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The Strike that Changed New York

2014-10-27T19:18:43Z

Jodynoll:

{{Infobox book
| name = The Strike that Changed New York: Blacks, Whites, and the Ocean Hill-Brownsville Crisis
| author = Jerald E. Podair
| publisher = Yale University Press
| pub_date = 2002-12-15
| pages = 288
| isbn = 0300109407
| image = [[File:Strikechange.jpg|200px|alt=Cover]]
}}

Jody Noll

The study of labor within the United States has frequently examined private sector labor relations between workers and management. As private sector industrialized labor permeated the country during the first half of the twentieth century, historians have viewed this field as fundamental to understanding the social, economic, and political structures during this period. However, while industrialized labor and unionism played an important role in the formation of a modern America, the post war era also saw a rise in public sector employees who demanded increased autonomy within their profession. John F. Kennedy’s signing of Executive Order 10988 in 1962 provided the right for federal employees to collective bargain, and also paved the way for an increase of public sector unionism at state and local levels. This increased unionization drastically changed the relationship between public sector workers and the state, thus creating new arenas of labor conflict. The importance of public sector unionism on the changing political culture within the United States during the 1960s and 1970s cannot be overstated; nevertheless, public sector unionism has remained an often ignored subject. Recent years, however, has seen an increase of scholarship on this burgeoning field. In his book, Collison Course, historian Joseph McCartin analyzes the air traffic controllers strike during the early 1980s and argues that this strike, and Reagan response’s to it, marked the end of liberal labor policies. In doing so, McCartin places public sector unionism at the heart the country’s shift towards neoliberalism. In his book, The Strike that Changed New York, Jerald Podair adds to the historiography of public sector unionism, while also illustrating the racial and class dynamics that grew out of the public sector.

By examining the Ocean Hill–Brownsville strike in New York City in 1968, Podair contends that the strike had far reaching consequences that reshaped the political and social structures within the city. Stating that, “the Ocean Hill-Brownsville controversy showed black and white New Yorkers to be profoundly at odds over the very shape and definition of human relations in the city,” Podair asserts that the labor strife in 1968 came from a racial divide between whites and blacks. (5) Stemming from opposing definitions of equality, whites and African Americans used education as a forum to voice their differing views on the subject. Podair sees the battles over education as a turning point in the political and racial discourse between whites and African Americans within the city. He states that, “it was about how blacks and whites, with markedly different ideas about equality, pluralism, and being “middle-class” meant, fought for their visions of a fair and just city, and what their different languages meant for the politics and culture of the city in the 1970s and beyond.” (8) While Podair views the Ocean Hill-Brownsville crisis as essential to understanding this shift, he points out that it did not create this gulf in discourse. Nevertheless, the crisis sharpened the racial divide, forcing New Yorkers to reformulate their own political identity, which became an identity based on race and not political ideology.

For Podair, the labor strife that occurred during the Ocean Hill-Brownsville crises centered on racially distinct definitions of community and community based politics. As the labor force and economy changed within New York City in the post war era, from industrial to white collar, African American’s were excluded from the prosperity that permeated white New York. During the 1960s African American’s within New York City increased their demands for inclusion in the post war boom that benefited many whites. At the heart of this demand was education, of which African American’s saw an unequal system that benefited whites and hindered their own education. The unequal system created a demand by African Americans for forced integration through busing. Vehemently opposing the issue of forced busing, whites used community organizing as a vehicle to stop forced integration. For the white citizens who opposed busing, the idea of community and community based politics focused on the exclusion of African Americans. Podair writes that, “this impulse was conservative in nature, a reflection of PAT-ers’ definition of “community” as a stable, safe haven from a hostile outside world.” (28) In the face of this opposition, however, African American leaders shifted the meaning of community and community politics to meet their own needs. In doing so, they created a community based approach to cope with the inequality within education. Here, African Americans demanded a say over the education their children received, thus conflicting with white teachers’ ideas of education.

As African American leaders increasingly viewed community based control as a means to address a broken education system, they sought a place implement their ideas. They found it in the Ocean Hill-Brownsville are of New York City. Gaining support from local government, African American in the Ocean Hill-Brownsville took control of the educational board within the community. They believed that in order to address the economic and social disparity within the city, black students needed black teachers who understood the issues their students faced in a racialized society. Podair argues that this not only stemmed from ideas about race, but over issues of class as well. White, often Jewish teachers, in Ocean Hill-Brownsville sought to impart a white middle class ethos on their African American students. While Podair never directly states it, the move to convey a white middle class culture on black students was steeped in ideas of racial superiority. By pushing their own ideas on what constituted a proper culture, white teachers de-legitimized black culture viewing it as inferior to their own. However, by calling for black teachers to teach black students, the community based education board in Ocean Hill-Brownsville, also sought to strip away autonomy from the majority white teacher’s union, the United Federation of Teachers. Illustrating this, the board canceled the contracts of nineteen white teachers who they viewed as union agitators. The result became a city wide teacher strike that pitted white teachers against the African American community of Ocean Hill-Brownsville.
The strike allowed white liberal Jews to move away from their previously and long held alliance with African Americans, and pushed them towards a political identity that became based on their race, and not their ideology. These Jews, through their whiteness, now found a commonality with Irish Catholics, a group many Jews previously viewed as too conservative to form any type of political coalition. It is through this changing alliance that Podair views the true significance of the strike. By shifting alliances, and basing their political identity on their race, Jews now assisted in the creation of a more conservative power structure that continues to dominate politics within New York City.

While Podair has written an important work on the formation and consequences of the Ocean-Hill Brownsville teacher strike, he could have developed a more detailed analysis on the middle class ideology of white teachers. He appears content on viewing class through the realm of race, but in doing so, Podair struggles to explain what this middle class ethos meant for white teachers, and how it shaped their own struggles as educators. Even a modicum of discussion on this topic would have enhanced his analysis and perhaps sharpened his argument. This critique notwithstanding, Podair’s analysis of the strike illustrates the important influence public sector unionism and labor strife can have on the political and social landscape. Historians of labor, modern US, and race would certainly find his work useful.

[[Category:Twentieth Century United States]]

[[Category:Wikify]]
[[Category:Book Summaries]]
[[Category:Jerald E. Podair]]

File:Strikechange.jpg

2014-10-27T19:16:50Z

Jodynoll:

The Strike that Changed New York

2014-10-27T19:16:33Z

Jodynoll:

The Strike that Changed New York

2014-10-27T19:08:36Z

Jodynoll:

{{Infobox book
| name = The Strike that Changed New York: Blacks, Whites, and the Ocean Hill-Brownsville Crisis
| author = Jearld E. Podair
| publisher = Yale University Press
| pub_date = 2002-12-15
| pages = 288
| isbn = 0300109407
| image = [[data:image/jpeg;base64]]
}}

Jody Noll

The study of labor within the United States has frequently examined private sector labor relations between workers and management. As private sector industrialized labor permeated the country during the first half of the twentieth century, historians have viewed this field as fundamental to understanding the social, economic, and political structures during this period. However, while industrialized labor and unionism played an important role in the formation of a modern America, the post war era also saw a rise in public sector employees who demanded increased autonomy within their profession. John F. Kennedy’s signing of Executive Order 10988 in 1962 provided the right for federal employees to collective bargain, and also paved the way for an increase of public sector unionism at state and local levels. This increased unionization drastically changed the relationship between public sector workers and the state, thus creating new arenas of labor conflict. The importance of public sector unionism on the changing political culture within the United States during the 1960s and 1970s cannot be overstated; nevertheless, public sector unionism has remained an often ignored subject. Recent years, however, has seen an increase of scholarship on this burgeoning field. In his book, Collison Course, historian Joseph McCartin analyzes the air traffic controllers strike during the early 1980s and argues that this strike, and Reagan response’s to it, marked the end of liberal labor policies. In doing so, McCartin places public sector unionism at the heart the country’s shift towards neoliberalism. In his book, The Strike that Changed New York, Jerald Podair adds to the historiography of public sector unionism, while also illustrating the racial and class dynamics that grew out of the public sector.

By examining the Ocean Hill–Brownsville strike in New York City in 1968, Podair contends that the strike had far reaching consequences that reshaped the political and social structures within the city. Stating that, “the Ocean Hill-Brownsville controversy showed black and white New Yorkers to be profoundly at odds over the very shape and definition of human relations in the city,” Podair asserts that the labor strife in 1968 came from a racial divide between whites and blacks. (5) Stemming from opposing definitions of equality, whites and African Americans used education as a forum to voice their differing views on the subject. Podair sees the battles over education as a turning point in the political and racial discourse between whites and African Americans within the city. He states that, “it was about how blacks and whites, with markedly different ideas about equality, pluralism, and being “middle-class” meant, fought for their visions of a fair and just city, and what their different languages meant for the politics and culture of the city in the 1970s and beyond.” (8) While Podair views the Ocean Hill-Brownsville crisis as essential to understanding this shift, he points out that it did not create this gulf in discourse. Nevertheless, the crisis sharpened the racial divide, forcing New Yorkers to reformulate their own political identity, which became an identity based on race and not political ideology.

For Podair, the labor strife that occurred during the Ocean Hill-Brownsville crises centered on racially distinct definitions of community and community based politics. As the labor force and economy changed within New York City in the post war era, from industrial to white collar, African American’s were excluded from the prosperity that permeated white New York. During the 1960s African American’s within New York City increased their demands for inclusion in the post war boom that benefited many whites. At the heart of this demand was education, of which African American’s saw an unequal system that benefited whites and hindered their own education. The unequal system created a demand by African Americans for forced integration through busing. Vehemently opposing the issue of forced busing, whites used community organizing as a vehicle to stop forced integration. For the white citizens who opposed busing, the idea of community and community based politics focused on the exclusion of African Americans. Podair writes that, “this impulse was conservative in nature, a reflection of PAT-ers’ definition of “community” as a stable, safe haven from a hostile outside world.” (28) In the face of this opposition, however, African American leaders shifted the meaning of community and community politics to meet their own needs. In doing so, they created a community based approach to cope with the inequality within education. Here, African Americans demanded a say over the education their children received, thus conflicting with white teachers’ ideas of education.

As African American leaders increasingly viewed community based control as a means to address a broken education system, they sought a place implement their ideas. They found it in the Ocean Hill-Brownsville are of New York City. Gaining support from local government, African American in the Ocean Hill-Brownsville took control of the educational board within the community. They believed that in order to address the economic and social disparity within the city, black students needed black teachers who understood the issues their students faced in a racialized society. Podair argues that this not only stemmed from ideas about race, but over issues of class as well. White, often Jewish teachers, in Ocean Hill-Brownsville sought to impart a white middle class ethos on their African American students. While Podair never directly states it, the move to convey a white middle class culture on black students was steeped in ideas of racial superiority. By pushing their own ideas on what constituted a proper culture, white teachers de-legitimized black culture viewing it as inferior to their own. However, by calling for black teachers to teach black students, the community based education board in Ocean Hill-Brownsville, also sought to strip away autonomy from the majority white teacher’s union, the United Federation of Teachers. Illustrating this, the board canceled the contracts of nineteen white teachers who they viewed as union agitators. The result became a city wide teacher strike that pitted white teachers against the African American community of Ocean Hill-Brownsville.
The strike allowed white liberal Jews to move away from their previously and long held alliance with African Americans, and pushed them towards a political identity that became based on their race, and not their ideology. These Jews, through their whiteness, now found a commonality with Irish Catholics, a group many Jews previously viewed as too conservative to form any type of political coalition. It is through this changing alliance that Podair views the true significance of the strike. By shifting alliances, and basing their political identity on their race, Jews now assisted in the creation of a more conservative power structure that continues to dominate politics within New York City.

While Podair has written an important work on the formation and consequences of the Ocean-Hill Brownsville teacher strike, he could have developed a more detailed analysis on the middle class ideology of white teachers. He appears content on viewing class through the realm of race, but in doing so, Podair struggles to explain what this middle class ethos meant for white teachers, and how it shaped their own struggles as educators. Even a modicum of discussion on this topic would have enhanced his analysis and perhaps sharpened his argument. This critique notwithstanding, Podair’s analysis of the strike illustrates the important influence public sector unionism and labor strife can have on the political and social landscape. Historians of labor, modern US, and race would certainly find his work useful.

The Strike that Changed New York

2014-10-27T19:06:52Z

Jodynoll:

{{Infobox book
| name = The Strike that Changed New York: Blacks, Whites, and the Ocean Hill-Brownsville Crisis
| author = Jearld E. Podair
| publisher = Yale University Press
| pub_date = 2002-12-15
| pages = 288
| isbn = 0300109407
| image = [[File:The American Political Tradition.jpg|200px|alt=Cover]]
}}

Jody Noll

The study of labor within the United States has frequently examined private sector labor relations between workers and management. As private sector industrialized labor permeated the country during the first half of the twentieth century, historians have viewed this field as fundamental to understanding the social, economic, and political structures during this period. However, while industrialized labor and unionism played an important role in the formation of a modern America, the post war era also saw a rise in public sector employees who demanded increased autonomy within their profession. John F. Kennedy’s signing of Executive Order 10988 in 1962 provided the right for federal employees to collective bargain, and also paved the way for an increase of public sector unionism at state and local levels. This increased unionization drastically changed the relationship between public sector workers and the state, thus creating new arenas of labor conflict. The importance of public sector unionism on the changing political culture within the United States during the 1960s and 1970s cannot be overstated; nevertheless, public sector unionism has remained an often ignored subject. Recent years, however, has seen an increase of scholarship on this burgeoning field. In his book, Collison Course, historian Joseph McCartin analyzes the air traffic controllers strike during the early 1980s and argues that this strike, and Reagan response’s to it, marked the end of liberal labor policies. In doing so, McCartin places public sector unionism at the heart the country’s shift towards neoliberalism. In his book, The Strike that Changed New York, Jerald Podair adds to the historiography of public sector unionism, while also illustrating the racial and class dynamics that grew out of the public sector.

By examining the Ocean Hill–Brownsville strike in New York City in 1968, Podair contends that the strike had far reaching consequences that reshaped the political and social structures within the city. Stating that, “the Ocean Hill-Brownsville controversy showed black and white New Yorkers to be profoundly at odds over the very shape and definition of human relations in the city,” Podair asserts that the labor strife in 1968 came from a racial divide between whites and blacks. (5) Stemming from opposing definitions of equality, whites and African Americans used education as a forum to voice their differing views on the subject. Podair sees the battles over education as a turning point in the political and racial discourse between whites and African Americans within the city. He states that, “it was about how blacks and whites, with markedly different ideas about equality, pluralism, and being “middle-class” meant, fought for their visions of a fair and just city, and what their different languages meant for the politics and culture of the city in the 1970s and beyond.” (8) While Podair views the Ocean Hill-Brownsville crisis as essential to understanding this shift, he points out that it did not create this gulf in discourse. Nevertheless, the crisis sharpened the racial divide, forcing New Yorkers to reformulate their own political identity, which became an identity based on race and not political ideology.

For Podair, the labor strife that occurred during the Ocean Hill-Brownsville crises centered on racially distinct definitions of community and community based politics. As the labor force and economy changed within New York City in the post war era, from industrial to white collar, African American’s were excluded from the prosperity that permeated white New York. During the 1960s African American’s within New York City increased their demands for inclusion in the post war boom that benefited many whites. At the heart of this demand was education, of which African American’s saw an unequal system that benefited whites and hindered their own education. The unequal system created a demand by African Americans for forced integration through busing. Vehemently opposing the issue of forced busing, whites used community organizing as a vehicle to stop forced integration. For the white citizens who opposed busing, the idea of community and community based politics focused on the exclusion of African Americans. Podair writes that, “this impulse was conservative in nature, a reflection of PAT-ers’ definition of “community” as a stable, safe haven from a hostile outside world.” (28) In the face of this opposition, however, African American leaders shifted the meaning of community and community politics to meet their own needs. In doing so, they created a community based approach to cope with the inequality within education. Here, African Americans demanded a say over the education their children received, thus conflicting with white teachers’ ideas of education.

As African American leaders increasingly viewed community based control as a means to address a broken education system, they sought a place implement their ideas. They found it in the Ocean Hill-Brownsville are of New York City. Gaining support from local government, African American in the Ocean Hill-Brownsville took control of the educational board within the community. They believed that in order to address the economic and social disparity within the city, black students needed black teachers who understood the issues their students faced in a racialized society. Podair argues that this not only stemmed from ideas about race, but over issues of class as well. White, often Jewish teachers, in Ocean Hill-Brownsville sought to impart a white middle class ethos on their African American students. While Podair never directly states it, the move to convey a white middle class culture on black students was steeped in ideas of racial superiority. By pushing their own ideas on what constituted a proper culture, white teachers de-legitimized black culture viewing it as inferior to their own. However, by calling for black teachers to teach black students, the community based education board in Ocean Hill-Brownsville, also sought to strip away autonomy from the majority white teacher’s union, the United Federation of Teachers. Illustrating this, the board canceled the contracts of nineteen white teachers who they viewed as union agitators. The result became a city wide teacher strike that pitted white teachers against the African American community of Ocean Hill-Brownsville.
The strike allowed white liberal Jews to move away from their previously and long held alliance with African Americans, and pushed them towards a political identity that became based on their race, and not their ideology. These Jews, through their whiteness, now found a commonality with Irish Catholics, a group many Jews previously viewed as too conservative to form any type of political coalition. It is through this changing alliance that Podair views the true significance of the strike. By shifting alliances, and basing their political identity on their race, Jews now assisted in the creation of a more conservative power structure that continues to dominate politics within New York City.

While Podair has written an important work on the formation and consequences of the Ocean-Hill Brownsville teacher strike, he could have developed a more detailed analysis on the middle class ideology of white teachers. He appears content on viewing class through the realm of race, but in doing so, Podair struggles to explain what this middle class ethos meant for white teachers, and how it shaped their own struggles as educators. Even a modicum of discussion on this topic would have enhanced his analysis and perhaps sharpened his argument. This critique notwithstanding, Podair’s analysis of the strike illustrates the important influence public sector unionism and labor strife can have on the political and social landscape. Historians of labor, modern US, and race would certainly find his work useful.

The Strike that Changed New York

2014-10-27T19:06:21Z

Jodynoll:

{{Infobox book
| name = The Strike that Changed New York: Blacks, Whites, and the Ocean Hill-Brownsville Crisis
| author = Jearld E. Podair
| publisher = Yale University Press
| pub_date = 2002-12-15
| pages = 288
| isbn = 0300109407
| image = [[File:The American Political Tradition.jpg|200px|alt=Cover]]
}}

Jody Noll

The study of labor within the United States has frequently examined private sector labor relations between workers and management. As private sector industrialized labor permeated the country during the first half of the twentieth century, historians have viewed this field as fundamental to understanding the social, economic, and political structures during this period. However, while industrialized labor and unionism played an important role in the formation of a modern America, the post war era also saw a rise in public sector employees who demanded increased autonomy within their profession. John F. Kennedy’s signing of Executive Order 10988 in 1962 provided the right for federal employees to collective bargain, and also paved the way for an increase of public sector unionism at state and local levels. This increased unionization drastically changed the relationship between public sector workers and the state, thus creating new arenas of labor conflict. The importance of public sector unionism on the changing political culture within the United States during the 1960s and 1970s cannot be overstated; nevertheless, public sector unionism has remained an often ignored subject. Recent years, however, has seen an increase of scholarship on this burgeoning field. In his book, Collison Course, historian Joseph McCartin analyzes the air traffic controllers strike during the early 1980s and argues that this strike, and Reagan response’s to it, marked the end of liberal labor policies. In doing so, McCartin places public sector unionism at the heart the country’s shift towards neoliberalism. In his book, The Strike that Changed New York, Jerald Podair adds to the historiography of public sector unionism, while also illustrating the racial and class dynamics that grew out of the public sector.
By examining the Ocean Hill–Brownsville strike in New York City in 1968, Podair contends that the strike had far reaching consequences that reshaped the political and social structures within the city. Stating that, “the Ocean Hill-Brownsville controversy showed black and white New Yorkers to be profoundly at odds over the very shape and definition of human relations in the city,” Podair asserts that the labor strife in 1968 came from a racial divide between whites and blacks. (5) Stemming from opposing definitions of equality, whites and African Americans used education as a forum to voice their differing views on the subject. Podair sees the battles over education as a turning point in the political and racial discourse between whites and African Americans within the city. He states that, “it was about how blacks and whites, with markedly different ideas about equality, pluralism, and being “middle-class” meant, fought for their visions of a fair and just city, and what their different languages meant for the politics and culture of the city in the 1970s and beyond.” (8) While Podair views the Ocean Hill-Brownsville crisis as essential to understanding this shift, he points out that it did not create this gulf in discourse. Nevertheless, the crisis sharpened the racial divide, forcing New Yorkers to reformulate their own political identity, which became an identity based on race and not political ideology.
For Podair, the labor strife that occurred during the Ocean Hill-Brownsville crises centered on racially distinct definitions of community and community based politics. As the labor force and economy changed within New York City in the post war era, from industrial to white collar, African American’s were excluded from the prosperity that permeated white New York. During the 1960s African American’s within New York City increased their demands for inclusion in the post war boom that benefited many whites. At the heart of this demand was education, of which African American’s saw an unequal system that benefited whites and hindered their own education. The unequal system created a demand by African Americans for forced integration through busing. Vehemently opposing the issue of forced busing, whites used community organizing as a vehicle to stop forced integration. For the white citizens who opposed busing, the idea of community and community based politics focused on the exclusion of African Americans. Podair writes that, “this impulse was conservative in nature, a reflection of PAT-ers’ definition of “community” as a stable, safe haven from a hostile outside world.” (28) In the face of this opposition, however, African American leaders shifted the meaning of community and community politics to meet their own needs. In doing so, they created a community based approach to cope with the inequality within education. Here, African Americans demanded a say over the education their children received, thus conflicting with white teachers’ ideas of education.
As African American leaders increasingly viewed community based control as a means to address a broken education system, they sought a place implement their ideas. They found it in the Ocean Hill-Brownsville are of New York City. Gaining support from local government, African American in the Ocean Hill-Brownsville took control of the educational board within the community. They believed that in order to address the economic and social disparity within the city, black students needed black teachers who understood the issues their students faced in a racialized society. Podair argues that this not only stemmed from ideas about race, but over issues of class as well. White, often Jewish teachers, in Ocean Hill-Brownsville sought to impart a white middle class ethos on their African American students. While Podair never directly states it, the move to convey a white middle class culture on black students was steeped in ideas of racial superiority. By pushing their own ideas on what constituted a proper culture, white teachers de-legitimized black culture viewing it as inferior to their own. However, by calling for black teachers to teach black students, the community based education board in Ocean Hill-Brownsville, also sought to strip away autonomy from the majority white teacher’s union, the United Federation of Teachers. Illustrating this, the board canceled the contracts of nineteen white teachers who they viewed as union agitators. The result became a city wide teacher strike that pitted white teachers against the African American community of Ocean Hill-Brownsville.
The strike allowed white liberal Jews to move away from their previously and long held alliance with African Americans, and pushed them towards a political identity that became based on their race, and not their ideology. These Jews, through their whiteness, now found a commonality with Irish Catholics, a group many Jews previously viewed as too conservative to form any type of political coalition. It is through this changing alliance that Podair views the true significance of the strike. By shifting alliances, and basing their political identity on their race, Jews now assisted in the creation of a more conservative power structure that continues to dominate politics within New York City.
While Podair has written an important work on the formation and consequences of the Ocean-Hill Brownsville teacher strike, he could have developed a more detailed analysis on the middle class ideology of white teachers. He appears content on viewing class through the realm of race, but in doing so, Podair struggles to explain what this middle class ethos meant for white teachers, and how it shaped their own struggles as educators. Even a modicum of discussion on this topic would have enhanced his analysis and perhaps sharpened his argument. This critique notwithstanding, Podair’s analysis of the strike illustrates the important influence public sector unionism and labor strife can have on the political and social landscape. Historians of labor, modern US, and race would certainly find his work useful.

The Strike that Changed New York

2014-10-27T19:03:37Z

Jodynoll: Created page with "{{Infobox book | name = The Strike that Changed New York: Blacks, Whites, and the Ocean Hill-Brownsville Crisis | author = Jearld E. Podair | publisher ..."

{{Infobox book
| name = The Strike that Changed New York: Blacks, Whites, and the Ocean Hill-Brownsville Crisis
| author = Jearld E. Podair
| publisher = Yale University Press
| pub_date = 2002-12-15
| pages = 288
| isbn = 0300109407
| image = [[File:The American Political Tradition.jpg|200px|alt=Cover]]
}}

The study of labor within the United States has frequently examined private sector labor relations between workers and management. As private sector industrialized labor permeated the country during the first half of the twentieth century, historians have viewed this field as fundamental to understanding the social, economic, and political structures during this period. However, while industrialized labor and unionism played an important role in the formation of a modern America, the post war era also saw a rise in public sector employees who demanded increased autonomy within their profession. John F. Kennedy’s signing of Executive Order 10988 in 1962 provided the right for federal employees to collective bargain, and also paved the way for an increase of public sector unionism at state and local levels. This increased unionization drastically changed the relationship between public sector workers and the state, thus creating new arenas of labor conflict. The importance of public sector unionism on the changing political culture within the United States during the 1960s and 1970s cannot be overstated; nevertheless, public sector unionism has remained an often ignored subject. Recent years, however, has seen an increase of scholarship on this burgeoning field. In his book, Collison Course, historian Joseph McCartin analyzes the air traffic controllers strike during the early 1980s and argues that this strike, and Reagan response’s to it, marked the end of liberal labor policies. In doing so, McCartin places public sector unionism at the heart the country’s shift towards neoliberalism. In his book, The Strike that Changed New York, Jerald Podair adds to the historiography of public sector unionism, while also illustrating the racial and class dynamics that grew out of the public sector.
By examining the Ocean Hill–Brownsville strike in New York City in 1968, Podair contends that the strike had far reaching consequences that reshaped the political and social structures within the city. Stating that, “the Ocean Hill-Brownsville controversy showed black and white New Yorkers to be profoundly at odds over the very shape and definition of human relations in the city,” Podair asserts that the labor strife in 1968 came from a racial divide between whites and blacks. (5) Stemming from opposing definitions of equality, whites and African Americans used education as a forum to voice their differing views on the subject. Podair sees the battles over education as a turning point in the political and racial discourse between whites and African Americans within the city. He states that, “it was about how blacks and whites, with markedly different ideas about equality, pluralism, and being “middle-class” meant, fought for their visions of a fair and just city, and what their different languages meant for the politics and culture of the city in the 1970s and beyond.” (8) While Podair views the Ocean Hill-Brownsville crisis as essential to understanding this shift, he points out that it did not create this gulf in discourse. Nevertheless, the crisis sharpened the racial divide, forcing New Yorkers to reformulate their own political identity, which became an identity based on race and not political ideology.
For Podair, the labor strife that occurred during the Ocean Hill-Brownsville crises centered on racially distinct definitions of community and community based politics. As the labor force and economy changed within New York City in the post war era, from industrial to white collar, African American’s were excluded from the prosperity that permeated white New York. During the 1960s African American’s within New York City increased their demands for inclusion in the post war boom that benefited many whites. At the heart of this demand was education, of which African American’s saw an unequal system that benefited whites and hindered their own education. The unequal system created a demand by African Americans for forced integration through busing. Vehemently opposing the issue of forced busing, whites used community organizing as a vehicle to stop forced integration. For the white citizens who opposed busing, the idea of community and community based politics focused on the exclusion of African Americans. Podair writes that, “this impulse was conservative in nature, a reflection of PAT-ers’ definition of “community” as a stable, safe haven from a hostile outside world.” (28) In the face of this opposition, however, African American leaders shifted the meaning of community and community politics to meet their own needs. In doing so, they created a community based approach to cope with the inequality within education. Here, African Americans demanded a say over the education their children received, thus conflicting with white teachers’ ideas of education.
As African American leaders increasingly viewed community based control as a means to address a broken education system, they sought a place implement their ideas. They found it in the Ocean Hill-Brownsville are of New York City. Gaining support from local government, African American in the Ocean Hill-Brownsville took control of the educational board within the community. They believed that in order to address the economic and social disparity within the city, black students needed black teachers who understood the issues their students faced in a racialized society. Podair argues that this not only stemmed from ideas about race, but over issues of class as well. White, often Jewish teachers, in Ocean Hill-Brownsville sought to impart a white middle class ethos on their African American students. While Podair never directly states it, the move to convey a white middle class culture on black students was steeped in ideas of racial superiority. By pushing their own ideas on what constituted a proper culture, white teachers de-legitimized black culture viewing it as inferior to their own. However, by calling for black teachers to teach black students, the community based education board in Ocean Hill-Brownsville, also sought to strip away autonomy from the majority white teacher’s union, the United Federation of Teachers. Illustrating this, the board canceled the contracts of nineteen white teachers who they viewed as union agitators. The result became a city wide teacher strike that pitted white teachers against the African American community of Ocean Hill-Brownsville.
The strike allowed white liberal Jews to move away from their previously and long held alliance with African Americans, and pushed them towards a political identity that became based on their race, and not their ideology. These Jews, through their whiteness, now found a commonality with Irish Catholics, a group many Jews previously viewed as too conservative to form any type of political coalition. It is through this changing alliance that Podair views the true significance of the strike. By shifting alliances, and basing their political identity on their race, Jews now assisted in the creation of a more conservative power structure that continues to dominate politics within New York City.
While Podair has written an important work on the formation and consequences of the Ocean-Hill Brownsville teacher strike, he could have developed a more detailed analysis on the middle class ideology of white teachers. He appears content on viewing class through the realm of race, but in doing so, Podair struggles to explain what this middle class ethos meant for white teachers, and how it shaped their own struggles as educators. Even a modicum of discussion on this topic would have enhanced his analysis and perhaps sharpened his argument. This critique notwithstanding, Podair’s analysis of the strike illustrates the important influence public sector unionism and labor strife can have on the political and social landscape. Historians of labor, modern US, and race would certainly find his work useful.

Twentieth Century United States

2014-10-27T18:46:42Z

Jodynoll:

==Book Summaries==
* Donna Alvah. [http://tropicsofmeta.wordpress.com/2010/12/29/women-and-children-first-the-importance-of-gender-and-military-families-in-the-cold-war-era/ Unofficial Ambassadors: American Military Families Overseas and the Cold War, 1946-1965] (2007).
* Alex Cummings. [[Here's How to Make a New Page: The Revenge, 1955-1957|Here's How to Make a New Page]] (2013).
* Luis Alvarez. [[The Power of the Zoot|The Power of the Zoot: Youth Culture and Resistance during World War II]] (2008).
* Karen Anderson. [[Wartime Women|Wartime Women: Sex Roles, Family Relations, and the Status of Women During World War II]] (1981).
* Brookelynn Ashworth. [[Bad Girls Go Everywhere: The Life of Helen Gurley Brown, the Woman Behind Cosmopolitan Magazine]] (2009).
* Eric Avila. [[Popular Culture in the Age of White Flight|Popular Culture in the Age of White Flight: Fear and Fantasy in Suburban Los Angeles]] (2004).
* Beth Bailey. [[America’s Army|America’s Army: Making the All-Volunteer Force]] (2009).
* Beth Bailey & David Farber. [[The First Strange Place|The First Strange Place: The Alchemy of Race and Sex in World War II Hawaii]] (1992).
* Beth Bailey. [[From Front Porch to Back Seat|From Front Porch to Back Seat: Courtship in Twentieth-Century America]] (1989).
* Mark Brilliant. [http://tropicsofmeta.wordpress.com/2012/11/29/californication-race-ethnicity-and-unity-in-twentieth-century-california/ Californication: Race, Ethnicity, and Unity in Twentieth Century California] (2012).
* Amy Bridges. [[Morning Glories]] (1999).
* Laura Briggs. [[Reproducing Empire|Reproducing Empire: Race, Sex, Science, and U.S. Imperialism in Puerto Rico]] (2002).
* Alan Brinkley. [[Voices of Protest|Voices of Protest: Huey Long, Father Coughlin, & the Great Depression]] (1983).
* Charlotte Brooks. [[Alien Neighbors, Foreign Friends|Alien Neighbors, Foreign Friends: Asian Americans, Housing, and the Transformation of Urban California]] (2009).
* Robert Caro. [http://tropicsofmeta.wordpress.com/2011/08/12/dog-days-classics-robert-caros-controversial-portrait-of-robert-moses-and-new-york/ The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York](1974)
* Adam Cohen and Elizabeth Taylor. [http://tropicsofmeta.wordpress.com/2011/08/18/dog-days-classics-political-boss-and-midwestern-pharaoh-richard-j-daleys-chicago-legacy/ American Pharaoh: Mayor Richard J. Daley - His Battle for the Nation and Chicago] (2001)
* Lizabeth Cohen. [[A Consumers’ Republic|A Consumers’ Republic: The Politics of Mass Consumption in Postwar America]] (2003).
* Lizabeth Cohen. [[Making a New Deal|Making a New Deal: Industrial Workers in Chicago, 1919-1939]] (2008).
* Nancy F. Cott. [[Public Vows|Public Vows: A History of Marriage and the Nation]] (2002).
* Pete Daniel, [[Lost Revolutions|Lost Revolutions: The South in the 1950s]] (2000)
* Mike Davis. [[City of Quartz|City of Quartz: Excavating the Future in Los Angeles]] (2006).
* Mike Davis & Michael Sprinker. [[Magical Urbanism|Magical Urbanism: Latinos Reinvent the US Big City]] (2001).
* Michael J. Dear. [[The Postmodern Urban Condition]] (2001).
* Robert C. Donnelly. [[Dark Rose]] (2011).
* Steven Erie. [[Globalizing L.A.|Globalizing L.A.: Trade, Infrastructure, and Regional Development]] (2004).
* Steven P. Erie. [[Beyond Chinatown|Beyond Chinatown: The Metropolitan Water District, Growth, and the Environment in Southern California]] (2006).
* Elizabeth Ewen. [[Immigrant Women in the Land of Dollars]] (1985).
* Barbara Ferman. [[Challenging the Growth Machine|Challenging the Growth Machine: Neighborhood Politics in Chicago and Pittsburgh]] (1996).
* John M. Findlay. [[Magic Lands|Magic Lands: Western Cityscapes and American Culture After 1940]] (1993).
* Steven Gregory. [[Black Corona|Black Corona: Race and the Politics of Place in an Urban Community]] (1999).
* Jason Hackworth. [[The Neoliberal City|The Neoliberal City: Governance, Ideology, and Development in American Urbanism]] (2006).
* William Ivy Hair. [[Carnival of Fury|Carnival of Fury: Robert Charles and the New Orleans Race Riot of 1900]] (2008).
* Tona J. Hangen. [[Redeeming the Dial|Redeeming the Dial: Radio, Religion, and Popular Culture in America]] (2013).
* Chester W. Hartman. [[Yerba Buena|Yerba Buena: land grab and community resistance in San Francisco,]] (1974).
* Georgina Hickey. [[Hope and Danger in the New South City|Hope and Danger in the New South City: Working-Class Women and Urban Development in Atlanta, 1890-1940]] (2005).
* Richard Hofstadter. [[The American Political Tradition|The American Political Tradition: And the Men Who Made it]] (1989).
* Daniel Horowitz. [[Betty Friedan and the Making of “The Feminine Mystique”|Betty Friedan and the Making of “The Feminine Mystique”: The American Left, the Cold War, and Modern Feminism]] (2000).
* Daniel Martinez HoSang. [http://tropicsofmeta.wordpress.com/2011/10/06/erasing-race-whiteness-california-and-the-colorblind-bind/ Racial Propositions: Ballot Initiatives and the Making of Postwar California](2010)
* Jonathan Hughes (Editor)& Simon Sadler (Editor).[[Non-Plan|Non-Plan: Essays on Freedom, Participation and Change in Modern Architecture and Urbanism]] (2000).
* Daniel Hurewitz. [[Bohemian Los Angeles|Bohemian Los Angeles: and the Making of Modern Politics]] (2007).
* Marilynn S. Johnson. [[The Second Gold Rush|The Second Gold Rush: Oakland and the East Bay in World War II]] (1994).
* Tony Judt. [http://tropicsofmeta.wordpress.com/2011/01/24/neoliberalisms-license-to-ill/ Ill Fares the Land] (2011).
* Larry D. Kramer. [[The People Themselves: Popular Constitutionalism and Judicial Review]] (2004).
* Joel Kotkin. [http://tropicsofmeta.wordpress.com/2011/03/23/americas-ace-in-the-hole-is-of-course-its-awesomeness/ The Next Hundred Million:America in 2050] (2010)
* Kevin M. Kruse. [[White Flight|White Flight: Atlanta and the Making of Modern Conservatism]] (2007).
* Matthew D. Lassiter. [[The Silent Majority|The Silent Majority: Suburban Politics in the Sunbelt South]] (2007).
* William R. Leach. [[Land of Desire|Land of Desire: Merchants, Power, and the Rise of a New American Culture]] (1994).
* Michael F. Logan. [[Fighting Sprawl and City Hall|Fighting Sprawl and City Hall: Resistance to Urban Growth in the Southwest]] (1995).
* Roger W. Lotchin. [[Fortress California, 1910-1961|Fortress California, 1910-1961: From Warfare to Welfare]] (2002).
* Lisa Lowe. [[Immigrant Acts|Immigrant Acts: On Asian American Cultural Politics]] (1996).
* Robert S. Lynd & Helen Merrell Lynd. [[Middletown|Middletown: A Study in Modern American Culture]] (1959).
* Catherine Lutz. [http://tropicsofmeta.wordpress.com/2012/05/26/3187/ Homefront: A Military City and the American 20th Century] (2001).
* Nancy MacLean. [[Freedom Is Not Enough|Freedom Is Not Enough: The Opening of the American Workplace]] (2008).
* Isaac Martin. [http://tropicsofmeta.wordpress.com/2011/05/04/stalking-the-tax-man-the-pervasive-influence-of-the-property-tax-revolt/ The Permanent Tax Revolt: How Property Tax Transformed America] (2008).
* Douglas Massey & Nancy Denton. [[American Apartheid|American Apartheid: Segregation and the Making of the Underclass]] (1993).
* Elaine Tyler May. [[America and The Pill|America and The Pill: A History of Promise, Peril, and Liberation]] (2010).
* Carol Lynn McKibben. [http://tropicsofmeta.wordpress.com/2012/05/26/3187/ Racial Beachhead: Diversity and Democracy in a Military Town] (2012).
* Lisa McGirr. [[Suburban Warriors|Suburban Warriors: The Origins of the New American Right]] (2002).
* James Miller. [[Flowers in the Dustbin|Flowers in the Dustbin: The Rise of Rock and Roll, 1947-1977]] (2000).
* Glen M. Mimura. [[Ghostlife of the Third Cinema|Ghostlife of Third Cinema: Asian American Film and Video]] (2009).
* John Hull Mollenkopf. [[The Contested City]] (1983).
* Maggi M. Morehouse. [http://tropicsofmeta.wordpress.com/2013/02/11/double-victory-from-wwii-to-the-avf-african-americans-and-the-u-s-military/ Fighting in the Jim Crow Army: Black Man and Women Remember World War II] (2000).
* Edward P. Morgan. [http://tropicsofmeta.wordpress.com/2013/01/14/a-mediating-mess-how-american-post-wwii-media-undermined-democracy/ What Really Happened to the Sixties: How Mass Media Culture Failed American Democracy] (2011)
* Charles Moskos Jr. and John Sibley Butler. [http://tropicsofmeta.wordpress.com/2013/02/11/double-victory-from-wwii-to-the-avf-african-americans-and-the-u-s-military/ All That We Can Be: Black Leadership and Racial Integration the Army Way] (1996).
* Andrew H. Myers. [http://tropicsofmeta.wordpress.com/2012/05/26/3187/ Black, White, and Olive Drab: Racial Integration at Fort Jackson, South Carolina and the Civil Rights Movement] (2006).
* Armando Navarro. [[The Cristal Experiment|The Cristal Experiment: A Chicano Struggle for Community Control]] (1998).
* Becky M. Nicolaides. [[My Blue Heaven|My Blue Heaven: Life and Politics in the Working-Class Suburbs of Los Angeles, 1920-1965]] (2002).
* Margaret Pugh O’Mara. [[Cities of Knowledge|Cities of Knowledge: Cold War Science and the Search for the Next Silicon Valley]] (2004).
* Gilbert Osofsky. [[Harlem|Harlem: The Making of a Ghetto : Negro New York, 1890-1930]] (1996).
* Rick Perlstein. [http://tropicsofmeta.wordpress.com/2011/09/15/essence-precedes-existence-the-problem-of-identity-politics-in-hurewitzs-bohemian-la/ Nixonland: The Rise of a President and the Fracturing of America](2009).
* Rebecca Jo Plant. [[Mom|Mom: The Transformation of Motherhood in Modern America]] (2012).
* Brenda Gayle Plummer. [[Window on Freedom|Window on Freedom: Race, Civil Rights, and Foreign Affairs, 1945-1988]] (2003).
* Jerald E. Podair. [[The Strike that Changed New York|The Strike that Changed New York: Blacks, Whites, and the Ocean Hill-Brownsville Crisis]] (2002).
* Doris Marie Provine. [[Unequal Under Law|Unequal Under Law: Race in the War on Drugs]] (2007).
* Daniel T. Rodgers. [[Contested Truths|Contested Truths: Keywords in American Politics Since Independence]] (1998).
* David Roediger. [http://tropicsofmeta.wordpress.com/2012/08/30/dog-days-classics-the-wages-of-whiteness-and-the-white-people-who-love-them/ The Wages of Whiteness: Race and the Making of the American Working Class] (1991).
* Adam Rome. [[The Bulldozer in the Countryside|The Bulldozer in the Countryside: Suburban Sprawl and the Rise of American Environmentalism]] (2001).
* Richard Ronald. [[The Ideology of Home Ownership|The Ideology of Home Ownership: Homeowner Societies and the Role of Housing]] (2008).
* Peter Henry Rossi & Robert A. Dentler. [[The Politics of Urban Renewal|The Politics of Urban Renewal: The Chicago Findings]] (1981).
* Mike Royko. [http://tropicsofmeta.wordpress.com/2011/08/18/dog-days-classics-political-boss-and-midwestern-pharaoh-richard-j-daleys-chicago-legacy/ Boss: Richard J. Daley of Chicago] (1971)
* Roger Sanjek. [[The Future of Us All|The Future of Us All: Race and Neighborhood Politics in New York City]] (1998).
* Bruce Schulman & Bruce J. Schulman. [[The Seventies|The Seventies: The Great Shift In American Culture, Society, And Politics]] (2002).
* Joel Schwartz. [[The New York Approach|The New York Approach: Robert Moses, Urban Liberals, and Redevelopment of the Inner City]] (1993).
*Gary S. Selby [[Martin Luther King and the Rhetoric of Freedom: The Exodus Narrative in America's Struggle for Civil Rights]] (2008)
* Josh Sides. [http://tropicsofmeta.wordpress.com/2012/11/20/making-san-francisco-josh-sides-erotic-city/ Erotic City: Sexual Revolutions and the Making of Modern San Francisco] (2009).
* Nayan Shah. [http://tropicsofmeta.wordpress.com/2012/03/07/intimate-citizenship-the-influence-of-marriage-sexuality-and-transience-on-national-membership/Stranger Intimacy:Contesting Race, Sexuality and Law in the American Northwest] (2012).
* David J. Silbey. [[A War of Frontier and Empire: The Philippine-American War, 1899-1902]] (2007).
* Rickie Solinger. [[Beggars and Choosers|Beggars and Choosers: How the Politics of Choice Shapes Adoption, Abortion, and Welfare in the United States]] (2002).
* Allan H. Spear. [[Black Chicago|Black Chicago: The Making of a Negro Ghetto, 1890-1920]] (1969).
* Todd Swanstrom. [[The Crisis of Growth Politics|The Crisis of Growth Politics: Cleveland, Kucinich, and the Challenge of Urban Populism]] (1988).
* Ronald Takaki. [[Hiroshima|Hiroshima: Why America Dropped the Atomic Bomb]] (1996).
* Penny M. Von Eschen. [[Satchmo Blows Up The World|Satchmo Blows Up The World: Jazz Ambassadors Play The Cold War]] (2004).
* Robert Wiebe. [http://tropicsofmeta.wordpress.com/2012/08/27/dog-day-classics-robert-h-wiebe-and-the-search-for-order/ The Search for Order, 1877 - 1920] (1967).
* Andrew Wiese. [http://tropicsofmeta.wordpress.com/2011/01/16/getting-to-the-mountaintop-the-suburban-dreams-of-african-americans/ Places of Their Own: African American Suburbanization in the Twentieth Century] (2004)
* Rhonda Y. Williams. [[The Politics of Public Housing|The Politics of Public Housing: Black Women’s Struggles Against Urban Inequality]] (2004).
* William Appleman Williams. [[The Tragedy of American Diplomacy]] (2009).
* Gwendolyn Wright. [[Building the Dream|Building the Dream: A Social History of Housing in America]] (1983).
*Zimmerman, Andrew. [http://tropicsofmeta.wordpress.com/2011/09/26/the-ties-that-bind-the-transnational-trick-of-immobilizing-the-mobile/ Alabama in Africa: Booker T. Washington, the German Empire, and the Globalization of the New South] (2010).