Created Equal: How did the Civil War change the workplace for Black Americans?

Black Americans searching for employment during the Civil War is not something we often think about.

Massachusetts was known as a free state during this time, which made African Americans living in Boston not part of the enslaved population in the United States.

But when it comes down to knowing what the word “free” really means, many Americans may not know the full story.

Author Jacqueline Jones joined Created Equal host Stephen Henderson to discuss what African American lives were like from the perspective of freedom versus slavery.

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Guest:

Jacqueline Jones — a professor emerita at the University of Texas and the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of “No Honest Living: The Struggles of Boston’s Black Workers in the Civil War Era” — said people have argued how Massachusetts was particularly enlightened in terms of Black civil rights, and that she wanted to look more into the extensive composition.

“I wanted to look in on the literature on the struggle for Black civil rights and the Antebellum North. I wanted to look at it but look past these rights of citizenship, suffrage, inter-marriage, integration of schools, serving on a jury, running for office, these sorts of things. I wanted to look past these things and see what people were doing in the workplace,” said Jones.

Listen to Created Equal with host Stephen Henderson weekdays from 9-10 a.m. ET on 101.9 WDET and streaming on-demand.