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Podcast: New Books in the American South
Episode: Blair Kelley, "Black Folk: The Roots of the Black Working Class" (LIveright, 2023)
Description: In the United States, the stoicism and importance of the âworking classâ is part of the national myth. The term is often used to conjure the contributions and challenges of the white working class â and this obscures the ways in which Black workers built institutions like the railroads and universities â but also how they transformed unions, changed public policy, and established community. In Black Folk: The Roots of the Black Working Class (LIveright, 2023), Dr. Blair LM Kelley restores the Black working class to the center of the American story by interrogating the lives of laundresses, Pullman porters, domestic maids...