#union of southern service workers

[thoughtportal]

Solidarity with Waffle House Workers

[sataniccapitalist]

We are the Union of Southern Service Workers (USSW). We are organizing the South.

[to-a-merrier-world]

I haven’t seen anything on here about it, so thought I’d share. Waffle House workers in South Carolina are striking, following in the footsteps of Starbucks employees.

Currently, the best way to support is to stay up-to-date, spread the word, and to sign the Union of Southern Service Workers’ petition for better working conditions. You can also follow them on twitter for updates, if you still use twitter.

[nyaruhodou]

just applied for a fellowship opportunity in columbia that pays $22/hr. wish me luck

[dinkdankgitdunkedon]

Shitting my brains out in this bar while in the middle of a meeting unionizing a bunch of service workers

Theres no punchline I'm just experiencing angry guts

[daenerysoftarth]

ignore my rant

also not to dwell but my boss making a big deal about working as a server for 10 years when I grew up like this I just. do not care. I know how I grew up and I saw how hard my mom worked in the same type of jobs for no reward. I don’t care about you. nor does it mean you’re not exploiting ur workers here and now. and I cannot emphasize how little I care when I see my coworkers getting evicted or having to postpone surgeries or having to come in after procedures when they’re still numb from anesthesia or or or

[batboyblog]

Things the Biden-Harris Administration Did This Week #38

Oct 11-18 2024

President Biden announced that this Administration had forgiven the student loan debt of 1 million public sector workers. The cancellation of the student loan debts of 60,000 teachers, firefighters, EMTs, nurses and other public sector workers brings the total number of people who's debts have been erased by the Biden-Harris Administration using the Public Service Loan Forgiveness to 1 million. the PSLF was passed in 2007 but before President Biden took office only 7,000 people had ever had their debts forgiven through it. The Biden-Harris team have through different programs managed to bring debt relief to 5 million Americans and counting despite on going legal fights against Republican state Attorneys General.

The Federal Trade Commission finalizes its "one-click to cancel" rule. The new rule requires businesses to make it as easy to cancel a subscription as it was to sign up for it. It also requires more up front information to be shared before offering billing information.

The Department of Transportation announced that since the start of the Biden-Harris Administration there are 1.7 million more construction and manufacturing jobs and 700,000 more jobs in the transportation sector. There are now 400,000 more union workers than in 2021. 60,000 Infrastructure projects across the nation have been funded by the Biden-Harris Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. Under this Administration 16 million jobs have been added, including 1.7 construction and manufacturing jobs, construction employment is the highest ever recorded since records started in 1939. 172,000 manufacturing jobs were lost during the Trump administration.

The Department of Energy announced $2 billion to protect the U.S. power grid against growing threats of extreme weather. This money will go to 38 projects across 42 states and Washington DC. It'll upgrade nearly 1,000 miles worth of transmission lines. The upgrades will allow 7.5 gigawatts of new grid capacity while also generating new union jobs across the country.

The EPA announced $125 million to help upgrade older diesel engines to low or zero-emission solutions. The EPA has selected 70 projects to use the funds on. They range from replacing school buses, to port equipment, to construction equipment. More than half of the selected projects will be replacing equipment with zero-emissions, such as all electric school buses.

The Department of The Interior and State of California broke ground on the Salton Sea Species Conservation Habitat Project. The Salton Sea is California's largest lake at over 300 miles of Surface area. An earlier project worked to conserve and restore shallow water habitats in over 4,000 acres on the southern end of the lake, this week over 700 acres were added bring the total to 5,000 acres of protected land. The Biden-Harris Administration is investing $250 million in the project along side California's $500 million. Part of the Administration's effort to restore wild life habitat and protect water resources.

The Department of Energy announced $900 Million in investment in next generation nuclear power. The money will help the development of Generation III+ Light-Water Small Modular Reactors, smaller lighter reactors which in theory should be easier to deploy. DoE estimates the U.S. will need approximately 700-900 GW of additional clean, firm power generation capacity to reach net-zero emissions by 2050. Currently half of America's clean energy comes from nuclear power, so lengthening the life space of current nuclear reactors and exploring the next generation is key to fighting climate change.

The federal government took two big steps to increase the rights of Alaska natives. The Departments of The Interior and Agricultural finalized an agreement to strengthen Alaska Tribal representation on the Federal Subsistence Board. The FSB oversees fish and wildlife resources for subsistence purposes on federal lands and waters in Alaska. The changes add 3 new members to the board appointed by the Alaska Native Tribes, as well as requiring the board's chair to have experience with Alaska rural subsistence. The Department of The Interior also signed 3 landmark co-stewardship agreements with Alaska Native Tribes.

The Department of Energy announced $860 million to help support solar energy in Puerto Rico. The project will remove 2.7 million tons of CO2 per year, or about the same as taking 533,000 cars off the road. It serves as an important step on the path to getting Puerto Rico to 100% renewable by 2050.

The Department of the Interior announced a major step forward in geothermal energy on public lands. The DoI announced it had approved the Fervo Cape Geothermal Power Project in Beaver County, Utah. When finished it'll generate 2 gigawatts of power, enough for 2 million homes. The BLM has now green lit 32 gigawatts of clean energy projects on public lands. A major step toward the Biden-Harris Administration's goal of a carbon pollution-free power sector by 2035.

Bonus: President Biden meets with a Kindergarten Teacher who's student loans were forgiven this week

[erotetica]

Fuck Trump, here’s all the civil rights orgs I know:

(Most have education pages and/or socials to follow and boost if u can’t donate right now)

LGBTQ+

Trevor Project—queer crisis hotline/counseling (NOTE THAT THEY CALL POLICE IN CERTAIN SITUATIONS)

List of Crisis Hotlines/etc compiled by Inclusive Therapists .com which DON’T CALL POLICE

Point of Pride—helps trans folks having trouble accessing gender affirming healthcare

Trans Lifeline—community support/resources/financial aid for trans folks

REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS

National Network of Abortion Funds—financial assistance/transport/childcare for people in ban states seeking abortions.

Brigid Alliance—same

Sister Song—reproductive justice for WOC

Indigenous Women Rising—helps Indigenous families access abortions/menstrual hygiene/midwifery/etc

Afiya Center—reproductive justice/HIV care for Black womxn in Texas

Abortion access orgs for Americans in the

Midwest

South

Appalachia (they also offer free emergency contraception/support services/etc)

RACIAL JUSTICE

NYU Law Center on Race Inequality—self-education resources on racism & antiblackness/how to contact elected officials/how to protest safely.

List of orgs protecting Black Americans, compiled by NYU (incl NAACP, Audre Lorde Project, BLM, Black Voters Matter, etc)

National Immigration Law Center—fighting for asylum seeking/DACA; helping immigrants access healthcare/worker’s rights/etc

American Civil Liberties Union—working on many intersectional initiatives

Southern Poverty Law Center—same

GLOBAL AID (While we Americans wait for shoes to start dropping, let’s not forget others in need, and that Trump’s atrocious foreign policies will affect everyone!)

World Central Kitchen—hunger relief

Action Against Hunger—same

War Child—supports and educates children in conflict zones, like Yemen and DRC

Medecins Sans Frontieres— medical aid

Islamic Relief USA—emergency aid

PALESTINIAN AID

Palestine Children’s Relief Fund— medical aid for kids

Anera— emergency relief & long-term development resources for Palestine, Lebanon, Jordan

United Nations Relief and Works Agency—aid for Palestinian refugees in Lebanon/Syria/West Bank/Gaza/Jordan

Palestine Red Crescent Society—medical aid

SUDANESE AID

List of humanitarian orgs working in Sudan, compiled by 500 Words Magazine

CONGOLESE AID

Panzi Foundation—supports assault survivors & their families

Eastern Congo Initiative—supports ands funds local/community-based Congolese efforts

Please reblog, & add any legitimate humanitarian organizations you know of! I love all of you!!

[vintagelasvegas]

Last Frontier / New Frontier / Frontier Hotel & Casino

Hotel Last Frontier opened October 30, 1942, the second resort on Hwy 91 south of Las Vegas and first to adopt an all-encompassing theme, the Old West. (Postcard, '43.)

‘41: R.E. Griffith purchases Guy McAfee’s 91 Club, begins building the resort with architect & partner William Moore

‘42: Last Frontier Hotel opens 10/30/42.

‘43: Little Church of the West wedding chapel opens 5/22/43. Griffith dies, Moore becomes managing director of the resort.

‘47: Last Frontier Sportsdrome race track, and Texaco Fire-Chief service station both opened

‘48: Last Frontier Village begins opening. Official opening two years later along with Silver Slipper. R Stadelman, W Zick, architects.

‘50: Silver Slipper opens 9/6/50. (Silver Slipper was independent of Frontier from the years ‘56 to ‘68.)

‘51: Moore sells resort to Kozloff, Katleman, and other owners. Other owners changed in the late 50s & mid 60s, P. Foster & Bayley in ‘59.

‘55: “New Frontier” modernist casino and showroom, opens 4/4/55 between the hotel and Last Frontier Village. The resort is rebranded New Frontier. Little Church of the West is relocated to the southern side of the resort.

‘57: 9-month closure of casino

‘58: Signage for “Last Frontier” over the hotel wing facing the Strip, lasting through demolition in ‘66.

‘60: Sportsdrome closed. Last Frontier Village closed between ‘60-‘64.

‘66: Vegas Frontier Inc. (M Friedman, M Clarke, partners) lease the property from Banker’s Life. Last Frontier Hotel demolished in May. Construction of all-new hotel begins in Sep. Texaco Fire-Chief demolished in Nov.

‘67: Frontier opens 7/30/67. Sign by B. Clarke, AdArt. Lease and property sold to H. Hughes in Nov. 

‘81: New facade, sports book addition

‘88: Sold to Unbelievable Inc (M. Elardi & family)

‘89: Atrium Tower addition

‘91: Culinary Workers Union strike begins 9/21/91, lasts until 2/1/98.

‘98: Sold to P. Ruffin. (Elardi group retains 16 acres.)

‘07: Sold to El-Ad Group. Closed 7/16/2007. Tower imploded 11/13/2007. Sign removed 12/2008

Sources: Moore Carries Through Idea of R.E. Griffith, Founder. Review-Journal, 9/3/50; Doby Doc, Pt. 3. Howard Hickson’s Histories, gbcnv.edu; Last Frontier Village is Las Vegas Showplace. Review-Journal, 2/28/55 p12; New Frontier Hotel Will Reopen. Review-Journal, 2/17/66 p3; In Final Stages of Demolition. Review-Journal, 5/3/66 p7; Break Ground for New Hotel. Review-Journal, 9/26/66; A. Finnegan. Crews remove New Frontier marquee before Encore opening. Las Vegas Sun, 12/12/2008.

The pool was in front of the hotel. The empty lot across the road is the future Desert Inn, and Wynn resort. Teich postcards with serial numbers 3B, 4B, 6B, indicating dates of '43, '44, and '46.

1940s - Black & white postcards by Frasher Fotos.

1940s ('43 or later) showing the Little Church of the West. L. F. Manis Photograph Collection (PH-00100), UNLV Special Collections & Archives.

[copperbadge]

Radio Free Monday

Good morning everyone, and welcome to Radio Free Monday! Ways to Give: Anon linked to a fundraiser for Jamari Woodard, a young Black teen who was recently attacked by a white man and stabbed in the head with a tire iron. He is doing well but not out of the woods yet, and is going to need a lot of support, plus will be facing medical bills. While the fundraiser has reached its goal, that was a minimum number for what the family will need. You can read more and support the fundraiser here; there's also a cashapp name in the top post if you prefer to give directly. Anon linked to a fundraiser for dee-the-red-witch, a trans woman who needs to raise $400 for uncovered expenses and bills, and to feed her family for the next two weeks. You can read more, reblog, and find giving information here, give via paypal here, or purchase her leatherwork here. Anon linked to a fundraiser for rayshippouchiha, whose mother recently passed; she needs funds for the funeral and memorial service. You can read more, reblog, and find giving information here. (and Anon, I know you were worried, but you did just fine filling out the form!) kshandra has been out of work for six weeks undergoing cancer treatment, and her disability claim is still pending; as the primary breadwinner with a disabled partner, the family is losing most of their income during the leave. They've received some insurance money but most has already gone towards living expenses. You can read more and support the fundraiser here, or give via paypal, venmo, or cashapp. News To Know / Help For Free: snowy2989 linked to information about >Unite Here Local 11 (I'm linking to their "about us" page because the home landing page has a strobing graphic image that I'm concerned might cause seizures). This is a Southern California (into Arizona) regional Hospitality and Tourism workers' union who are striking for higher wages, better healthcare and pensions, and more protections for undocumented and justice system-involved workers. Their mutual aid linktree offers ways to stay updated, support picketers, and offer activism aid; they don't appear to be soliciting donations. Recurring Needs: rhythmelia has an update to last week's post about yilinwriter, who has had their translation work used by the British Museum in a major exhibit without credit or compensation. The museum has removed the translations (along with the original Chinese, silencing the poet) but has said that because of that, they will not pay for them; however, there are still uncredited and unpaid translations in the exhibition catalog. Yilin now has a fundraiser, working to raise £15,000 by July 10 to get their legal case started. You can read more and reblog here, or support the fundraiser here. And this has been Radio Free Monday! Thank you for your time. You can post items for my attention at the Radio Free Monday submissions form. If you're new to fundraising, you may want to check out my guide to fundraising here.

[fdrlibrary]

BLACK WOMEN IN THE WARTIME STRUGGLE

Black women were on the frontlines of civil rights activism during the war years.

The grassroots organizing work of young leaders like Juanita Jackson, Ella Baker and Rosa Parks helped fuel a dramatic increase in NAACP membership and branch activism. Union organizers like Dollie Lowther Robinson and Maida Springer labored to ensure workers’ rights. Black women also engaged in direct-action protests against segregation like Pauli Murray’s 1940 arrest for sitting in the whites-only section of a bus in Virginia.

Grassroots organizers Juanita Jackson, Ella Baker, and Rosa Parks helped the NAACP grow dramatically during the war. - https://www.mdhistory.org/resources/jackson-and-mitchell-family-portrait/ - https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/94504496/ - https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2015647352/

More than half a million Black women left farm and domestic work for better-paying jobs in wartime shipyards and defense factories. But they had to struggle against employers who refused to hire Black women (or confined them to menial jobs) and white employees who resisted working alongside them.

Black women also overcame determined opposition to enter the armed services. Mary McLeod Bethune served as a special assistant in the War Department and worked with the National Council of Negro Women and Eleanor Roosevelt to open the Women’s Army Corps (WAC) to Black recruits. Eventually, 6,500 served. Bethune also lobbied successfully for officer appointments. Still, Black WACs served in segregated units and were often assigned low-skilled work. The Army also limited the number of Black nurses and restricted them to segregated hospitals. Conditions in the Navy were even worse. Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox opposed the entry of Black women into the service’s women’s auxiliary (WAVES). They were only admitted after his death in 1944.

Major Charity E. Adams inspects a Women’s Army Corps (WAC) battalion in England, February 15, 1945 (https://catalog.archives.gov/id/531249)

African American women also took on the then taboo subject of sexual violence. Sexual assaults on Black women by white men were a parallel offense to the lynchings of Black men. A 1944 Alabama rape case involving Recy Taylor sparked an NAACP investigation by Rosa Parks and widespread publicity. The Committee for Equal Justice, organized by Parks, led a national protest drive to bring the seven, armed white rapists to justice. Its allies included the Southern Negro Youth Congress (SNYC), described by historian Erik McDuffie as “the shock troops for Black equality across the Jim Crow South during the war.” The SNYC conducted wartime campaigns for desegregation and voting and labor rights. Its leadership included women like Rose Mae Catchings and Sallye Bell Davis, mother of activist Angela Davis.

Please visit our current special exhibition BLACK AMERICANS, CIVIL RIGHTS, AND THE ROOSEVELTS, 1932-1962: https://www.fdrlibrary.org/civil-rights-special-exhibit

[lboogie1906]

James Edward Orange (October 29, 1942 – February 16, 2008) known as “Shackdaddy”, was a leading civil rights activist in the Civil Rights Movement in America. He was an assistant to Martin Luther King Jr. in the civil rights movement. He joined the civil rights marches led by King and Ralph Abernathy in Atlanta in 1963. He became a project coordinator for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.

He was born in Birmingham but moved to Atlanta in the early 1960s. In his attempts to convert gang members in Chicago to adopt nonviolent principles, he endured nine beatings without resistance. He was known for preaching and singing in a strong baritone voice.

He worked on the organizing campaign of the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union and won union representation and benefits for the workers at J.P. Stevens textile and clothing factories. He was assigned to the AFL-CIO Industrial Union Department when he joined their Atlanta field office.

He worked on Cynthia McKinney’s attempt to regain her congressional seat and appeared at the April 1, 2006 rally against the Iraq War in Atlanta. He served as the founder and general coordinator for the Martin Luther King Jr. March Committee-Africa/African American Renaissance Committee, Inc.

He protested the interruption of Atlanta’s King commemorations due to an uninvited appearance by George W. Bush. Secret Service agents planned to force organizers to cut their agenda short to accommodate Bush, whose plans included a photo opportunity to lay a wreath in honor of King before attending a major Republican Party fundraiser. After Black leaders threatened to lock themselves into the site in question, a historic Black church, the Secret Service permitted their symposium to go on, but with limited public access.

His wife of 39 years, Cleophas “Cleo” survived him, as did three daughters and a son. His youngest daughter died (2007). #africanhistory365 #africanexcellence

[jllongwrites]

Sign the petition to demand respect, safety and living wages for Waffle House workers - Union of Southern Service Workers

Possibly no one in America deserves better working conditions and higher pay than Waffle House workers.

[beardedmrbean]

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Lost in the hubbub surrounding California's new $20-per-hour minimum wage for fast food workers is how that raise could impact public schools, forcing districts to compete with the likes of McDonald's and Wendy's for cafeteria workers amid a state budget crunch.

The minimum wage law that took effect Monday guarantees at least $20-per-hour for workers at fast food restaurant chains with at least 60 locations nationwide. That doesn't include school food service workers, historically some of the lowest-paid workers in public education.

Yet demand for school meals is higher than ever in California, the first state to guarantee free meals for all students regardless of their family's income. And demand is projected to fuel an increase of more than 70 million extra meals in California schools this year compared to 2018, according to the state Department of Education.

But these jobs typically have lots of turnover and are harder to fill. The minimum wage boost for fast food workers could make that even more difficult.

“They are all very worried about it. Most are saying they anticipate it will be harder and harder to hire employees,” said Carrie Bogdanovich, president of the California School Nutrition Association.

Statewide, some districts have already taken steps to compete in the new reality. Last year, the Sacramento Unified School District — anticipating the law's passage — agreed to a 10% increase for its food service workers and other low-paying jobs, followed by another 6% increase July 1 of this year to bump their wages up to $20 per hour.

Cancy McArn, the district's chief human resources officer, said it was the largest single raise in the district in nearly three decades.

“We are looking not only at competing with districts and comparing with districts, we're also looking at fast food places,” McArn said.

In Southern California, San Luis Coastal Unified doubled its food service staff to 40 people after seeing a 52% increase in the number of students eating school meals. The district prepares 8,500 meals daily for 7,600 students across 15 school sites — breakfast, lunch and even supper options for youth in after-school sports and activities.

The district has since limited the number of its entry-level positions, which are the hardest to fill, while seeking to hire more for complex roles like “culinary lead” and “central kitchen supervisor” that require more skills and hours — making them more attractive to job seekers.

“That’s allowed us to be more competitive,” said Erin Primer, director of food and nutrition services for the San Luis Coastal Unified School District.

Tia Orr, executive director of the Services Employees International Union California — which represents both school food service workers and fast food employees — said school districts and other service industries must consider raising wages because of this new law.

“This is a good thing, and it is long overdue,” she said.

But some districts are limited in what they can do. In the Lynwood Unified School District in Los Angeles County, the starting salary for food service workers is $17.70 per hour and maxes out at $21.51 per hour, according to Gretchen Janson, the district's assistant superintendent of business services. She said these workers only work three hours per day, meaning they aren't eligible for health benefits.

Janson says the district is waiting to see how employees react, adding: “We just don't have the increase in revenue to be able to provide additional funding for staff.”

Nuria Alvarenga has worked food service in the Lynwood School District for 20 years. She makes $21 per hour now, but said she could likely earn more in fast food.

While she said several co-workers were considering finding other jobs, she hasn't decided yet what she will do. She normally works at an elementary school, but has been filling in recently at a high school where she enjoys seeing former students recognize her as they stand in line for lunch.

“I'm so glad they still remember me,” she said.

School food service workers have gotten more support in recent years under a state push to expand school meals and make them more nutritious. That included $720 million in recent years for upgrades to school kitchens to better prepare fresh meals, plus $45 million to create an apprenticeship program to professionalize the industry.

It would be difficult for lawmakers to mandate a raise for school food workers given the complexities of the state's school funding formula. That's why some advocacy groups, including the Chef Ann Foundation, proposed a state-funded incentive program that would have given school food workers who completed an apprenticeship program a $25,000 bonus payable over five years.

That idea didn't make it into Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom's budget proposal released in January. The state is facing a multibillion dollar budget deficit, limiting new spending.

But pay raises aren't the only incentives school districts can offer. There's also health insurance, paid vacation, no night or weekend shifts and a pension that could guarantee a monthly income after retirement. Plus, school food workers have predictable hours, letting them work other jobs if they wish — or in summer when school is out.

“Restaurants are laying off employees. They're cutting hours,” said Eric Span, director of nutrition services for the Sweetwater Union High School District in San Diego County. “I think we should position ourselves to really talk about some stability.”

Michael Reich, a labor economics professor at the University of California-Berkeley, said those factors could favor school districts when competing for workers.

“Working in a school cafeteria gives you more stability, job security and maybe less stress than in a profit making institution,” he said. “So there's a lot of advantages from a community standpoint. But that's not to say they don't also want to get more money.”

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

January 1, 2024

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

JAN 1, 2024

On January 1, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln signed his name to the Emancipation Proclamation. “I never in my life felt more certain that I was doing right,” he said, “than I do in signing this paper. If my name goes into history, it will be for this act, and my whole soul is in it.”

The Emancipation Proclamation provided that as of January 1, “all persons held as slaves” anywhere that was still controlled by the Confederate government would be “then, thenceforward, and forever free.”

Historian Richard Hofstadter famously complained that the Emancipation Proclamation had “all the moral grandeur of a bill of lading,” but its legalistic tone reflected that Lincoln was committed to achieving change not by dictating it, which he recognized would destroy our democracy, but by working within the nation's democratic system.

Although Lincoln personally opposed human enslavement, he did not believe the federal government had the power to end it in the states. With that limitation, his goal, and that of the fledgling Republican Party he led, was only to keep it from spreading into the western territories where, until the 1857 Dred Scott decision, Congress had the power to exclude human enslavement. The spread of enslaved labor would enable wealthy enslavers to dominate the region quickly, they thought, limiting opportunities for poorer white men and gradually turning the entire country over to enslavers.

When the war broke out in 1861, the newly elected Lincoln urged southern leaders to reconsider leaving the Union, reassuring them that “I have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with the institution of slavery in the States where it exists. I believe I have no lawful right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so.” When Confederates fired on Fort Sumter, the federal fort at the mouth of Charleston Harbor, Lincoln called not for a war on slavery, but for “all loyal citizens to favor, facilitate, and aid [an] effort to maintain the honor, the integrity, and the existence of our National Union.”

From the earliest days of the war, though, Black Americans recognized that the war must address enslavement. Immediately, they began to escape across Union military lines. At first, hoping to appease border state residents, Union officers returned these people to their enslavers. But by the end of May, as it became clear that enslaved people were being pressed into service for the Confederate military, Union officers refused to return them and instead hoped that welcoming them to the Union lines would make them want to work for the U.S.

In August 1861, shortly after the First Battle of Bull Run left the Union army battered and bleeding, Congress struck a blow at enslavement by passing a law that forfeited the right of any enslaver to a person whom he had consented to be used “in aid of this rebellion, in digging ditches or intrenchments, or in any other way.”

When northern Democrats charged that Republicans were subverting the Constitution and planning to emancipate all southern enslaved people, Republicans agreed with the old principle that Congress had no right to “interfere with slavery in any slaveholding state,” but stood firmly on a new argument: the war powers the Constitution assigned to Congress enabled it to pass laws that would help the war effort. That included attacking enslavement.

As Confederate armies racked up victories, Republicans increasingly emphasized the importance of Black people to the South’s war effort. “[I]t has long been the boast of the South…that its whole white population could be made available for the war, for the reason that all its industries were carried on by the slaves,” the New York Times wrote. Northerners who before the war had complained that Black workers were inefficient found themselves reconsidering. The Chicago Tribune thought Black workers were so productive that “[F]our millions of slaves off-set at least eight millions of Northern whites.”

At the same time, Republicans came to see Black people as crucially important in the North as well, as they worked in military camps and, later, in cotton fields in areas captured by the U.S. military. While Democrats continued to harp on what they saw as Black people’s inability to support themselves, Republicans countered that “[n]o better class of laborers could be found…in all the population of the United States,” and Republican newspapers pushed back on the Democratic idea that Black families were unwelcome in the North.

By July 1862, as Union armies continued to falter, Lincoln decided to take the idea of attacking enslavement through the war powers further, issuing a document that would free enslaved southerners who remained in areas controlled by the Confederacy. His secretary of state, William Henry Seward, urged him to wait until after a Union victory to make the announcement so it would not look as if it were prompted by desperation.

When U.S. troops halted the advance of Confederate troops into Maryland at the September 17 Battle of Antietam, Lincoln thought it was time. On Monday, September 22, he issued the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation under the war power of the executive, stating that in 100 days, on January 1, 1863, enslaved persons held in territories still controlled by the Confederacy would be free. He said to a visiting judge: “It is my last trump card…. If that don’t do, we must give up.”

The plan did not sit well with Lincoln’s political opponents. They attacked Lincoln for fighting a war on behalf of Black Americans, and voters listened. In the 1862 midterm election, held a little over a month after the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, Lincoln and the Republicans got shellacked. They lost more than 25 seats in the House of Representatives and lost control of Ohio, Illinois, and Indiana. Democrats did not win control of Wisconsin and Michigan, but they made impressive gains. Voters were undoubtedly unhappy with the lackluster prosecution of the war and concerned about its mounting costs, but Democrats were not wrong to claim their victory was a repudiation of emancipation.

Voters had spoken, and Lincoln responded by offering to give Democrats exactly what they said they wanted. In his message to Congress on December 1, 1862, he called for it to consider amendments to the Constitution that would put off emancipation until January 1, 1900, and pay enslavers for those enslaved people who became free. Slavery was going to end one way or another, he made it clear, and if Democrats wanted to do it their way, he was willing to let them lead. The ball was in Congress’s court if congressmen wanted to play.

But Democrats had won the election on grievance; no lawmaker really wanted to try to persuade his constituents to pay rich enslavers to end their barbaric system. Northerners recoiled from the plan. One newspaper correspondent noted that compensated emancipation would almost certainly cost more than a billion dollars, and while he seemed willing to stomach that financial hit, others were not. Another correspondent to the New York Times said that enslavers, who were at that very moment attacking the U.S. government, were already making up lists of the value of the people enslaved on their lands to get their U.S. government payouts.

Lincoln won his point. On December 31, 1862, newspapers received word that the president would issue the Emancipation Proclamation he had promised. Black congregations gathered that afternoon and into the night in their churches to pray for the end of enslavement and the realization of the principle of human equality, promised in the Declaration of Independence, starting a tradition that continues to the present.

And the following day, after the traditional White House New Year’s Day reception, Lincoln kept his word. Because his justification for the Emancipation Proclamation was to weaken the war effort, the areas affected by the proclamation had to be those still held by the Confederacy, but the larger meaning of the document was clear: the U.S. would no longer defend the racial enslavement that had been part of its birth and would admit Black men to national participation on terms of equality. Lincoln welcomed Black men into the service of the U.S. Army—traditionally a route to citizenship—and urged Black Americans to “labor faithfully for reasonable wages.”

In less than two years, the nation had gone from protecting enslavement to ending it, completely reworking the foundations of our government. But while the victory was moral, Lincoln and the Republicans had achieved it within the confines of a system that allowed the vote only to white men, a significant number of whom opposed ending enslavement altogether. Thanks to pressure from Black Americans and public opinion, they were able to thread a narrow political needle, preserving democratic norms while achieving revolutionary ends.

Lincoln concluded: “[U]pon this act, sincerely believed to be an act of justice, warranted by the Constitution, upon military necessity, I invoke the considerate judgment of mankind, and the gracious favor of Almighty God.”

The sausage-making of the Emancipation Proclamation had long-term repercussions. The redefinition of Black Americans as superhuman workers undercut later attempts to support formerly enslaved people as they transitioned to a free economy, and the road to equality was not at all as smooth as the Republicans hoped. But that such a foundational change in our history emerged from such messy give and take, necessary in order to preserve our democratic system, seems a useful thing to remember in 2024.

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON