This week's labor history: Patrick Dixon talks with James Benton about the emergence of sharecropping as a compromise between former slaves – freedmen – and landowners, and sharecroppers subsequent struggles for rights and power. For our Labor History Object of the week, Ben Blake at the Meany Labor Archives pulls out a collection of buttons from the Solidarnosc union movement in Poland.
Questions, comments or suggestions welcome, and to find out how you can be a part of Labor History Today, email us at [email protected]
Labor History Today is produced by Union City Radio and the Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor. Engineered by Chris Garlock.
Labor history sources include Today in Labor History, from Union Communication Services https://unionist.com/
This week's music:
Sharecropper's Blues, featuring Charlie Barnet with Kay Starr on vocals
https://youtu.be/0FyKigj35Ek