To All Store and Office Workers … Negro and White!

The exceptionality of retail unions governing Macy’s Herald Square in New York City and South Center Department Store in Chicago in advancing black labor and civil rights is the subject of chapter three. New York and Chicago locals successfully linked worker and consumer rights and improved African Americans’ social and economic conditions, even propelling some of them into the middle class. Also, in acting as both labor and civil rights organizations, these unions expanded views on fair employment in this industry beyond bread-and-butter issues and promoted equal employment and promotion. These unions point to the nature and direction of the black freedom struggle, albeit without the presence of strong unionism.