African American Studies Commons^™

“Did Emmett Till Die In Vain? Organized Labor Says No!”: The United Packinghouse Workers And Civil Rights Unionism In The Mid-1950s, Matthew Nichter

Faculty Publications

Emmett Till’s mangled face is seared into our collective memory, a tragic epitome of the brutal violence that upheld white supremacy in the Jim Crow South. But Till's murder was more than just a tragedy: it also inspired an outpouring of determined protest, in which labor unions played a prominent role. The United Packinghouse Workers of America (UPWA) campaigned energetically on behalf of Emmett Till, from the stockyards of Chicago to the sugar refineries of Louisiana. Packinghouse workers petitioned, marched, and rallied to demand justice; the UPWA organized the first mass meeting addressed by Till’s mother, Mamie Bradley; and an …

Colonized Loyalty: Asian American Anti-Blackness And Complicity, Reshmi Dutt-Ballerstadt

Faculty Publications

In this essay, Reshmi Dutt-Ballerstad argues that solidarity between and within communities of color remains our only chance to fight against the brutal and insidious forces of racism, white supremacy and racial capitalism.

The Proceedings Of The Free African Union Society And The African Benevolent Society: Newport, Rhode Island 1780-1824, William H. Robinson

Faculty Publications

Known among the black community of Newport, Rhode Island for the almost 200 year life of their existence, the manuscripts of the Proceedings of the African Union Society, and the Proceedings of the African Benevolent Society have only recently been "discovered" and used by professional historians concerned with illuminating the colonial American experience, especially the colonial black American experience. Presented to the safekeeping of the Colored Union Congregational Church in 1844, where they remained until, that church dissolving in 1963, these proceedings were then handed over to the Newport Historical Society, where they have been housed ever since.

These manuscripts …