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"In the 1910s and 1920s, Black musicians organized more than fifty locals within the American Federation of Musicians (AFM). Leta Miller follows the AFM's Black locals from their origins and successes in the 1920s through Depression-era challenges and the postwar dismantling of segregated AFM organizations. As Miller shows, the decision by whites to organize along racial lines was hidden behind factors like genre-based audition requirements and varying approaches to musical creation. Like any union, Black AFM locals sought to ensure employment and competitive wages for members with always-evolving approaches and solutions to problems. Miller's account of these efforts includes the voices of the musicians themselves and interviews with former union members who took part in the difficult integration of Black and white locals. She also analyzes the fundamental question of how musicians benefitted from membership in the AFM. Broad in scope and rich in detail, Union Divided illuminates the complex working world of unionized Black musicians and the AFM's journey to racial inclusion"--
List of contents
Acknowledgments Abbreviations
Chapter 1. Prelude
Chapter 2. The Origins of the American Federation of Musicians and Its Place in the History of Organized Labor
Chapter 3. The Formation of Black AFM Locals, 1897–1927
Chapter 4. Early Black Locals: Three Case Studies
Chapter 5. From the Glories of the ’20s to the Despair of the ’30s
Chapter 6. The 1940s: Change Is in the Wind
Chapter 7. Leading the Pack: The 1953 Los Angeles Merger
Chapter 8. Mergers from 1954 through 1966: State Labor Laws and the Battle of Chicago
Chapter 9. After Chicago
Chapter 10. Coda
Notes
References
Index
About the author
Leta E. Miller
