Black Labor Historians Revealed

Who were the major black labor historians and how did they come to produce groundbreaking work in economic and labor studies? In a free noontime talk today at the Library of Congress, nationally known historian Francille Rusan Wilson -- an associate professor in the African American Studies Department and affiliate associate professor in the departments of American Studies and Women’s Studies at the University of Maryland -- will explore the lives and work of black scholars whose imprint on labor history and social science has earned them a lasting place in African-American intellectual heritage. Wilson will also discuss and sign her 2006 book, The Segregated Scholars: Black Social Scientists and the Creation of Black Labor Studies, 1890-1950. "Every page of The Segregated Scholars either brings new insight into the to the study of the black working class during the early 20th century,” says Robin D. G. Kelley of Columbia University, “or brings to our attention key black intellectuals whose contributions have gone unnoticed, the latter almost entirely black women social scientists."