Class, Race, and the US South

Class, Race, and the US South is a Festschrift celebrating the life and work of the labor militant and political scientist Michael Goldfield.

The book features original contributions from the most prominent contemporary historical-materialist social scientists and historians. The collection’s uniting theme is that class, race, and the South are the most important mainsprings of American society. Combining labor history, southern history, and theoretical critiques of mainstream conceptualizations of racism, this work emphasizes the working class as the primary driver of both reactionary and potentially revolutionary change.

Publication date: October 30, 2026

Preface
 Donna Kesselman
Editor’s Introduction
 Cody R. Melcher
List of Figures

Part 1 Applications of Goldfield’s Theoretical Framework

1 The Theoretical and Political Limits of ‘White Skin Privilege’: Advantages, Benefits, Privileges, and Bribes
 Michael Goldfield

2 Class, Race, and Capitalism: Contemporary Perspectives
 Alex Callinicos

3 Goldfield’s Oeuvre: A Critical Engagement
 Bryan D. Palmer

4 White Supremacy as a Decommodification Strategy: The Sociology of Race, W.E.B. Du Bois, and the Scholars Denied
 Cody R. Melcher

Part 2 Interactions and Intersections

5 The World War II ‘No Strike Pledge’, Anti-Black ‘Hate Strikes’, and Racial Divisions in the CIO
 Charles Post

6 The United Steel Workers of America: African Americans and McCarthyism, 1945–1955
 Olivier Maheo

7 Claiming Power: Race, Gender, and the Successes of the 1968 Statewide Florida Teachers’ Strike
 Jody Noll

Part 3 (Re)Defining/(Re)Thinking the South

8 Segregation and Music Consumption: Rethinking the North/South Distinction through Old-Time and Race Music
 Manuel Bocquier

9 A Return Home or a Yankee Invasion? Reverse Migration to the South Since the 1970s and the Regionalization of Black Identity
 Nicolaus Raulin

10 Using Michael Goldfield’s Approach to Examine the American Southwest
 Dan La Botz

Part 4 Mobilizing Workers: Labour and Race

11 ‘Storm Beyond Control’: Black Workers, the Republican Party, and Class Conflict in Reconstruction South Carolina
 Brian Kelly

12 Capital Reconciliation: Anti-Workerism and Evansville’s 1899 Blue-Gray Reunion
 Matthew E. Stanley

13 Electoral Strategy as a Union Swan Song? The Case Study of the Oklahoma Teachers’ Walkout in 2018
 Marie A. Ménard

14 ‘You are the Opinion-Makers in the Community’: Understanding the Power and Limits of Black Disc Jockeys Organising in the 1960s
 Tristan Pinet-Le Bras

Part 5 A Final Word

15 My Long Journey: A Political and Intellectual Retrospective
 Michael Goldfield

Index