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Who Helped Build America?

Who Helped Build America?
To Urban Radio –

Labor Day is usually a time for cookouts, a long weekend, and getting ready for the school year. But there is a deeper story behind this holiday. It is a story about workers, the value of our labor, and the fight for dignity and economic power. And Black people have been at the center of that story from the beginning.

The United States was built in large part through the labor of enslaved Black people. Enslaved people planted and harvested cotton, tobacco, rice, sugar, and other crops that created enormous wealth and helped fuel industries across the country. After slavery ended, freedom did not mean economic security. Many Black families were pushed into sharecropping and tenant farming. Others worked as domestic workers, farmworkers, railroad workers, factory workers, and laborers, often for low wages and with few protections.

So Black workers organized. 

They formed mutual aid societies, built worker organizations, joined unions, and organized in their workplaces and communities for better pay, safer conditions, and a better future. The fight for economic justice has always been connected to the fight for civil rights.

In 1968, Black sanitation workers in Memphis went on strike for safer working conditions, better pay, and union recognition. They carried signs that read:

I AM A MAN.

Their fight showed how deeply work, dignity, and civil rights are connected. 

Know someone who should know this history? Share this email with them. Today, Black workers continue to keep our communities moving. We are healthcare workers, teachers, caregivers, public servants, drivers, retail workers, and more.And the questions remain familiar: Can I afford to support my family? Can I work safely? Do I have a voice at work? Can my work help me build a better future?  These are questions about economic power. This Labor Day, we honor the generations of Black workers who built this country, organized for better conditions, and fought for dignity at work. 

Black history is labor history. If you believe in keeping this history alive and connecting it to the fights happening today, consider making a small donation to support this work. Every contribution helps us continue creating political education and organizing opportunities rooted in Black communities.

 

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