Horace Huntley and David Montgomery, Black Workers' Struggle for Equality in Birmingham (Urbana: University of Illinois Press 2004)

BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA, has attracted a host of recent historical studies. The city and its surrounding communities were symptomatic of the racialized New South. Birmingham was a new city with its birth in the late 1870s. Its location was centred on an abundance of coal, iron ore, and limestone--all the key ingredients to make iron and steel. But Birmingham's meteoric rise was also based on a large pool of cheap labour. Although unable to successfully recruit large numbers of immigrant workers, the steel and coal companies could always rely on black workers as a source of exploitable labour. As earlier studies have shown, the push and pull of the rising city, known as the Magic City or the Pittsburgh of the South, created opportunities for both poor rural blacks and whites. This outstanding collection of oral histories is based upon hundreds of oral histories that have been collected by the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute. Under the guiding hand of Horace Huntley a vast repository of the Civil Rights Movement's foot soldiers has been captured. In this outstanding study, Huntley and Montgomery have focused on those men and women who traversed the dangerous worlds of trade union organization and civil rights agitation. The book begins with a brief introduction by Montgomery that tries to synthesize the disparate voices. In this he succeeds admirably. All the main themes are encapsulated in the introduction that includes migration, police brutality, segregation, company towns, the roles of the Communist Party and trade unions, state and federal action, and the defining experience of the Civil Rights Movement. Above all, Montgomery frames the book by concentrating on the voices of workers. It becomes immediately clear that Birmingham was seen by most of the respondents as a way out of the crushing poverty and exploitation of Alabama's rural life. Another common theme is how migration was fueled not just by economic and social uplift, but also by familial relations. Time and time again, it is shown that rural workers followed brothers, sisters, and cousins to the new city. As the respondents moved to Birmingham during the 1920s through to the 1950s, they experienced the numbing brutality of segregation in the workplace, and, of course, in public life. At work, they encountered segregated seniority lists, and little chance of advancement from labouring jobs. For women, there were few opportunities other than domestic labour in the homes of skilled white workers, or of elite citizens living over the mountain in Mountain Brook. The daily grind of traveling on segregated buses and street cars, and working in segregated factories made for a frustrating existence. But as the interviews show most did not accept the racist treatment. There was always a breaking point and they exercised the only power they had and that was to walk off the job. The domestic worker who could not get at least one Sunday off per month to attend church merely walked out of the house and found another job. Males switched from one industry to another. What helped such movement was a steady supply of jobs as the city continued to experience economic buoyancy until the late 1960s.

Although some of this history has already been documented, what gives this collection its strength are the voices that capture the black experience. Just as vital, the collection goes further by highlighting the critical links between work and church. For the respondents their Christianity fueled resistance to racism on the job. So, whether actively challenging mistreatment at work, or pushing trade union officials to act, their religious identification gave them sustenance to carry on the fight. Indeed, the organizations were complementary. Many of the respondents played dual roles in the church and the union hall. Trade unions, for example, helped bail out the children who had been jailed during the 1963 street demonstrations. Many of the foot soldiers of the Alabama Christian Movement led by Fred Shuttlesworth were active in trade union caucuses. These same workers became guards protecting churches from the ever-present danger of bombing by the Ku Klux Klan. So, fighting for dignity on the job moved outside into the segregated streets, stores, and buses. Such dual activity emboldened some to take enormous risks. In one case a black worker "sat in" with a friend during a college football game at Birmingham's Legion Field. Such a feat in front of 60,000 rabid football fans makes for chilling (and thrilling) reading (both men were beaten for their token efforts). Giving the collection a further insight into the world of the worker are testimonies from whites. Two are chosen, one a female worker and trade union official, the other a labour lawyer. Each in their own way gives critical insight into how some whites were able to transcend the racism of the period. Just as informative, the subjects also explain how the federal government was used to better their lot. Starting with New Deal legislation through to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission [EEOC] black workers filed suits to win important gains in terms of job allocation and seniority.

All in all, this is an exceptional study. It gives the reader a series of snapshots of life and work in Birmingham. The oral history structure of the book takes one into a world that seems so far away but yet is a mete few decades old. Having lived and worked in Birmingham for the last fifteen years, one does not have to rely on ghosts for historical insight. The people who fought the labour and civil rights struggles are still much in evidence. This book can only cement an appreciation of their efforts and sacrifices. Due to its structure of representing the spoken word, there are, however, questions left unanswered. For many of the subjects, World War II and the Korean War held a special place in their lives. But this reviewer would like to know more of that formative experience, and its impact on their return to Birmingham. Baseball is also mentioned but could be elaborated upon. Most companies had baseball teams, segregated of course. Did the black baseball players enjoy the privileges of such activity? Many of the players from the industrial leagues moved on to the Negro Leagues; indeed Willy Mayes, son of a miner, played for the Birmingham Black Barons. But these criticisms are merely questions that can be easily answered. Perhaps the promised second volume might go beyond the workplace and church, and take us into the ballparks and pool halls too. In any event, this volume will stand on its own as a way to capture voices and contextualize them.

Colin J. Davis

University of Alabama at Birmingham