Synopses & Reviews
This book brings to life the important but neglected story of African American postal workers and the critical role they played in the U.S. labor and black freedom movements. Philip Rubio, a former postal worker, integrates civil rights, labor, and left movement histories that too often are written as if they happened separately. Centered on New York City and Washington, D.C., the book chronicles a struggle of national significance through its examination of the post office, a workplace with facilities and unions serving every city and town in the United States.
Having fought their way into postal positions and unions, black postal workers--often college-educated military veterans--became a critical force for social change. They combined black labor protest and civic traditions to construct a civil rights unionism at the post office. They were a major factor in the 1970 nationwide wildcat strike, which resulted in full collective bargaining rights for the major postal unions under the newly established U.S. Postal Service in 1971. In making the fight for equality primary, African American postal workers were influential in shaping today's post office and postal unions.
Review
"He reveals the outlines of a crucial, if overlooked, tradition in black labor and civil rights activism."
-Journal of American History
Review
"Rubio has crafted a scholarly and accessible exploration of a largely overlooked and extremely important history."
-Journal of Southern History
Review
"An excellent book covering the struggle of African Americans to find value as citizens through their work, and in the larger society. . . .An engaging piece."
-Oral History Review
Review
"[Rubio's] analysis of racial politics and workplace rights in the USPS, one of the largest employers in the United States, deserves a prominent place in a growing historiography on public sector workers . . . . [His] book mines new and necessary areas of study and points to the instrumental role black public workers played in the American labor and civil rights movements."
-American Historical Review
Review
"Rubio provides us with rich portraits of black postal workers."
-Working-Class Notes
Synopsis
Rubio, a former postal worker, brings to life the important but neglected story of African American postal workers and the critical role they played in the U.S. labor and black freedom movements. Having fought their way into postal positions and unions, black postal workers--often college-educated military veterans--became a critical force for social change. Centered on New York City and Washington, D.C., the book chronicles a struggle of national significance through its examination of the post office, a workplace with facilities and unions serving every city and town in the U.S.
Synopsis
"[An] impressive study. . . . This excellent book documents what postal work meant for many Americans. . . . Highly recommended."
-Choice "Singlehandedly rescue[s] an important part of African American history. . . . A substantial achievement."
-Greensboro News & Record "Page Turners" blog "A major contribution. . . . While There's Always Work at the Post Office rests on the extensive and careful archival work that earned Rubio a Ph.D. at Duke University, it also incorporates the stories and voices of black workers that an activist history must include."
-XCP: Cross Cultural Poetics
About the Author
Philip F. Rubio is assistant professor of university studies at North Carolina A&T State University in Greensboro and author of the award-winning A History of Affirmative Action, 1619-2000