VIRTUAL: Joe William Trotter Jr. / Workers on Arrival: Black Labor in the Making of America

Booksmith and UC Press present a 6-part series of virtual events focused on urgent societal issues, broadcasting every Monday at 11am PST. This final event in the series features Joe William Trotter Jr. discussing his book Workers on Arrival: Black Labor in the Making of America.

This is a free event, but RSVP is required. RSVP here.

In his engrossing new history, Workers on Arrival, Joe William Trotter, Jr. refutes these perceptions by charting the black working class’s vast contributions to the making of America. Covering the last four hundred years since Africans were first brought to Virginia in 1619, Trotter traces black workers’ complicated journey from the transatlantic slave trade through the American Century to the demise of the industrial order in the 21st century. At the center of this compelling, fast-paced narrative are the actual experiences of these African American men and women. A dynamic and vital history of remarkable contributions despite repeated setbacks, Workers on Arrival expands our understanding of America’s economic and industrial growth, its cities, ideas, and institutions, and the real challenges confronting black urban communities today.

Joe William Trotter, Jr., is Giant Eagle Professor of History and Social Justice and Founder and Director of the Center for Africanamerican Urban Studies and the Economy at Carnegie Mellon University. He is the author of Black Milwaukee and Coal, Class, and Color and past President of the Labor and Working Class History Association.