TheLoop21.com

By: Susan Anderson (follow this member)
Wed, 05/06/2009 - 00:00

The auto industry is in trouble, but blacks who work in the auto sector of the economy, from factory workers to car dealers and parts suppliers, are under a greater threat. Plans by Congress and the Obama administration to rescue the car makers need to take the well-being of the black community into account. That would help shore up middle class stability, while also preserving a significant part of our national history.

According to the Economic Policy Institute, “The share of black workers (14.2 percent) in automotive industries is much higher than their overall share of the labor force (11.2 percent)…African-Americans earn much higher wages in the auto industry than in other parts of the economy, and the loss of these solid, middle-class jobs would be devastating.”

And it’s not just the workers on the line we’re talking about. USA Today reported that out of 60 black automotive suppliers (with annual sales of about $4 billion and 8,000 employees) five have shut down. Out of 800 auto dealers that closed recently, maybe 200 of them were minority owned.

The elevated numbers of blacks in the auto industry is the result of major historical events. As University of Pennsylvania Professor Thomas J. Sugrue writes in Driving While Black: The Car and Race Relations in Modern America, “Detroit, the Motor City, became one of the most important destinations for black migrants from the south because of its reputation as a major center of car production.” 

But the doors of the auto industry were virtually closed to blacks in the early part of the 20th century. The corporations discriminated in hiring, and they were often backed by racist white workers. In 1935, corporate auto makers met their match when the militant United Auto Workers union was formed. The UAW was among the first major unions to organize black workers, even when white workers opposed it.

It took the 1930s union-led strikes, a 1940s threatened March on Washington, and WWII demands on industrial manufacturing to finally get the doors of the auto industry to open wide to African American employees. Even then, blacks were relegated to the lowest-paid and most dangerous jobs in the factories. From the 1950s to the 1960s, black organizations such as the Trade Union Leadership Council, NAACP and League of Revolutionary Black Workers, fought for more jobs and better conditions in the industry. Auto makers, wanting to avoid protests and lawsuits, increased opportunities for blacks.

For more than 60 years, blacks have contributed to the economy and benefited from their role in the auto industry. As Congress and the administration advance their plans for this sector, somebody needs to let them know, this is a part of the national heritage that can’t go down the tubes.

Susan D. Anderson teaches, speaks and writes about African American history, politics and culture. She is the author of Nostalgia for a Trumpet: Poems of Memory and History, published by Northwestern University Press. She has been a Visiting Professor at Pitzer College, a contributor to the Los Angeles Times Sunday Opinion since 1999, and currently manages an archival program at the USC Libraries.