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BookPrinted Material
Author Miller, Leta E., author.

Title Union divided : Black musicians' fight for labor equality / Leta E. Miller.

Publication Info. Urbana : University of Illinois Press, [2024]

Item Status

Location Call No. Status OPAC Message Public Note Gift Note
 Talbott: Circulating Collection  ML3795 .M55 2024    Available  ---
Description xiv, 214 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm
Series Music in American life
Music in American life.
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index.
Contents Prelude -- The origins of the American Federation of Musicians and its place in the history of organized labor -- The formation of Black AFM Locals, 1897-1927 -- Early Black Locals : three case studies -- From the glories of the '20s to the despair of the '30s -- The 1940s : change is in the wind -- Leading the pack : the 1953 Los Angeles merger -- Mergers from 1954 through 1966 : state labor laws and the Battle of Chicago -- After Chicago -- Coda.
Summary "In the 1910s and 1920s, Black musicians organized more than fifty locals within the American Federation of Musicians (AFM). Leta Miller follows the AFM's Black locals from their origins and successes in the 1920s through Depression-era challenges and the postwar dismantling of segregated AFM organizations. As Miller shows, the decision by whites to organize along racial lines was hidden behind factors like genre-based audition requirements and varying approaches to musical creation. Like any union, Black AFM locals sought to ensure employment and competitive wages for members with always-evolving approaches and solutions to problems. Miller's account of these efforts includes the voices of the musicians themselves and interviews with former union members who took part in the difficult integration of Black and white locals. She also analyzes the fundamental question of how musicians benefitted from membership in the AFM. Broad in scope and rich in detail, Union Divided illuminates the complex working world of unionized Black musicians and the AFM's journey to racial inclusion"-- Provided by publisher.
Subject Musicians -- Labor unions -- United States.
Musicians, Black -- Labor unions -- United States.
American Federation of Musicians -- History.
Discrimination in the music trade.
American Federation of Musicians
Musicians -- Labor unions
United States
Genre/Form History
Other Form: Online version: Miller, Leta E. Union divided Urbana : University of Illinois Press, 2023 9780252055225 (DLC) 2023020348
ISBN 9780252045561 hardcover
0252045564 hardcover
9780252087677 paperback
0252087674 paperback
9780252055225 electronic book