The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 103, July 1999 - April, 2000 Page: 61
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1999 Black Workers, the Black Middle Class, and Organized Protest 61
racist unions and federations that had hindered black working class
progress before the 1930s.20
Although Wesley welcomed the CIO's claim to improve working con-
ditions for blacks, he cared more about maintaining his control over
Hughes' black unionists. The organizing efforts of the CIO jeopardized
Wesley's ambitions and created much controversy. On more than one
occasion near riots erupted between advocates of the CIO and Wesley's
traveling entourage. In one instance, Wesley and George Duncan, a
black unionist from Hughes, exchanged "considerable abusive lan-
guage" at a labor forum in Houston. Each charged that the other had
gotten personal in their criticism. "While no licks were passed . ..
Hughes Tool workers began to gather around" Wesley, forcing the edi-
tor to make a narrow escape from the angry mob. Hughes' black work-
ers often resorted to "pistols, knives, and mudslinging" when it came to
their union loyalties.21
Black workers at Hughes Tool took special efforts to defy black elites.
Their agitation was not selective and periodically resulted in violence. For
instance, when the Rev. L. V. Bolton, pastor of the Mount Corinth Baptist
Church, barged into the office of C. W. Rice, editor of the Negro Labor
News, a weekly Gulf Coast labor newspaper, it demonstrated that Hughes'
black workers would not hesitate to resort to violent tactics to protect
their union interests. A "Texas Jack knife"-wielding Bolton vented his
anger following the publication of several articles that accused the minis-
ter of issuing "hot checks" to area merchants. Rice, however, remained
convinced that the confrontation was a result of "a labor union contro-
versy" involving the representation for black workers at the Hughes
plant.22 It is not surprising that black workers during the thirties, in con-
trast to the late nineteenth century, rejected the less than appealing
strategies of the black middle class. By the thirties black unionists gener-
ally viewed the organizing efforts of black elites as self-serving formulas
of Hstory, 48 (Winter, 1964-65), '11-126. For discussions on the formation of the NLRB see
James A. Gross, The Making of the National Labor Relations Board. A Study in Economics, Politzcs and
the Law, 1933-1937 (Albany, New York; State University of New York Press, 1974). The most
thorough treatment of the CIO is Robert Zieger, The CIO, 1935-1955 (Chapel Hill: University of
North Carolina Press, 1995). On the CIO in the South, see Zieger, The CIO, 74-78, 227-236.
Murray E. Polakoff, "The Development of the Texas State CIO Council," (Ph.D. diss., Columbia
University, 1955) is the best source on the CIO In Texas. For discussions on the CIO's racial
practices, see Michael Goldfield, "Race and the CIO: The Possibilities for Racial Egalitarianism
during the 1930s and 1940os," International Labor and Working-Class History, 44 (Fall, 1993), 1-32;
Judith Stein, "The Ins and Outs of the CIO," International Labor and Working-Class Hstory, 44
(Fall, 1993), 53-63; Gary Gerstle, "Working-Class Racism: Broaden the Focus," International
Labor and Working-Class History, 44 (Fall, 1993), 33-40; Robert Korstad, "The Possibilities for
Racial Egalitarianism: Context Matters," International Labor and Working-Class History, 44 (Fall,
1993), 41-44.
"Allison "Bud" Alton to Ernest Obadele-Starks, April 21, 1995, interview, East Texas
Economy Oral History Collection, Public History Institute, University of Houston; Negro Labor
News, Mar. 16, 20, May 18, 1940,Jan. 9, 1943.
22 Negro Labor News, Jan. 23, 1943.
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 103, July 1999 - April, 2000, periodical, 2000; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101220/m1/87/: accessed April 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.