Race and class identities in early American department stores -- Before Montgomery : organizing the department store movement -- To all store and office workers, Negro and white! : unionism and anti-discrimination in the department store industry -- The department store movement in the postwar era -- Worker-consumer alliances and the modern black middle class, 1951-1970 -- Toward Wal-Mart : the death of the department store movement.
Summary
"Traci Parker examines the movement to racially integrate white-collar work and consumption in American department stores and its neglected role in the mid-twentieth century black freedom movement. Built on the goals, organization, and momentum of the 1930's 'Don't Buy Where You Can't Work' Movement, the department store movement recruited the power of store workers and labor unions, held behind-the-scene meetings with store officials in the postwar era, executed successful lunch counter sit-ins and selective patronage programs in the 1950s and 1960s, and challenged race discrimination in the courts in the 1970s. However, with the conclusion of the Sears, Roebuck, and Co. affirmative action cases, the movement effectively ended in 1981"-- Provided by publisher.
