From the ongoing
issues of poverty, health, housing and employment to the recent
upsurge of lethal police-community relations, the black working class
stands at the center of perceptions of social and racial conflict
today. Journalists and public policy analysts often discuss the black
poor as “consumers” rather than “producers,” as “takers”
rather than “givers,” and as “liabilities” instead of
“assets.”
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.