Reviewed by David J. LaVigne | Reviews | Journal of American Ethnic History, 28.2

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Reviewed by David J. LaVigne | Reviews | Journal of American Ethnic History, 28.2 | The History Cooperative

Reviews

"Everybody Was Black Down There": Race and Industrial Change in the Alabama Coalfields. By Robert H. Woodrum. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 2007. xiv + 304 pp. Photos, notes, bibliography, and index. $59.95 (cloth); $24.95 (paper).

In this study, historian Robert H. Woodrum examines the changing role of union politics in the Alabama coalfields during the twentieth century. Structuring his narrative chronologically, the author traces the development of the Birmingham District branch of the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA). He shows how local, national, and international forces impacted the union from its reemergence in the 1930s through the present. In this discussion Woodrum devotes particular attention to the overlap between union activity and race relations. Interracial cooperation in coal mining was more pervasive than in other southern industries, which were strictly segregated. In 1930 black miners composed over half of the mining work force and shared friendly relations with white miners underground and in union locals. At the close of the twentieth century, however, a mere 15 percent of the mining work force was black. Understanding the decline in African American work force representation is Woodrum's stated objective in the study.

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