A Community Conversation: "'A Thirst for Independence': Richmond's Black Community Shapes Its Emancipation"

[Richmond Industrial Workers of the World R-IWW]

The Richmond, Virginia Industrial Workers of the World [ www.richmondiww.org ] Presents:

"'A Thirst for Independence': Richmond's Black Community Shapes Its Emancipation" -- a talk by Peter Rachleff author of the 'Black Labor in Richmond, 1865-1890'

Saturday March 23, 2013
Kitty's Grill (bring CASH for drink and food (not veg friendly)
2828 Nine Mile Rd. (Corner of 29th & Nine Mile in Church Hill)
5:00pm [sharp] - 7:00pm

This event is *FREE*

Although Richmond symbolized unfreedom in the antebellum South -- first, as the northern terminus of the domestic slave trade; later, during the Civil War, as the capital of the Confederacy -- its African American residents prepared themselves to play a leading role in the struggle for Emancipation. They constructed extended families, networked organizations, built institutions, educated children, passed on skills, developed leaders, and prepared themselves to shape their own community. In celebration of the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation, and in response to such movies as "Lincoln" and "Django Unchained," labor historian Peter Rachleff will discuss the ways that Richmond African Americans, both the formerly slave and the formerly free, launched themselves into the new chapter of American history called "Reconstruction."

Bio:


Peter Rachleff has taught labor, African American, and immigration history at Macalester College in Saint Paul, Minnesota, since 1982. He is the author of BLACK LABOR IN RICHMOND, 1865-1890 (University of Illinois Press, 1989), as well as HARD-PRESSED IN THE HEARTLAND: THE HORMEL STRIKE AND THE FUTURE OF THE LABOR MOVEMENT (South End Press, 1993) and STARVING AMIDST TOO MUCH AND OTHER IWW WRITINGS ON THE FOOD INDUSTRY (Charles H. Kerr Publisher, 2005), and dozens of articles and essays on the history of the American working class. Peter has served on the national executive board of the Labor and Working History Association and as the national president of the Working Class Studies Association. Peter has visited South Africa three times in the last decade, and he is teaching and writing about comparisons in the workings of racial capitalism and the dynamics of working class resistance in both societies.

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Richmond Industrial Workers of the World • P.O. Box 7055 • Richmond, Virginia 23221-0055
(e) richm...@gmail.com • (w) www.richmondiww.org • (p) 804-496-1568