Labor and Working-Class History Association
Encyclopedia
Labor and Working-Class History Association (LAWCHA) is a non-profit association of academics, educators, students, and labor movement
and other activists that promotes research into and publication of materials on the history of the labor movement in North
and South America
. Its current president is Michael Honey
, a professor at the University of Washington Tacoma.
LAWCHA also works to create and sustain relationships with labor unions, workers' groups and community activist organizations, and to make labor history more accessible to union members and other workers.
LAWCHA also works to promote the teaching of workers' history in public elementary and secondary schools, and seeks to foster the preservation of historic sites important to the labor movement.
felt that existing professional organizations, while effective and worthwhile in their own way, did not focus on labor history and lacked an emphasis on workers and local worker organizations. Conversations about forming a new organization occurred on various listservs
, especially, H-Labor, part of H-Net
.
At a caucus of interested historians at the 1997 North American Labor History Conference in Detroit, Michigan
, participants decided to form a new association. An organizing committee, chaired by Elizabeth Faue and Julie Greene, and a constitution and by-laws committee, led by John Bukowczyk and Roger Horowitz, were formed. A constitution was drafted in late 1997 and early 1998, and the organizing committee debated the constitution in mid-1998.
The organizing committee presented the draft constitution to the founding members of LAWCHA at the 1998 North American Labor History Conference. The constitution was approved, and LAWCHA officially founded. Jacquelyn Dowd Hall
(University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
) was elected LAWCHA's first president and Joe W. Trotter, Jr. (Carnegie Mellon University
) its first vice-president.
LAWCHA grew steadily throughout 1999, and held its first public meetings as part of a panel at the 1999 North American Labor History Conference. LAWCHA quickly began hosting an extensive program of activities at various history conferences in the U.S. and Canada.
LAWCHA's other past presidents have included former James Green
and Alice Kessler-Harris
.
LAWCHA is technically governed my its membership, which meets annually in conjunction with the organization's annual conference. In practice, the members delegate authority to the board of directors and the executive committee.
LAWCHA's members elect four officers: A president, vice-president, treasurer and secretary. Officers serve two-year terms, and the president and vice-president are term-limited to one term only. Ordinarily, the vice-president succeeds the president, who then stays on the executive committee as immediate past president. LAWCHA's executive offices at Duke University
; the executive secretary and sole staff person of the organization is a history department graduate student.
LAWCHA members also elect a board of directors of fifteen individuals. One-third of the board is up for re-election each year. The four officers, executive secretary, and the immediate past-president of LAWCHA also serve on the board. The officers and executive secretary constitute an executive committee, which governs the organization between meetings of the membership and the board of directors.
Joe McCartin and University of Oregon
's Bob Bussell. Under LAWCHA's auspices, Rosemary Fuerer maintains a teaching-focused labor history bibliographyhttp://www.niu.edu/~rfeurer/labor/indexpage.html, and Peter Filardo publishes a general labor history bibliographyhttp://lawcha.org/bibliography.php.
LAWCHA's second publication is Labor: Studies in Working-Class History of the Americas
, which began publication in 2005 as well. In February 2004, the entire editorial board and much of the staff of the journal Labor History
left that publication after a disagreement with publisher Taylor and Francis
over the direction of the journal. According to Leon Fink
, the former editor of Labor History, the principal issue was maintaining the journal's editorial independence. LAWCHA's then-president, James Green
negotiated an agreement which led to the founding of Labor: Studies in Working-Class History of the Americas. Labor is co-published by LAWCHA and Duke University Press.
Labor: Studies in Working-Class History of the Americas received the 2005 award for "Best New Journal" from the Council of Editors of Learned Journals. The award was given to the best new academic journal to start publication in the previous three years.
's North American Labor History Convention in Detroit; in May 2007 it co-sponsored the Southern Labor History Conference at Duke; in June 2008 it co-sponsored the 40th annual convention of the Pacific Northwest Labour History Association in Vancouver; and in May 2009 it met in Chicago with Archie Green
's Laborlore group. In Spring 2010 LAWCHA will meet in conjunction with the annual conference of the Organization of American Historians
in Washington. In Spring 2011 LAWCHA will meet in Atlanta, Georgia, in conjunction with the Southern Labor Studies Association.
In addition, LAWCHA's program committee organizes and cosponsors panels at various other academic conferences.
Prize for Outstanding Dissertation in U.S. Labor and Working-Class History. Also starting in 2007 it began a collaboration with Cornell University
, and the Philip Taft Labor History Book Award
is now given by Cornell in cooperation with LAWCHA. Finally, LAWCHA occasionally gives a prize for "distinguished service to labor and working-class history." The first was given in 2007 to David Montgomery; in 2008 the organization honored David Brody
.
Trade union
A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...
and other activists that promotes research into and publication of materials on the history of the labor movement in North
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
and South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
. Its current president is Michael Honey
Michael Honey
Michael K. Honey is an American historian, Guggenheim Fellow and Haley Professor of Humanities at the University of Washington Tacoma in the United States, where he teaches African-American, civil rights and labor history...
, a professor at the University of Washington Tacoma.
LAWCHA also works to create and sustain relationships with labor unions, workers' groups and community activist organizations, and to make labor history more accessible to union members and other workers.
LAWCHA also works to promote the teaching of workers' history in public elementary and secondary schools, and seeks to foster the preservation of historic sites important to the labor movement.
History
LAWCHA was founded in 1998. At the time, various labor scholarsLabor history (discipline)
Labor history is a broad field of study concerned with the development of the labor movement and the working class. The central concerns of labor historians include the development of labor unions, strikes, lockouts and protest movements, industrial relations, and the progress of working class and...
felt that existing professional organizations, while effective and worthwhile in their own way, did not focus on labor history and lacked an emphasis on workers and local worker organizations. Conversations about forming a new organization occurred on various listservs
Electronic mailing list
An electronic mailing list is a special usage of email that allows for widespread distribution of information to many Internet users. It is similar to a traditional mailing list — a list of names and addresses — as might be kept by an organization for sending publications to...
, especially, H-Labor, part of H-Net
H-Net
H-Net is an interdisciplinary online discussion forum for scholars in the humanities and social sciences that consists of over 180 topic- or discipline-specific listservs. Many of the lists deal with various areas of historical study...
.
At a caucus of interested historians at the 1997 North American Labor History Conference in Detroit, Michigan
Detroit, Michigan
Detroit is the major city among the primary cultural, financial, and transportation centers in the Metro Detroit area, a region of 5.2 million people. As the seat of Wayne County, the city of Detroit is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan and serves as a major port on the Detroit River...
, participants decided to form a new association. An organizing committee, chaired by Elizabeth Faue and Julie Greene, and a constitution and by-laws committee, led by John Bukowczyk and Roger Horowitz, were formed. A constitution was drafted in late 1997 and early 1998, and the organizing committee debated the constitution in mid-1998.
The organizing committee presented the draft constitution to the founding members of LAWCHA at the 1998 North American Labor History Conference. The constitution was approved, and LAWCHA officially founded. Jacquelyn Dowd Hall
Jacquelyn Dowd Hall
Jacquelyn Dowd Hall is an American historian, and Julia Cherry Spruill Professor at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.-Life:She graduated from Columbia University with an MA and Ph.D...
(University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is a public research university located in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States...
) was elected LAWCHA's first president and Joe W. Trotter, Jr. (Carnegie Mellon University
Carnegie Mellon University
Carnegie Mellon University is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States....
) its first vice-president.
LAWCHA grew steadily throughout 1999, and held its first public meetings as part of a panel at the 1999 North American Labor History Conference. LAWCHA quickly began hosting an extensive program of activities at various history conferences in the U.S. and Canada.
LAWCHA's other past presidents have included former James Green
James Green (educator)
James Green is a professor of history and labor studies at the University of Massachusetts Boston. He is also a well-known author and labor activist.-Early life and education:...
and Alice Kessler-Harris
Alice Kessler-Harris
Alice Kessler-Harris is the R. Gordon Hoxie Professor of American History at Columbia University, in New York City. She specializes in the history of American labor and the comparative and interdisciplinary exploration of women and gender....
.
Organizational structure
Membership in LAWCHA is essentially open to the public, although as of late 2006 most members were academics or labor union members.LAWCHA is technically governed my its membership, which meets annually in conjunction with the organization's annual conference. In practice, the members delegate authority to the board of directors and the executive committee.
LAWCHA's members elect four officers: A president, vice-president, treasurer and secretary. Officers serve two-year terms, and the president and vice-president are term-limited to one term only. Ordinarily, the vice-president succeeds the president, who then stays on the executive committee as immediate past president. LAWCHA's executive offices at Duke University
Duke University
Duke University is a private research university located in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present day town of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco industrialist James B...
; the executive secretary and sole staff person of the organization is a history department graduate student.
LAWCHA members also elect a board of directors of fifteen individuals. One-third of the board is up for re-election each year. The four officers, executive secretary, and the immediate past-president of LAWCHA also serve on the board. The officers and executive secretary constitute an executive committee, which governs the organization between meetings of the membership and the board of directors.
Publications
LAWCHA publishes a scholarly journal and a newsletter. The membership newsletter began publication in 2005 and appears twice a year, now under the editorship of Georgetown'sGeorgetown University
Georgetown University is a private, Jesuit, research university whose main campus is in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic university in the United States...
Joe McCartin and University of Oregon
University of Oregon
-Colleges and schools:The University of Oregon is organized into eight schools and colleges—six professional schools and colleges, an Arts and Sciences College and an Honors College.- School of Architecture and Allied Arts :...
's Bob Bussell. Under LAWCHA's auspices, Rosemary Fuerer maintains a teaching-focused labor history bibliographyhttp://www.niu.edu/~rfeurer/labor/indexpage.html, and Peter Filardo publishes a general labor history bibliographyhttp://lawcha.org/bibliography.php.
LAWCHA's second publication is Labor: Studies in Working-Class History of the Americas
Labor: Studies in Working-Class History of the Americas
Labor: Studies in Working-Class History of the Americas is a peer reviewed quarterly journal which publishes articles regarding the history of the labor movement in the United States. It is the official journal of the Labor and Working-Class History Association and is published by Duke University...
, which began publication in 2005 as well. In February 2004, the entire editorial board and much of the staff of the journal Labor History
Labor History (journal)
Labor History is an inter-disciplinary, peer reviewed journal which publishes articles regarding the history of the labor movement in the United States, Europe and other regions and countries....
left that publication after a disagreement with publisher Taylor and Francis
Taylor and Francis
Taylor & Francis Group is an international company originating in the United Kingdom which publishes books and academic journals. It is a division of Informa plc, a United Kingdom-based publisher and conference company.- Overview :...
over the direction of the journal. According to Leon Fink
Leon Fink (historian)
Leon Fink is a Distinguished Professor in the Department of History at the University of Illinois at Chicago. A historian, his research and writing focuses on labor unions in the United States, immigration and the nature of work...
, the former editor of Labor History, the principal issue was maintaining the journal's editorial independence. LAWCHA's then-president, James Green
James Green (educator)
James Green is a professor of history and labor studies at the University of Massachusetts Boston. He is also a well-known author and labor activist.-Early life and education:...
negotiated an agreement which led to the founding of Labor: Studies in Working-Class History of the Americas. Labor is co-published by LAWCHA and Duke University Press.
Labor: Studies in Working-Class History of the Americas received the 2005 award for "Best New Journal" from the Council of Editors of Learned Journals. The award was given to the best new academic journal to start publication in the previous three years.
Conferences
LAWCHA co-sponsors conferences around the country. In 2005 and 2006, it cosponsored Wayne State UniversityWayne State University
Wayne State University is a public research university located in Detroit, Michigan, United States, in the city's Midtown Cultural Center Historic District. Founded in 1868, WSU consists of 13 schools and colleges offering more than 400 major subject areas to over 32,000 graduate and...
's North American Labor History Convention in Detroit; in May 2007 it co-sponsored the Southern Labor History Conference at Duke; in June 2008 it co-sponsored the 40th annual convention of the Pacific Northwest Labour History Association in Vancouver; and in May 2009 it met in Chicago with Archie Green
Archie Green
Archie Green was a folklorist specializing in laborlore and American folk music. Devoted to understanding vernacular culture, he gathered and commented upon the speech, stories, songs, emblems, rituals, art, artifacts, memorials, and landmarks which constitute laborlore...
's Laborlore group. In Spring 2010 LAWCHA will meet in conjunction with the annual conference of the Organization of American Historians
Organization of American Historians
The Organization of American Historians , formerly known as the Mississippi Valley Historical Association, is the largest professional society dedicated to the teaching and study of American history. OAH's members in the U.S...
in Washington. In Spring 2011 LAWCHA will meet in Atlanta, Georgia, in conjunction with the Southern Labor Studies Association.
In addition, LAWCHA's program committee organizes and cosponsors panels at various other academic conferences.
Awards given
Each year, LAWCHA awards a Graduate Research Essay Prize to the best paper by a graduate student presented at the North American Labor History Conference. In 2007 it inaugurated the Herbert GutmanHerbert Gutman
Herbert Gutman was an American professor of history at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, where he wrote on slavery and labor history.-Early life and education:...
Prize for Outstanding Dissertation in U.S. Labor and Working-Class History. Also starting in 2007 it began a collaboration with Cornell University
Cornell University
Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...
, and the Philip Taft Labor History Book Award
Philip Taft Labor History Book Award
The Philip Taft Labor History Book Award is sponsored by the Cornell University School of Industrial and Labor Relations in cooperation with the Labor and Working-Class History Association for books relating to labor history of the United States...
is now given by Cornell in cooperation with LAWCHA. Finally, LAWCHA occasionally gives a prize for "distinguished service to labor and working-class history." The first was given in 2007 to David Montgomery; in 2008 the organization honored David Brody
David Brody
David Brody is a professor emeritus of history at the University of California-Davis.-Life and education:Brody was born in Elizabeth, New Jersey to Barnet and Ida Brody, who were immigrants to the United States. Working his way through Harvard University, he received his bachelor's degree in...
.