Black Folk

The Roots of the Black Working Class

By: Blair L.M. Kelley

Narrated by: Anika Noni Rose

There have been countless books, articles, and televised reports in recent years about the almost mythic "white working class," a tide of commentary that has obscured the labor, and even the very existence, of entire groups of working people, including everyday Black workers. In this brilliant corrective, Black Folk, acclaimed historian Blair LM Kelley restores the Black working class to the center of the American story.

Spanning two hundred years—from one of Kelley's earliest known ancestors, an enslaved blacksmith, to the essential workers of the Covid-19 pandemic—Black Folk highlights the lives of the laundresses, Pullman porters, domestic maids, and postal workers who established the Black working class as a force in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Taking jobs white people didn't want and confined to segregated neighborhoods, Black workers found community in intimate spaces, from stoops on city streets to the backyards of washerwomen, where multiple generations labored from dawn to dusk, talking and laughing in a space free of white supervision. As millions of Black people left the violence of the American South for the promise of a better life in the North and West, these networks of resistance and joy sustained early arrivals and newcomers alike and laid the groundwork for organizing for better jobs, better pay, and equal rights.

©2023 Blair LM Kelley (P)2023 HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books

Relatable Story

This book came highly recommended and it did not disappoint! The story was highly relatable and timely.

The Tenaciousness of the Black Working Class

Where society looks down upon the Black working class, this book dignified them. Kelley unapologetically centers the lived experiences of Black Folk in the grand narrative of democracy. Because of them, we can.

Absolutely Fabulous!

These stories take me back and make me reframe and recalculate what I witnessed growing up as a black girl in Ohio with roots in the south. Kelley and Wilkerson (Warmth of Other Suns) are life shifting works.

An instant classic!

I enjoyed every word of this book. Seldom, do you have an author that so eloquently illustrate the contributions of the working class Black Americans. It’s reminiscent of the work of Dr. Leslie Brown.
More please…just like this one!

So necessary

The stories in this book get to the heart of working class black people in America. Beautifully written and narrated. This book is a must read.

Brilliant, Devastating, Inspiring

A beautifully, written and incredibly sharp text. The stories are weaved seamlessly in and through an astute account of American history. As soon as I finished I wanted to start again because I learned so much and know there is even more I missed a long the way. Kelley's work is illuminating and inspiring. And of course--Anika Noni Rose is perfection.