UC Davis

This essay analyzes the southern organizing efforts of the Knights of Labor, with a focus on Black women within the Order. This essay argues that the overlooked histories of Black women in the US labor movement are necessary to fully understand the Knights of Labor, the political culture of the late 19th century, and, by extension, our current political and labor culture. By working interdisciplinary and using existing histories of women—both Black and white—within the Knights of Labor, as well as drawing evidence from the papers of Terence Powderly, and the reports of the Knights of Labor’s General Conventions, this essay shows just how Black women engaged with both the culture of the Knights of Labor, and freedpeople’s politics of the South, while proposing ways to engage with this history for future scholars.