We’ve talked about gold miners, we’ve talked about ancient sailors, we’ve talked about cowboys, soldiers, and poets. Today we’re going to get into something a little heavier, and we don’t mean Iron Hearts.

Since practically its inception, denim has had a role in institutional racism in the United States. As we mentioned a few episodes ago, one of Levi’s earliest selling points was that it was “the only brand made by white labor.” Well today we’re going to be talking about the other kind of labor, non-white and often non-paid, which is a very euphemistic way to say slavery, human bondage, and other forms of exploitation.

Listen on to hear about denim was forced on enslaved peoples in the American South as well as how Black Civil Rights leaders of the 1950s but ultimately accepted as a unifying source of identity in the early 1960s. Special thanks to Miko Underwood for lending the voice of her lived experience working in denim to this episode, you can check out her brand Oak & Acorn - Only for the Rebelles launching later this month.

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