The Crisis of the Black Worker, the U.S. Labor Movement, and Democracy for All

This paper contextualizes the socioeconomic condition of the African-American working class in the American Labor Movement. As the union movement continues its steady decline, African-American social conditions are deteriorating at an alarming pace. Racial oppression disrupted historically powerful labor movements as African-Americans served in predominantly subproletariat labor positions. As a result, Black workers endured the racially oppressive U.S. structure on the periphery of the U.S. Labor Movement. I argue that Black working-class social conditions are dialectically related to their subjugated position in the modern-day union movement. Therefore, for Black social conditions and working-class conditions to improve overall, the union movement must centralize the conditions of the Black workers.