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No American city symbolizes the black struggle for civil rights more than Birmingham, Alabama. In this critical analysis of why Birmingham became such a focal point, Bobby M. Wilson argues that AlabamaOs path to industrialism differed significantly from that in the North and Midwest. True to its antebellum roots, no other industrial city in the United States would depend so much upon the exploitation of black labor so early in its development as Birmingham. A persuasive exploration of the links between AlabamaOs slaveholding order and the subsequent industrialization of the state, WilsonOs study demonstrates that arguments based on classical economics fail to take into account the ways in which racial issues influenced the rise of industrial capitalism.
List of contents
Chapter 1 1 Introduction: Race and Capitalist Development Chapter 2 2 The Origins of Racism: Discursive and Material Practices Chapter 3 3 The State's Role in Sustaining Race-Connected Practices Chapter 4 4 Capital Restructuring and the Transformation of Race Chapter 5 5 The Slave Mode of Production Chapter 6 6 A Regime of Accumulation Based on Slave Labor Chapter 7 7 Reconstruction Chapter 8 8 From Slave to Free Black Labor Chapter 9 9 Development of the Birmingham Regime Chapter 10 10 Industrialization with Inexpensive Labor Chapter 11 11 Noncompetitive Labor Segmentation and Laissez-Faire Race Relations Chapter 12 12 Accommodating the Racial Order: The Rise of Institutionalized Racism Chapter 13 13 Scientific Management and the Growth of Black/White Competition Chapter 14 14 The Growth of Corporate Power: The Emergence of Fordism Chapter 15 15 The Great Depression and the Transformation of the Planter Regime Chapter 16 16 The New Deal and Blacks Chapter 17 17 The Southern Shift of Fordism and Entrepreneurial Regimes Chapter 18 18 Conclusion
About the author
Bobby M. Wilson is associate professor of geography and public affairs, University of Alabama at Birmingham.
Summary
A study of Birmingham, Alabama, and the black struggle for civil rights. It argues that Alabama's path to industrialism differed significantly from that in the North and Midwest. No other industrial city in the United States depended so much upon the exploitation of black labour.
