Music in American Life

Black Musicians' Fight for Labor Equality

Leta E. Miller

• Publisher: University of Illinois Press
• Year: 2024
• ISBN:
  9780252055225
• Topic: Media & Performing Arts
• Subtopic: Music

An in-depth account of the Black locals within the American Federation of Musicians

In the 1910s and 1920s, Black musicians organized more than fifty independent locals within the American Federation of Musicians (AFM) in an attempt to control audition criteria, set competitive wages, and secure a voice in national decision-making. Leta Miller follows the AFM's history of Black locals, which competed directly with white locals in the same territories, from their origins and successes in the 1920s through Depression-era crises to the fraught process of dismantling segregated AFM organizations in the 1960s and 70s. Like any union, Black AFM locals sought to ensure employment and competitive wages for members with always-evolving 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 a labor organization.

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.

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• 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