Here is a piece of history not found in conventional textbooks. If ever
there were a book our young needed, it is Meatpackers-it reveals an
epoch in which trade unions fought and won whatever rights working
people possess today. With these rights constantly imperiled, this book
is mandatory reading.
--Studs Terkel
The stories are dramatically and richly told, and they offer insights no
scholarly study can quite adequately provide.
--Peter Rachleff, Journal of American History
Available for the first time in paperback, Meatpackers provides an
important window into race and racism in the American workplace. In
their own words, male and female packinghouse workers in the
Midwest-mostly African-American-talk of their experiences on the shop
floor and picket lines. They tell of their fight between the 1930s and
1960s for economic advancement and racial equality. In cities like
Chicago, Kansas City, Omaha, Fort Worth, and Waterloo, Iowa, meatpackers
built a union that would defend their interests as workers-and fight for
their civil rights.