Whether as slaves or freedmen, the political and social status of
African Americans has always been tied to their ability to participate
in the nation's economy. Freedom in the post-Civil War years did not
guarantee equality, and African Americans from emancipation to the
present have faced the seemingly insurmountable task of erasing
pervasive public belief in the inferiority of their race. For Jobs and
Freedom: Race and Labor in America since 1865 describes the African
American struggle to obt