PACE Talk: Workers On Arrival: Black Labor in the Making of America

Join us for our second PACE Talk, a program of the Carter G. Woodson Center for Interracial Education, as we are joined by Dr. Joe W. Trotter, Jr. Giant Eagle Professor of History and Social Justice at Carnegie Mellon University. Dr. Trotter will be giving a presentation on anti-racism and poverty, with time to answer questions afterward.

Dr. Trotter’s presentation explores the unique history of African American labor exploitation and wealth creation on American soil. It will also counter widespread and misleading notions of the black poor and working-class as “consumers” rather than “producers,” as “takers” rather than “givers,” and as “liabilities” rather than “assets” in the growth and development of the nation.  Drawing upon a century of historical research, this talk discusses the movement of urban black workers from the periphery of the African American working class during the 18th and 19th centuries to its center during the twentieth century. It not only calls attention to the ongoing coercive and violent features of this process but also to the ways that people of African descent repeatedly forged creative movements to free themselves from both local and global forms of inequality.

For more information or to register, click here

We hope to see you there!