, along with the systemic racism preventing many from rising higher.
From washer women to train porters to sharecroppers to factory worker to domestic workers to sex workers so much more, Kelley covers a vast scope of occupations and shows how the US was build upon the unpaid and underpaid—and unappreciated labors of Black people.
Pairs well with Fight Like Hell: The Untold History of American Labor, We Refuse: A Forceful History of Black Resistance, and Rooted: The American Legacy of Land Theft and the Modern Movement for Black Land Ownership.
July 14, 2023
Born and raised in northeastern New England, my family was, and still is, referred to as property owners meaning land not people. Reading “Black Folk “ wasn’t the story consisting of descriptions of peoples from hundreds of years ago in the sense of entertainment. It is more like a series of well researched facts in narrative form. It is about are the generations of people who were torn from their homeland, and later born into, the ugly reality of becoming property to others. Make the boss mad and your family could be sold the next day, scattered to the four winds never to be seen or heard from again. How could they contact one another, living on various plantations, when they themselves were never allowed to learn to read and write. Did conditions improve over the years? Of course not. When Lincoln freed the slaves and they began to get jobs to support themselves and their families, this amazingly resilient population found a way to earn respect, thrive with dignity, and reach back to help others. As a member of the white race, who has seldom worked with other races (oriental, Hispanic, native Americans, etc), due to geographical location, I was deeply ashamed to read of all the injustices one can heap upon another. This outstanding book is filled with details and pictures that everyone can relate to. As a girl, I used to say that if we were all blind, it didn’t matter what color our skin was because we couldn’t see each other anyway. I still believe that. Very highly recommended.
October 24, 2023
Excellent, excellent!!
There is so much information packed in this book. Each section focused on a group of African American and how they shaped America. It also explored how racism affected people and the type of work they could or could not do. It really explains why the black working class is more or less still struggling today. The author did a fantastic job highlighting how these groups pioneered certain American industries/enterprises that I am sure are not thought in history classes today.
I kept thinking of Angela Davis's quote, "...Freedom is a constant struggle."
I think "Black Reconstruction in America 1860 - 1880" by W.E.B Du Bois would be an appropriate follow-up read.
There is so much information packed in this book. Each section focused on a group of African American and how they shaped America. It also explored how racism affected people and the type of work they could or could not do. It really explains why the black working class is more or less still struggling today. The author did a fantastic job highlighting how these groups pioneered certain American industries/enterprises that I am sure are not thought in history classes today.
I kept thinking of Angela Davis's quote, "...Freedom is a constant struggle."
I think "Black Reconstruction in America 1860 - 1880" by W.E.B Du Bois would be an appropriate follow-up read.
November 8, 2025
Really really good! So historical but makes clear links to the myth of the us working class as white and how Black bodies are valued
July 14, 2023
This book is a gift. Incredible from beginning to end
April 12, 2025
A book like this is so crucial to understand how and why Black Americans are integral and woven in to every layer of the fabric of the United States, especially when it comes to labor movements and the true meaning of the working class. I enjoyed how the author framed US history through her own family, but at times the book did seem to drag and could have been condensed. Chapters of this book should be folded into high school history classes.
July 28, 2023
Another book I found both stunning and gripping. It felt like an "important" read, in the best possible way, both during and after reading it. Also, incredibly relevant to the times we are living through right now. The author masterfully tells the story of the oft-ignored Black working class, and how, in fact, it is that Black working class that really created and defines our notion of the American working class. So much of our understanding of work, workers, and organizing to protect workers comes out of the very lives and jobs of the Black folks of the book's title. And, the author ties everything together with stories of her own family throughout the past and recent history, increasing the ability for all readers to identify with the stories being told. Highly recommended.
March 4, 2024
An informative read with a side of human interest. I felt like it was an awful lot like "The Warmth of Other Suns", but add a bunch of history about labor unions. I liked the human interest part of the book; the some (but not all) of the historical stuff got tedious. Four stars. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
August 3, 2024
I really enjoyed this book. It was exceptionally well written and brought together a lot of what I’ve read in pieces elsewhere. I really liked the addition of the author’s personal story, but found it a little confusing sometimes. I could have benefitted from a family tree, as I lost track of some people over the course of the whole book. It also seemed like some chapters, like the one on porters, didn’t involve family as much.
October 11, 2025
Enjoyed this as a history lover. Provided a lot of context to things I’ve known and learned. I appreciated the personal stories and the archival work done. I will certainly return to this book as a resource.
October 7, 2025
DNF
I only read about a third of this book because it was too introductory for me and I didn't enjoy the writing style.
I only read about a third of this book because it was too introductory for me and I didn't enjoy the writing style.
Read
November 24, 2023Interesting and informative. It kind of reminded me of “The Warmth of Other Suns”
September 6, 2023
Black Folk: The Roots of the Black Working Class by Blair LM Kelley. 2023
Using family connections, oral histories, Ancestry, and many solid histories of the era, Kelley looks at the oppression people faced after Emancipation. Many migrated to the North because their paths to opportunities were blocked by racist practices. She is always connected to their Southern roots, including the skills of farming, fishing and the like. Kelley can contrast what a WPA interviewer sees as she talked with washerwomen. An oral history reveals that such women knew they were skilled and the freedom of their work. These are women who also organize, setting their own wages and refusing to work on Sundays.
Most washerwomen, like my great grandmother on the Thompkins side, worked out of her own home. Meaning she was not supervised by others and could watching her own children. My grandfather's job was picking up and delivering the laundry. For Kelley, many of the women carry laundry in baskets on their head, but they can use the streetcars to expand their audience, so when people talked about segregated the transit, they had to strike.
Eric Foner is right, the end of the Civil War gave the formerly enslaved nothing but freedom—they had to fight for space and rights. And they did it as a community, since enslavement meant people were dependent on each other. That commitment carried over in this new stage, both in the south and as people migrated to the North.
Kelley focuses on people who wanted to build their own business, but had resistance from White people who wanted them in to remain beneath them. Kelley shows us the paths of washerwomen, who organized and set wages. In an era when White women would not wash their own cloths, these Black women had power.
The struggles of Pullman Porters and maids is also on the record, including the resistance, the use of spies, and firing of people for standing up. The Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters makes a huge difference, and the pioneers are names we should all know.
Maids are often overlooked, but when the initially poor of White immigrants disappeared, not only are Black women cleaning and cooking in the South, but they are part of the Northern work force. They organize and moved from living-in to day work, giving them more control over their times and less exposure the sexual assault. They also organized and were able to set wages, rather than compete with each other. These women are also model for the next generation.
Postal workers, federal employees, on the railways and then in stations around the nation are the backbone of the Black working class. I learned from Theodore Kornweibel’s book that Black men working in the railway mail cars earned more than other Black men on the railroads. Yet, this work was dangerous when the cars were wooden, once they were steel, White men wanted the jobs. Yet, people organized the fought for their rights. Black railway mail workers, excluded from the White union, started the National Alliance of Postal Employees in 1913 and stood up for workers. In 1923, the Alliance opened up to all postal employees and became the foremost Black postal labor union in the nation.
The federal government could be racist. When we secured the presidency, Wilson segregated federal workers, did not let people eat in the cafeteria and also for postal workers your photo had to be on your application. Thus, hiring of postal employees slows, but picks up after World War II, where preferences are to veterans. And there is more fairness in the system. Yet, as the postal employers were many people of color, they did not get raises. They had a strike in 1970, when Nixon could not get the National Guard to deliver the mail, he came to the bargaining table, and they got retroactive raises.
While Kelley honest about the struggles and the loses, we can see how Black working class are essential to the labor movement and the struggle for rights. The struggle is still going on as COVID-19 hit the Black working class hard because they are essential workers, enabling others to be remote or not work at all. In their employment options we see the legacy and the persistence of systemic racism. A powerful book that all should read.
Using family connections, oral histories, Ancestry, and many solid histories of the era, Kelley looks at the oppression people faced after Emancipation. Many migrated to the North because their paths to opportunities were blocked by racist practices. She is always connected to their Southern roots, including the skills of farming, fishing and the like. Kelley can contrast what a WPA interviewer sees as she talked with washerwomen. An oral history reveals that such women knew they were skilled and the freedom of their work. These are women who also organize, setting their own wages and refusing to work on Sundays.
Most washerwomen, like my great grandmother on the Thompkins side, worked out of her own home. Meaning she was not supervised by others and could watching her own children. My grandfather's job was picking up and delivering the laundry. For Kelley, many of the women carry laundry in baskets on their head, but they can use the streetcars to expand their audience, so when people talked about segregated the transit, they had to strike.
Eric Foner is right, the end of the Civil War gave the formerly enslaved nothing but freedom—they had to fight for space and rights. And they did it as a community, since enslavement meant people were dependent on each other. That commitment carried over in this new stage, both in the south and as people migrated to the North.
Kelley focuses on people who wanted to build their own business, but had resistance from White people who wanted them in to remain beneath them. Kelley shows us the paths of washerwomen, who organized and set wages. In an era when White women would not wash their own cloths, these Black women had power.
The struggles of Pullman Porters and maids is also on the record, including the resistance, the use of spies, and firing of people for standing up. The Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters makes a huge difference, and the pioneers are names we should all know.
Maids are often overlooked, but when the initially poor of White immigrants disappeared, not only are Black women cleaning and cooking in the South, but they are part of the Northern work force. They organize and moved from living-in to day work, giving them more control over their times and less exposure the sexual assault. They also organized and were able to set wages, rather than compete with each other. These women are also model for the next generation.
Postal workers, federal employees, on the railways and then in stations around the nation are the backbone of the Black working class. I learned from Theodore Kornweibel’s book that Black men working in the railway mail cars earned more than other Black men on the railroads. Yet, this work was dangerous when the cars were wooden, once they were steel, White men wanted the jobs. Yet, people organized the fought for their rights. Black railway mail workers, excluded from the White union, started the National Alliance of Postal Employees in 1913 and stood up for workers. In 1923, the Alliance opened up to all postal employees and became the foremost Black postal labor union in the nation.
The federal government could be racist. When we secured the presidency, Wilson segregated federal workers, did not let people eat in the cafeteria and also for postal workers your photo had to be on your application. Thus, hiring of postal employees slows, but picks up after World War II, where preferences are to veterans. And there is more fairness in the system. Yet, as the postal employers were many people of color, they did not get raises. They had a strike in 1970, when Nixon could not get the National Guard to deliver the mail, he came to the bargaining table, and they got retroactive raises.
While Kelley honest about the struggles and the loses, we can see how Black working class are essential to the labor movement and the struggle for rights. The struggle is still going on as COVID-19 hit the Black working class hard because they are essential workers, enabling others to be remote or not work at all. In their employment options we see the legacy and the persistence of systemic racism. A powerful book that all should read.
June 23, 2023
I borrowed this book out of a whim. The "working class" in the US often evokes a certain type of image and tends to ignore that the "working class" does NOT mean "white working class." So I was excited to see this book about members of the working class who happen to be Black.
Author Kelley takes the reader through a historical journey as she tells the story of the BWC through her ancestors. She traces them through the times they lived and the jobs they held, from laundresses, Pullman porters, domestic maids, and postal workers. These individuals often took jobs that others (white people or others) did not want, and were often segregated into the worst neighborhoods.
Kelley also traces their journeys as they leave the South in hopes for better lives and better pay in the North and West, but also reminding the reader that this remains today. I was reminded of the news stories and studies, etc. that look at the racial pay gap, the lack of representation on corporate boards, the impacts COVID had on Black people, etc. That today Black (and Indigenous and People of Color) are often in jobs that others do not want and yet also remain underrepresented as part of the "working class," as well.
Definitely an important book but I would say I was slightly misled by the cover/marketing. I understood the reasoning for tracing this through her ancestors, but I also thought this was more of a general look at the BWC (as, of course, no group is a monolith). It is still very important to read though, as "working class" is a concept that should better reflect that it is not a monolith.
It was an important read and one I would not be surprised to find on college syllabi on Black history, the history of labor (not necessarily of the movement but it is certainly related) in the United States, etc. I would suggest reading it in concert with other books about the working class although overall it is fine on its own. Borrowed from the library and that was best for me but would make a good reference to have on hand.
Author Kelley takes the reader through a historical journey as she tells the story of the BWC through her ancestors. She traces them through the times they lived and the jobs they held, from laundresses, Pullman porters, domestic maids, and postal workers. These individuals often took jobs that others (white people or others) did not want, and were often segregated into the worst neighborhoods.
Kelley also traces their journeys as they leave the South in hopes for better lives and better pay in the North and West, but also reminding the reader that this remains today. I was reminded of the news stories and studies, etc. that look at the racial pay gap, the lack of representation on corporate boards, the impacts COVID had on Black people, etc. That today Black (and Indigenous and People of Color) are often in jobs that others do not want and yet also remain underrepresented as part of the "working class," as well.
Definitely an important book but I would say I was slightly misled by the cover/marketing. I understood the reasoning for tracing this through her ancestors, but I also thought this was more of a general look at the BWC (as, of course, no group is a monolith). It is still very important to read though, as "working class" is a concept that should better reflect that it is not a monolith.
It was an important read and one I would not be surprised to find on college syllabi on Black history, the history of labor (not necessarily of the movement but it is certainly related) in the United States, etc. I would suggest reading it in concert with other books about the working class although overall it is fine on its own. Borrowed from the library and that was best for me but would make a good reference to have on hand.
July 22, 2023
Kelley successfully integrates three elements to make Black Folk an informative read. The first of these is the biographical depiction of the heroic and oftentimes successful efforts her ancestors, including her grandparents, made to cope with racism.
The second is a narrative style of history telling which provided comprehensive descriptions of the experiences which others outside of her family had. The lives of blacksmiths, laundresses, sharecroppers and farmers, railroad porters, postal workers, and small businessmen trying to utilize their skills to carve out a life for themselves and their family members were depicted in a textured manner. I learned about the extent to which streetcar boycotts, requests for reparations, unionizing and other community activities were attempted in the face of White hostility, intimidation, and violence. Photos of the people and the work they engaged in enhanced my engagement with the descriptions.
The third element Kelley utilizes are her academic skills as a historian. Thus, she includes timely quotations from a variety of sources. She also places the people she presents into the larger context of African American history. Sixty two pages of notes at the end of Black Folk provide readers with specific sources they can examine further on their own if they wish to. A 23 page Index is also available.
There are two relative flaws with this book. First, it gets redundant on a few occasions. Second, some of her contextual descriptions are quite lengthy. As such they slowed down the pace and lessened my interest. Some judicious editing might have improved Black Folk, IMHO.
But I recommend it for anyone wishing to learn about how African Americans developed and used their skills to courageously combat the racism they have had to live with.
The second is a narrative style of history telling which provided comprehensive descriptions of the experiences which others outside of her family had. The lives of blacksmiths, laundresses, sharecroppers and farmers, railroad porters, postal workers, and small businessmen trying to utilize their skills to carve out a life for themselves and their family members were depicted in a textured manner. I learned about the extent to which streetcar boycotts, requests for reparations, unionizing and other community activities were attempted in the face of White hostility, intimidation, and violence. Photos of the people and the work they engaged in enhanced my engagement with the descriptions.
The third element Kelley utilizes are her academic skills as a historian. Thus, she includes timely quotations from a variety of sources. She also places the people she presents into the larger context of African American history. Sixty two pages of notes at the end of Black Folk provide readers with specific sources they can examine further on their own if they wish to. A 23 page Index is also available.
There are two relative flaws with this book. First, it gets redundant on a few occasions. Second, some of her contextual descriptions are quite lengthy. As such they slowed down the pace and lessened my interest. Some judicious editing might have improved Black Folk, IMHO.
But I recommend it for anyone wishing to learn about how African Americans developed and used their skills to courageously combat the racism they have had to live with.
May 31, 2023
Really well done account of American working class Black folk. I'll admit I was guilty of the many people Blair L.M. Kelley references who associates the working class primarily with white people despite, as she highlights, many (if not most) of these workers being people of color. Kelley does an outstanding job of outlining America's structural racism, both its history as well as highlighting some of the issues still ongoing today. Well researched and well written, she covers many different occupations in an easy to read writing style that is truly rare but very much appreciated among non-fiction writers. An exceptionally eye-opening narrative on the poignant history of America's treatment of black people and how structural racism nor protections for Blacks in the workplace were solved by the ending of the Civil War and still carry on in modern times. The stories written really challenge many of the arguments against reparations by highlighting multi-generational struggles and redlining of Black Americans in the workplace in the century following the Civil War. Too many people assume that freeing the slaves leveled the playing field for Blacks and this book outlines how that's objectively, factually incorrect by covering in many ways how Blacks have been and are still held unequal by capitalism, yes even in the "progressive" Northern states.
July 30, 2023
First, I would like to thank Dr. Kelley for attending a live virtual discussion via zoom with Osas Virtual Book Club to discuss her amazing book “Black Folk” with us.
Black Folk is written so beautifully and very unique from any other Black history books I have read. Besides being unique, it is one of the best books I have read this year. What fascinates and re-enchants me about this book is that it is a beautiful symphony of personal black family history, juxtaposed in parallel with general black history. It is amazing how Dr. Kelley was able to weave those two together, it turned out beautiful.
Dr. Kelley touched on The Black Church, The Washerwomen, and The Pullman Porter. And although this was a time of severe hardship and disenfranchisement for Black Americas, Dr. Kelley was able to use their stories to formulate and confer to the reader very important lessons. The idea that Black people should work together and be more integrated was the primary inference I deduced from this book.
At a time when it looks like Black American history is under attack it is amazing to read a book that shares more light on the importance of Black American history being America history as well. And I am glad we are telling our story.
Black Folk is written so beautifully and very unique from any other Black history books I have read. Besides being unique, it is one of the best books I have read this year. What fascinates and re-enchants me about this book is that it is a beautiful symphony of personal black family history, juxtaposed in parallel with general black history. It is amazing how Dr. Kelley was able to weave those two together, it turned out beautiful.
Dr. Kelley touched on The Black Church, The Washerwomen, and The Pullman Porter. And although this was a time of severe hardship and disenfranchisement for Black Americas, Dr. Kelley was able to use their stories to formulate and confer to the reader very important lessons. The idea that Black people should work together and be more integrated was the primary inference I deduced from this book.
At a time when it looks like Black American history is under attack it is amazing to read a book that shares more light on the importance of Black American history being America history as well. And I am glad we are telling our story.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 14, 2024
Blair Kelley's book is one of those books that makes me recognize a piece of American history that I vaguely knew existed, but never gave proper attention to. A class-based analysis of the Black working class, from the days of slavery through to the present. By taking this perspective, Kelley is able to illuminate pieces of history that might otherwise be lost, and connect developments that are often kept distinct. I was unaware, for example, of the washerwomen strikes, or hadn't considered the connections between the networks of Pullman porters and the wildcat strikes of USPS workers in the early 70s. The last piece of Kelley's book that's worth pointing out is how she uses the stories of her own ancestors to highlight the larger patterns central to her analysis. I thought she used these anecdotes very well, never giving in either to token exceptionalism, nor to pretending that these individuals had the same experience as every other similarly situated person.
April 13, 2025
Kelley's book is different from many of the books I've read about Black history. It focuses on the working class in unique way. She describes, in a compelling and interesting way, the rise of working class Black Americans through a combination of her family history in relation to washerwomen, postal workers, and other occupations that formed what we still think of working class.
Kelley brings to life, Americans who history might have forgotten or ignored, but who played key roles in advocacy and labor organizing. The book provides a vital insight into how segregation and bigotry had to be both overcome and navigated to enable the descendants of slaves to attain adequate incomes, benefits, housing and stability. Her narrative connects research into major historical events to the daily lives of people from her family.
Kelley closes with a commentary on Trump and the current political situation. Her commentary draws from both her research and personal life.
Excellent read.
Kelley brings to life, Americans who history might have forgotten or ignored, but who played key roles in advocacy and labor organizing. The book provides a vital insight into how segregation and bigotry had to be both overcome and navigated to enable the descendants of slaves to attain adequate incomes, benefits, housing and stability. Her narrative connects research into major historical events to the daily lives of people from her family.
Kelley closes with a commentary on Trump and the current political situation. Her commentary draws from both her research and personal life.
Excellent read.
December 13, 2025
Once again my people prove that no matter what racist throw at them they will still rise. It’s so funny how they say we’re lazy and don’t want to work but they literally threw everything at us after slavery to keep us poor. The author discussed her family history along with talking about Sharecroppers, Washer women, Maids, Pullman Porters and postal workers. Sharecroppers had to worry about white men cheating them out of their money from their crops.
Washer women could take in as much laundry as possible but when the women wanted to organize for more money it was a problem. They were also accused of where the white people’s clothes they washed, despite it taking days to do a load.
Maids had to deal with long hours and low pay while being treated less than by their employers and this list goes on and on. Despite it all my people worked and made a way for their families and the next generation of people to work and be apart of the working class.
Washer women could take in as much laundry as possible but when the women wanted to organize for more money it was a problem. They were also accused of where the white people’s clothes they washed, despite it taking days to do a load.
Maids had to deal with long hours and low pay while being treated less than by their employers and this list goes on and on. Despite it all my people worked and made a way for their families and the next generation of people to work and be apart of the working class.
September 1, 2023
The author primarily recounts experiences their ancestors and others had in post-slavery America. The stories are great, and offer a lot of perspective.
While accurately identifying instances of racism embedded in the post-slavery culture and government, the book also seems to imply that all whites are racist, which doesn't resonate well. Additionally, the narrative could benefit from some more organization, as it seemed to jump around from one person's experience to another, then back again.
"The Warmth of Other Suns" provided a more balanced and nuanced glimpse into this era, in my opinion.
While accurately identifying instances of racism embedded in the post-slavery culture and government, the book also seems to imply that all whites are racist, which doesn't resonate well. Additionally, the narrative could benefit from some more organization, as it seemed to jump around from one person's experience to another, then back again.
"The Warmth of Other Suns" provided a more balanced and nuanced glimpse into this era, in my opinion.
September 14, 2023
This is a really beautiful book.
It covers a lot of information that is often overlooked, including a thread of organization, so important for the protection of the working class. There is some on Pullman porters, which is a little more familiar, but the information on washerwomen and maids and tracing the developments over generations is really valuable. That these stories come with a personal connection for the author makes it touching, and proud, though there are warning notes about present needs.
It was sometimes hard to keep track of the different individuals featured, where it felt like a family tree might be nice.
It covers a lot of information that is often overlooked, including a thread of organization, so important for the protection of the working class. There is some on Pullman porters, which is a little more familiar, but the information on washerwomen and maids and tracing the developments over generations is really valuable. That these stories come with a personal connection for the author makes it touching, and proud, though there are warning notes about present needs.
It was sometimes hard to keep track of the different individuals featured, where it felt like a family tree might be nice.
September 1, 2025
Informative look at the past of the Black working class in America, and the contributions they've made to labor unions, this book really helped me feel at peace in the eternal struggle for equality. It reminded me that there is work to be done even in the dark times, that all advances are made slowly, through baby steps, and that nothing comes quick or easy. A reminder that the freedoms we have experienced these last couple of decades have been hard fought, but even without them, we can still make progress.
October 12, 2023
This was a very interesting book. It talks about how African Americans helped build our nation during slavery but even during reconstruction, Jim Crow and civil rights era, Black Americans organized and fought for equal rights when everything/one was working against them. It also talks about the years of discrimination that prohibited black Americans from reaching their full potential. Those effects are still felt today.
January 17, 2025
This friggin rocks. I loved the way it was organized, I love the points made, I love the stories we learned. I loved that Blair Kelley brought their family story into this historical context and had such an intimate, loving perspective of these historical people and movements.
content warnings:
Graphic: Racism, Slavery, and Classism
Moderate: Cancer, Death, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Violence, Sexual harassment, and Pandemic/Epidemic
content warnings:
Graphic: Racism, Slavery, and Classism
Moderate: Cancer, Death, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Violence, Sexual harassment, and Pandemic/Epidemic
April 1, 2025
This was such a thoughtfully woven tapestry of historical accounts and personal narratives, I found it to be quite moving. I learned an immense amount of rich history about the Black community and the working class that was just left out completely when I went through school if I’m being honest, and I’m so thankful for the chance to hear the stories and histories of both the well-known and the unsung heroes of the Black community. Thank you for this book, what a gift it’s been!
September 10, 2025
Thoroughly enjoyed this book club read, and learned a lot about the history of the Black working class in america. I loved the structure of this book- looking at one profession (e.g., postal workers, house maids, washer women) and giving the overall history of their experience, but then also weaving in individual stories along the way. I thought it was the perfect length- not too long nor too short, it didn't drag, nor was it dry. Well done all around!
August 15, 2023
This book was an interesting story of the ancestors of the author. Since Emancipation, there were a variety of working class jobs for blacks. Blacksmiths, Washer Women, Transportation Porters, House Maids and Postal Workers. Over the last century and a half, the struggle and discrimination is horrifying.
December 19, 2023
I always enjoy a book that reframes existing issues into a different way of seeing. This book does this with the Black working class in the scope of the larger labor movement and American society. It is a corrective to the standard view of Progressive reform and the coinciding, mostly white, labor movement as a the only working class struggle in America.
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