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The Specter of Black Labor: African American Workers in Illinois Before the Great Migration, 1847 to 1910

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The Specter of Black Labor: African American Workers in Illinois Before the Great Migration, 1847 to 1910 THE SPECTER OF BLACK LABOR: AFRICAN AMERICAN WORKERS IN ILLINOIS BEFORE THE GREAT MIGRATION, 1847 TO 1910 BY ALONZO M. WARD DISSERTATION Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History in the Graduate College of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2017 Urbana, Illinois Doctoral Committee: Associate Professor Sundiata Keita Cha-Jua Professor Adrian Burgos, Jr. Associate Professor Erik McDuffie Professor Clarence Lang, University of Kansas ii ABSTRACT The Specter of Black Labor is interested in examining the actions, reactions and opinions of Afro-Illinoisans during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries in relation to their own position as laborers. While previous studies on Black workers in Illinois focus heavily on African Americans and their relationship to the larger labor movement of this period, the goal in this project is to view these workers primarily through the lens of the African American experience. By deemphasizing the role of white workers and the labor movement in general, this project seeks to unearth previously muffled voices within the relatively small Black communities throughout Illinois during the largely understudied period prior to the Great Migration. By utilizing a racial formation theoretical framework, this project seeks to provide a foundation for a critical examination of race as it acquires different meanings, depending on specific historic circumstances. The contention here is that the process of racializing labor during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries affected not only the type of labor Black people could procure, it also systematically eliminated them from the larger labor movement and virtually forced them into “anti-labor” roles such as strikebreaking. As the labor movement gained significant momentum throughout Illinois, Black workers faced with the decision to be a part of the labor movement was not easy—while other workers contended with nineteenth century labor issues such as unionization, better working conditions and the eight hour work day, Black workers were also entangled within a struggle for citizenship, voting rights, and the right to work and live where they chose. Thus, like other workers, Afro-Illinoisans struggled to adjust to the modernization of the late nineteenth century workplace. Yet they were also compelled to adjust to a system of racialization within a workplace that castigated them as stereotypically ineffectual workers that would somehow degrade the labor of European American workers. This process iii resulted in frequent conflicts with European American workers who, in their effort to secure their own tenuous position as laborers within the political economy, competed against Black workers for even the lowliest occupations. The devastating consequence of this racialization process in the workplace by the end of the turn of the twentieth century led to the idea that Afro-Illinoisans were anti-union and unsympathetic to the plight of the rights of all workers. iv For Billye and George v TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION: “WE DEMAND AN EQUAL SHOW UPON MATTERS AFFECTING OUR INDUSTRIAL WELFARE”: THE BLACK WORKER AND AGENCY…………………...................................……………1 CHAPTER 1: “I AM ENTITLED TO MY LIBERTY”: AFRO- ILLINOISANS AND THE BATTLE AGAINST THE BLACK LAWS, 1847-1854……………………………………………………………………………...19 CHAPTER 2: FINDING THE “ARCHIMEDEAN LEVER”: AFRO-ILLINOISANS AND THE STRUGGLE FOR EQUALITY AND ECONOMIC LIBERATION, 1854-1865………………………………………………...75 CHAPTER 3: WAGING A NEW WAR AGAINST BLACK LABOR: REDEFINING THE WORKINGMAN IN POST EMANICIPATION ILLINOIS…………………………………………………………….…..142 CHAPTER 4: FROM SPECTER TO BOOGEYMAN: AFRICAN AMERICAN LABOR IN POST-RECONSTRUCTION ILLINOIS AND THE CREATION OF THE ‘ENEMY OF LABOR,’ 1875-1893……………193 CHAPTER 5: OCCUPATIONAL STATUS, LOCATION AND THE EMERGENCE OF CLASS DISTINCTION AMONG AFRO-ILLINOISANS, 1890-1910………………………………………………….257 CHAPTER 6: BEFORE THE FLOOD: AFRICAN AMERICAN WORKERS IN ILLINOIS PRIOR TO THE GREAT MIGRATION 1890-1910……………..292 CONCLUSION……………………………………………………………………………...…355 BIBLIOGRAPHY…………………………………………………………………………… 361 1 INTRODUCTION “WE DEMAND AN EQUAL SHOW UPON MATTERS AFFECTING OUR INDUSTRIAL WELFARE”: THE BLACK WORKER AND AGENCY In 1897, during one of the most violent decades in the history of labor relations in Illinois, former African American assemblyman of Cairo, Jacob Amos, wrote a series of letters and articles for the African American newspaper, the Illinois Record, in which he discussed the political and economic condition of African Americans. He was particularly incensed over the lack of interest in the labor condition of Afro-Illinoisans as well as the racial exclusiveness of the nation’s major labor unions. “Almost every branch of skill[ed] labor is organized,” he wrote, “and most of their constitutions require…that an applicant must be a white male twenty-one years of age.” He insisted that the labor situation was so desperate that he entertained the idea that Afro-Illinoisans would be “better off’ if they relinquished their voting rights in exchange for being “permitted to work and sustain.” However, Amos stopped short of abandoning the franchise because the “Constitutions of the United States [gave] us the right to vote and we refuse to surrender this right.” Instead of accepting the steadily degraded position of Black workers, Amos insisted on fair treatment: “As a people we demand [an] equal show upon matters affecting our industrial welfare.” Yet in spite of his demands for equality and better treatment, the Black worker was consistently relegated to the bottom of the economic ladder; labor unions continued to exclude them, and European American workers often physically intimidated them and refused to work with them. As a result of this anti-black campaign that forced many Black workers to abandon skilled and semi-skilled occupations, they were invariably forced to the periphery of the labor movement. By the end of the nineteenth century, because of limited 2 occupational options, Black workers commonly worked as “replacement” workers in the most violent labor conflicts in Illinois.1 This dissertation is primarily interested in examining the actions, reactions and opinions of Afro-Illinoisans during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries in relation to their own position as laborers. What type of labor were Afro-Illinoisans able to procure? What was their relationship to the larger labor movement of the nineteenth century? If their relationship was limited, how did they function on the movement’s periphery? This project seeks to understand the process of racialization in labor—i.e., how the Black worker gradually attained an “anti-union” categorization by the turn of the twentieth century. To be sure, Jacob Amos was not the lone voice on the issue of the Black worker—in fact, among Afro-Illinoisans during the late nineteenth century, Amos was merely one of a myriad of voices debating about what the best economic direction for African Americans. This introduction will briefly discuss previous scholarly treatment of African Americans and labor, elucidate the details of my intervention and argument, and lay out the structure of this project. Labor history has had a troublesome history in dealing with race and African American workers. Labor historians of the early twentieth century generally regarded the Black worker as only a peripheral figure to be studied indirectly in relation to the larger labor history of the United States. Primarily viewed through the lens of predominantly white labor unions, Black workers, under the “old labor history,” were often examined as a problem that impeded the progress of the labor movement. In addition, most studies during this period ignored the 1 “Ex-Alderman Jacob Amos of Cairo Writes on the Industrial Situation,” Illinois Record, December 11, 1897. 3 unorganized laborer—which, by the latter decades of the nineteenth century, included many African Americans due to the racist nature of the major labor unions.2 Fortunately, there were a few significant studies that emerged from the old labor history that showed real interest in the conditions of African American workers. These studies appeared during the height of early twentieth century white supremacy and relied upon a race-relations model developed by sociologists, economists, and historians. Counteracting the prevailing racist stereotypes of the day, these scholars rejected negative images of the Black worker and emphasized the discriminatory attitudes and behavior of white workers, employers and the state. For example, The Negro Artisan, written in 1902 by the preeminent scholar, W.E.B DuBois, was the first comprehensive study of African American workers as well as the first study presented from their own perspective. Richard. R. Wright, Jr. made significant contributions to the study of the African American economic and social condition with several important articles: “The Negro in Times of Industrial Unrest,” “The Negro in Unskilled Labor,” and “The Skilled Mechanic in the North.” Historian Charles Wesley examined the Black work experience from slavery through the 1920s in his ambitious study, Negro Labor in the United States, 1850-1925: A Study in American Economic History. Emphasizing the significant role of the slaves in the Southern economy, Wesley argued capitalistic exploitation was a vital factor in the degradation of the Black worker, who struggled against both “normal” labor obstacles
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