Black Detroit and the Rise of the UAW

"For almost two decades, August Meier and Elliott Rudwick have roamed the frontier of Afro-American history, blazing trails that others have followed. This book forges a solid link between race and class conflict in the twentieth century."---Ira Berlin, The Nation"This fact-filled study is essential to students of the labor and civil rights movements."---David Kusnet, The New Republic"A fascinating slice of history illustrating important race and class issues that are still with us."---Library Journal"By ignoring the conventional lines between labor and black history, Meier and Rudwick have found an unexplored middle ground---the net of relations between the black community and white economic institutions---that shaped the working life of blacks in Detroit's auto plants. This is a major achievement."---David Brody, Professor Emeritus of History, University of California, Davis". . . an important work . . . one of the first to apply the nitty-gritty of social and institutional history to 20th century African American and labor history." ---Eric Arnesen, University of Illinois at ChicagoBlack Detroit and the Rise of the UAW is essential reading for historians of labor and race in America, as well those interested in Detroit's importance as a crucible for American urban history.

For almost two decades, August Meier and Elliott Rudwick have roamed the frontier of Afro-American history, blazing trails that others have followed. This book forges a solid link between race and class conflict in the twentieth century. - Ira Berlin, The Nation ""This fact-filled study is essential to students of the labor and civil rights movements."" - David Kusnet, The New Republic

August Meier taught at Tougaloo College, Fisk University, Morgan State University, Roosevelt University and Kent State University. He debated Malcolm X at Morgan in 1962, and worked with Bayard Rustin and Howard Zinn, among others. Many of his works are now considered classics, including Negro Thought in America: Racial Ideologies in the Age of Booker T. Washington, 1880-1915, also published by the University of Michigan Press. Dr. Meier died in 2003. The late Elliott Rudwick was Professor of History and Sociology at Kent State University. Joe W. Trotter is Mellon Professor of History and Department Head at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. He is also director of Carnegie Mellon's Center for Africanamerican Urban Studies and the Economy (CAUSE) and the author of The African American Experience.