American Working-Class Literature: An Anthology

478 Pages·2006·24.4 MB·English

by  Nicholas Coles

American
Working-Class
Literature
An Anthology
EDITED BY
Nicholas Coles
University of Pittsburgh
Janet Zandy
Rochester Institute of Technology
UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER
New York Oxford
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
2007
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
American working-class literature : an anthology I edited by Nicholas Coles, Janet Zandy.
p. em.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-1 0: 0-19-514456-2 (pbk. : acid-free paper)
ISBN-13: 978-0-19-514456-7
1. Working class writings, American. 2. Working class-Literary collections.
I. Coles, Nicholas. II. Zandy, Janet, 1945-
PS508.W73A835 2006
81 0.8'09220623-dc22
2005053945
Frontispiece: Elizabeth Olds, Harlem Da11ccrs, 1939 (wood cut).
The University of Michigan Museum of Art, gift of the U.S. Government,
WP.A. Federal Art Project.
" ' ,., l
Printing number: 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Printed in the United States of America
on acid-free paper
Contents
Preface xv
Introduction XIX
I. Early American Labor: Hard, Bound, and Free 1600s-1810s
"The Trappan'd Maiden: or, the Distressed Damsel" (mid-16UOs) 6
James Revel, "The Poor, Unhappy Transported Felon" (16!->0s) 7
Gottlieb Mittelberger, "Gottlieb Mittelberger's Journey to Pennsylvania in tiK
Year 1750 and Return to Germany in the Year 1754" (1754) 13
"Petition of a Grate Number of Blackes" to Thomas Gage, May 25,
1774 16
Olaudah Equiano, ["I Was in Another World: The Slave Ship"]* fi·om 7/ic
Interesting Narrative of the Life o( Olaud<Jh Equi,mo, or Custm;us !~!1ss<J, the A_ti-ican,
Written by Himself (1789) 16
Phillis Wheatley, ''To the Right Honourable William. Earl of Dartmouth,
His Majesty's Principal Secretary of State tor North America, Etc." (1773) ~3
"A Sea Song" 25
Francis Hopkinson, "The Raising: A Nc:w Song tor Federal Mechanics" tw
A. B. (1788) 26
John Mcilvaine, "Address to the Journeymen Cordwainers L. B. of
Philadelphia" (1794) 27
Tecumseh's Speech to the Osages (Winter 1811-12) 28
II. New Kinds of Work, Old Practices 1820s-1850s 31
Sorrow Song.1· <1nd Spirituals 33
"Nobody knows de trouble I've seen" 34
"Steal away to Jesus" 35
''Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" 35
"Many Thousand Gone" 35
"Bredden, don't git weary" 3()
W E. B. DuBois, "The Sorrow Songs'' (191l3) 36
Maria W Stewart, ''Lecture Delivered at the Frankliu Hall, Boston.
September 21, 1832" 44
The Lowell :\fill Girls 48
Josephine L. Baker, "A Second Peep at Factory Life., ( 1845) 49
Mary Paul, "Letters to Her Father" (1845-1848) 52
"The LO\vell Factory Girl" 58
l * Items in brackets are titles a"igncd by the editors.
---
vii
viii American Working-Class Literature Contents ix
Harriet Hanson Robinson, "Characteristics of the Early Factory Maxine Hong Kingston, "The Grandfather of the Sierra Nevada Mountains"
from China Men (1980) 182
Girls" (1898) 59
Angel Island Poems by Chinese Immigrants ( 1910-1940) 197
Helena Minton, "From The Same Cloth: For the Mill Girls, Lowell,
Massachusetts, circa 1840" (1985) 62
Iv. Revolt, Represssion, and Cultural Formations: 1900-1929 201
Frederick Douglass, ["In the Shipyards"] (1845 and 1855) 62
Eugene V Debs, "How I Became a Socialist" (1902) 204
"An Address to the Colored People of the United States"
"Statement to the Court" (1918) 207
from The 1\'orth Star (1848) 68
},;finers' and Other Labor Poems 209
Herman Melville, "The Paradise ofBachelors" and "The Tartarus of
Maids" (1855) 72 ]. A. Edgerton, "The Man Behind the Pick" (1903) 211
"Scab, Scab, Scab" (1904) 211
John GreenleafWhittier, "The Ship-Builders" (1850) 85
Shorty P, "The Eight Hour Day" (1904) 212
Fanny Fern (Sara Payson Willis Parton), "Soliloquy of a Housemaid" (1854) 87
"The Working-Girls of New York" (1868) 88 Joe R. Lazure, "A Colorado Miner's Fourth" (1905) 212
]. P Thompson, "Union Poem" (1909) 215
Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, "The Slave Mother" (1857) 90
Unknown Worker, "Labor Speaks" (1909) 215
Harriet E. Wilson, ["Keep her ... She's real handsome and bright, and not very
Joe Foley, "Wadda Ya Want to Break Your Back for the Boss For"
black, either."] 91
(c. 1917) 216
Walt Whitman, "A Song for Occupations" (1855) 96
Berton Braley, "The Worker," (1917) 216
"The Wound-Dresser" (1865) 101
Nineteemh-Cmtury Work Songs 103 Eugene Barnett, "Political Prisoners" (1921) 217
"St. Peter and the Scab" (1923) 217
"Peg An' Awl" 104
"Paddy Works on the Railway" 105 Upton Sinclair, ["The Hog-Squeal of the Universe"] from The Jungle (1906) 219
Jack London, "The Apostate" (1906) 226
"The Housekeeper's Lament" 1 06
"Pinched": A Prison Experience (1907) 238
"The Farmer Is the Man" 107
'john Henry" 108 Rose Schneiderman, "A Cap Maker's Story" (1905) 245
The Triangle Shirt~l'aist Fire, March 2 5, 1911 249
III. Beneath the Gilded Surface: Wording-Class Fictions and Realities, Rose Schneiderman, "Triangle Memorial Speech" (1911) 251
1860-1890s 111 Morris Rosenfeld, "Requiem on the Triangle Fire" (1911) 251
Rebecca Harding Davis, "Life in the Iron Mills" (1861) 113 Contemporary Poems 011 the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire 253
Mary Fell, "The Triangle Fire" 253
I. G. Blanchard "Eight Hours" (1866, poem; set to music, 1878) 137
Lucy Parsons, "To Tramps" (1884) 140 Chris Llewellyn, "Four from Sonya," "I Am Appalled," "Survivor's
Cento," "Sear" 257
Songs of the Knights of Labor 142
Carol Tarlen, "Sisters in the Flames" 260
"Knights of Labor" (1898) 143
"Storm the Fort, Ye Knights" (1885) 144 Safiya Henderson-Holmes, "rituals of spring (for the 78th anniversary
of the shirtwaist factory fire)" 261
"Thirty Cents a Day" (1892) 145
James Oppenheim, "Bread and Roses" (1914) 265
"America" (1890) 145
Arturo Giovannitti, "The Walker" (1914) 266
"Father Gander's Melodies" (1887) 146
John Reed, "War in Paterson" (1913) 271
"One More Battle to Fight" (1892) 147
Fellow Workers: IWW Oral Histories 277
The Battle o_f Homestead, 1892 148
AAISW Preamble (from the Constitution of the Amalgamated Association of (from Solidarity Forever, An Oral History i!f the IW~V 1985) 277
Sophie Cohen, ["Paterson had a prison-like feeling"] 277
Iron and Steel Workers) 150
James Fair, ["Working the Docks"] 282
"Tyrant Frick'' 150
"A Man Named Carnegie" 151 Mother Jones, "The March of the Mill Children" (1903) 284
"Father Was Killed by the Pinkerton Men" 152 The ~Vr.Jbblics, the "Little Red Son"~ Book," and the Legacy o_f
Joe Hill (1879-1915) 289
"A Fight for Home and Honor" 153
Stephen Crane, "The Men in the Storm" (1894) 154 Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, "Joe Hill-Martyred Troubador of Labor" from
Hamlin Garland, "Under the Lion's Paw" (1889) 158 The Rebel Girl: ;V!y First L{fe (1906-1926) 290
Edwin Markham, "The Man with the Hoe" (1899) 167 Joe Hill, "The Rebel Girl" (song) and letter to Elizabeth Gurley
Flynn 294
"Lifelets: Life Stories of Undistinguished Americans'' from the
From The Little Red Song Book (1913) 294
Indcpmdcnt 169
"A Georgia Negro Peon" (1904) 169 "Preamble of the Industrial Workers of the World" 294
Joe Hill, "The Tramp" 295
"The Autobiography A Labor Leader": James Williams (1902) 174
Ralph Chaplin, "'Solidarity Forever!" 296
"A Negro Nurse" (1912) 178
l L
X American Working-Class Literature Contents
xi
Joe HilL "The Preacher and the Slave" 296
Kathy Kahn, "They Say Them Child Brides Don't Last: Florence Reece" from
T-Bone Slim. "The Popular Wobbly" 297 Hillbilly f1imzCil (1972) 393
Joe Hill, "Joe Hill's Last Will" 298
Florence Reece, "Which Side Are You On?" (1931) 396
Rcllph Chaplin, "Mourn Not the Dead" 298
Jim Garland, "The Murder of Harry Simms" 399
Alfred Hayes, "Joe Hill'' (1928) 299
Tillman Cadle, "Commentary on Harry Simms" (1932) 400
Cheri Register, "A Dream ofJoe Hill" (2000) 299
John Dos Passos, "Harlan: Working Under the Gun" (1931) 400
Sarah N. Cleghorn, "Through the Needle's Eye: 1. Comrade Jesus 308
Maggie Anderson, "Among Elms and Maples, Morgantown, West Virginia, August,
2. Quatrain'' (1915) 309 1935" (1986) 408
Carl Sandburg. "Chicago" (1916) 310
"Mining Camp Residents, West Virginia, July, 1935" (1986) 408
"Muckers"(1916) 311
"Long Story" (1992) 409
"Child of the Romans" (1916) 311
Don West, "Clods ofSouthern Earth: Introduction" (1946) 411
from "The People, Yes" (1936) 312
"Mountain Boy" (1931-1932?) 415
Lola Ridge. "The Ghetto" ( 1918) 314
"Clodhopper" (1940) 416
Anzia Yezierska, "The Free Vacation House" (1920) 328
"There's Anger in the Land" (1950) 417
Edith Summers Kelley, "Billy's Birth," restored chapter of Weeds (1923) 333 "No Lonesome Road" (1940) 418
P<'etry of the Harlc111 Rcnaissa11cc 342
"I Am a Woman Worker": A Scrapbook of Autobiographies from the Summer
James Weldon Johnson, "0 Black and Unknown Bards" (1908) 344 Schools for Women Workers (1936) 419
Jean Toomer, ''Reapers" (1923) 345 "Soldering" 419
Claude McKay, "The Harlem Dancer" (1917) 345 "One Day ofLabor" 420
"IfWeMustDie" (1919) 345
"Bean Picking" 420
"The Lynching'' (1920) 346
"The Piece-Work System" 421
Countee Cullen, "For a Lady I Know'' (1925) 346 "The President Visits the Mill" 422
''From the Dark Tower" (1927) 346
Boxcar Bertha (Ben Reitman) ["'Are You Bill's Broad?'"] from Sister of the Road:
Sterling A. Brmvn. ''Ma Rainey'' (1930) 347
The Autobiography c~f Boxmr Bertha (1937) 422
"Scotty Has His Say" (1932) 348
Richard Wright, "I Have Seen Black Hands" (1935) 427
''Call Boy" (1932) 349
"Fire and Cloud" (1938) 429
Alice Dunbar-Nelson, "I Sit and Sew" (1920) 350
Tillie Olsen, "I Want You Women Up North to Know" (1934) 461
Angelina Weld Grimke. "Fragment" (c. 1930) 351
Mericle] Le Sueur, "I Was Marching" (1934) 465
John Beecher, "Report to the Stockholders" (1925) 351 "Eroded Woman" (1948) 471
''Beaufort Tides" (1934) 354 Muriel Rukeyser, from The Book cf the Dead (1938) 475
Bartolomeo Vanzetti. "Last Speech to the Court" (1927) 354 "The Road" 476
Agnes Smedley, ["The Wanderlust in My Blood"] from Daughter c:f "Gauley Bridge" 477
Emlz (1929) 357
"Praise of the Committee" 478
''Mining Families'' 1937 364 "Absalom" 480
"The Disease" 481
V Economic Depression and Cultural Resurgence: 1930s 367
''George Robinson: Blues" 482
Langston Hughes, ·'The WearY Blues" (1925) 369
"The Book of the Dead" 483
"Johannesburg Mines" (1928) 371
Joseph Kalar, "Night Shift" (1934) 487
''Christ in Alabama" (1931) 371
"Proletarian Night'' (1934) 488
"Park Bench" (1934) 371
"Papermill" (1931) 489
"Let America Be America Again'' (1936) 372
"Worker Uprooted" (1932) 489
"Oft!ce Building Evening" (pub. 1960) 37 4
"Now that Snow Is Falling" (1930) 490
( ;cncview T.1ggard. "Words Property of the People" (1934) 37 4
Kenneth Patchen, "Joe Hill Listens to the Praying'' (1936) 491
"Lite of the Mind, 1935" (1935) 375
"The Orange Bears'' (1949) 495
"At List the Women Are Moving'' (1935) 376
Jack Conroy, "Monkey Nest Camp" from the Disi11heritcd (1933) 495
1vLuv Heaton Vorse, ''The Emergency Brigade at Flint" (1937) 377
Pietro DiDonato, "Geremio" from Christ in Concrete (1939) 500
Mike Gold. "Go Lett. Young Writers1'' (1929) 380 Tom Kromer, ["Three Hots and a Flop "J from T1 aitingj(n i\'othing (1935) 508
"je\\ s and Christians., fi·om Jell's ff 'ithout ;'Honey (1935) 383
Zora Neale Hurston, ["Polk County Blues"] from J,fulcs and .'v!cn (1935) 515
.-lpp,d<i(hi<l l tll(C'.' _)fj<)
John Steinbeck, "Starvation Under the Orange Trees" (193H) 524
i\um Molly Jackson. "Kentucky Miners' Wives Ragged Hungry
["The spring is beautiful in Calif()fnia "] fi·om The Grapes ,~(
Blues" ( 1' )32) 391
fi 'mth (1939) 527
S.1rah Og,m Gunning. "I Am a Girl of Constant Sorrow" 392
Sanora Babb ["Dust"] from ~010sc :'\'a111cs Arc l 'nl.:nou'n (2004) 529
L
...._
xii American Working-Class Literature
Contents xiii
Wilma Elizabeth McDaniel, from A Primerfor Buford (1990) 533
VII. The New World Order and Its Consequences: 1980s to 2005 667
"A Primer for Buford" 534
"Origins" 534 Philip Levine, "You Can Have it" (1979) 670
"Farm Children in the Grip of 1933" 535 "Among Children" (1992) 672
"Via Dolorosa" 535 "What Work Is" (1992) 673
"You Can't Go Back" 535 Nellie Wong, "Unemployment" (1983) 674
"Okie Boy Boss at Puccinello's, 1936" 536 "The Death of Long Steam Lady" (1986) 676
"Abdication Day" 536 Tomas Rivera, from ... y no se lo trag6 la tierra I And the Earth Did Not
"Picking Grapes, 1937" 536 Devour Him (1987) 679
"American Folk Music, 1937" 537 "It's That It Hurts" 679
"Roster" 537 "And the Earth Did Not Devour Him" 682
"Day of Return, August 4, 1986" 538 "The Portrait" 685
Woody Guthrie, "Pretty Boy Floyd" (1939) 539 "When We Arrive" 687
"1913 Massacre" (1945) 541 John Gilgun, "Counting Tips" (1995) 690
"Two Good Men" (1946) 542 "Whitman's Hands" (1991) 691
"Christ for President" (circa 1938) 543 Bill Witherup, "Mother Witherup's Top Secret Cherry Pie" (1989) 691
["Listening to the Little Girls' Song Drift Out Across the Dark Wind"] from Lucille Clifton, excerpt from Generations: A Memoir (1976) 695
Boundfor Glory (1943) 544 "At the cemetery, walnut grove plantation, south carolina, 1989" (1991) 698
Clifford Odets, Waiting for Lefty (1935) 547 Marge Piercy, "To Be of Use" (1973) 699
Thomas Bell, "Zinc Works Craneman to Wed" (1936) 565 "Her Gifts" (2002) 700
William Attaway, ["The Moss Brothers Enter the Mill"] from Sue Dora, "The Cultural Worker" (1992) 701
Blood on tlzc Fo~ge (1941) 570 "Hard Times in the Valley" (1992) 704
"Blue Collar Goodbyes" (1992) 705
VI. Affluence, Cold War, and the Other America: 1940s-1970s 583 Simon J. Ortiz, "My Father's Song" (1988) 706
"Final Solution: Jobs, Leaving" (1992) 707
Ann Petry, "Like a Winding Sheet" (1946) 585
"We Have Been Told Many Things" (1992) 709
Carlos Bulosan, "If You Want to Know What We Are" (1940) 592
Gloria Anzaldua, from Borderlands!La Frontera (1987) 710
"The Story of a Letter" (1946) 594
"We Call Them Greasers" 711
Harriette Arnow, ['Tm Gertie Nevels from Ballew, Kentucky"] from
"To Live in the Borderlands Means You" 712
The Dol/maker (1954) 598
Hattie Gossett, "the cleaning woman/labor relations #4" (1988) 713
Alice Childress, "Like One of the Family" (1956) 611
Larry Smith, "The Company ofWidows" (2002) 715
"Sometimes I Feel So Sorry" (1956) 613
Ernie Brill, "Crazy Hattie Enters the Ice Age" (1980) 722
His aye Yamamoto, "Seventeen Syllables" (1949) 614
Karen Brodine, "Woman Sitting at the Machine, Thinking" (1984) 732
Edwin Rolfe, "Are You Now or Have You Ever Been" (c. 1952) 622
Linda Hogan, "Making Do" (1986) 741
"Little Ballad for Americans. 1954" 624
"The New Apartment, Minneapolis" (1988) 746
Thomas McGrath, "A Long Way Outside Yellowstone" (1940) 625
"Blessing" (1994) 747
"Ars Poetica: or Who Lives in the Ivory Tower?" (1949) 626
Carolyn Chute, "Faces in the Hands" (2000) 748
"A Little Song About Charity" (1949) 627
Yusef Komunyakaa, "Work" (1988) 758
"On the Memory of a Working-Class Girl" (1940s) 627
"The Whistle" (1992) 759
"O'Leary's Last Wish: In Case the Revolution Should Fail" (1940s) 628
Michael Casey, "The Company Pool" (1999) 761
Tillie Olsen, "I Stand Here Ironing" (1956) 629
"Positivity Poster" (1999) 762
Gv.:endolyn Brooks, "Bronzeville Woman in a Red Hat" (1960) 633
"Positivity Poster #75" (1999) 763
"The Ballad of Rudolph Reed" (1960) 636
"Urgent Need for Blood" (1999) 763
"The Blackstone Rangers" (1968) 638
"Positivity Poster #76" (1999) 764
James Wright, "Autumn Begins in Martins Ferry, Ohio" (1963) 639
Leslie Marmon Silko, "Lullaby" (1981) 765
"Honey" (1982) 640
Dorothy Allison, "Mama" (1988) 771
Judy Grahn, "The Common Woman" (1969) ()41
Leslie Feinberg, ["It was time to find a factory job"] from Stone Butch Blues
Breece DJ Pancake, "The Honored Dead" (posthumous, 1983) 646
(1990) 779
Studs Terkel, from T%rkinc!{ (1972) ()51
Susan Eisenberg, "Homage" (1984) 785
''Dolores Dante, waitress" ()52
"Hanging in Solo" (1984) 785
"Mike Lefevre, steelworker" 656
"First Day on a New Jobsite" (1984) 787
Toni Cade Bambara, "The Lesson" (1972) 6() 1
"Wiretalk" (1984) 789
l
xiv American Working-Class Literature
Dagoberto Gilb, "Romero's Shirt" (1994) 789
Joy Harjo, "The Woman Hanging from the Thirteenth
Floor Window" (1983) 794
"Perhaps the World Ends Here" (1994) 795
Jeanne Bryner, "The Story of My Village" (1999) 796
"Mileage" (1999) 797 Preface
"Release of the Spirit" (1999) 798
"Blue Collar" (1999) 799
Kate Rushin, "The Black Back-Ups" (1993) 800
Cherne Moraga, "Heroes and Saints" (1983) 803
Jimmy Santiago Baca, "The New Warden" (1979) 846
"So Mexicans Are Taking Jobs from Americans" (1982) 848
"Perfecto Flores" (1986) 849 "-lnTcri<"t?il f! ~n-1-:in.~-C!,JSs Li tcmturc mtroducc, readers tu the long. Jnd 'ornctimn conccalccL
Jan Beatty, "Awake in a Strange Landscape" (1994) 851 tradition of writing by ,HJd ,rbout ,A,mvnca's working people. Cathermg three hundr,:d
"Louise" (2002) 852 texts that span the centuries trom colonial times to the earlv 21HHis. this anthology present'i
"The Rolling Rock Man" (1994) 853 a range of working-class literaturt' that includtcs not only the indmtrul proletariat. but also
"A Waitress's Instructions on Tipping" (1994) 854 emL1\·cd and peonagl' bhor, unpaid domestic work. immigrant Jnd mif.!:Lll1t labor and
"The Waitress Angels Speak to Me in a Vision (2002) 855 low-p.rid servict' \HJrk. The \\Titl'rs arc as diYerse in race, gendLT. culture, and region as
Helena Maria Viramontes, "The Cariboo Cafe" (1988) 856 America's \\·orking clas, ibclf Their \\Titing rq•rcsents the fi.rll range of genres: fiction.
Peter Oresick, "My Father" (1977) 864 poetry, dr.mra. memoir. reportage, or.rron·. m,mifestm. letter-;. oral histon·, \ong lyrics. and
"The Story of Glass" (1977) 865 other mixed or h\·brid tonm of expression. l3euuse the \\'orking-d:h' cultural tr.1dition b:r,
"After the Deindustrialization of America" (1990) 866 .lt times been submerged or suppressed. the ,m:hology mcludes \\ ork lw !ittle-knmnL even
"Toward the Heaven of Full Employment" (1990) 868 ,monymom. authors. along,ide mch \Hitns a-; frcdLTick Douglass. Upton Sincl.rir. Tillie
"Now" (1990) 868 Olsen, Philip Levine. M,rxinc Hong Kingston, and Lnlic· M.mnon Silko.
Jim Daniels, "Digger Thinks About Numbers" (1985) 869 Designed t(Jr general rc·aders . .t' \\ell ,rs studem-; of '\mcri,·c~n lner..tturc and hi-;tory,
"Digger Goes on Vacation" (1985) 870 .4.Tncric,l!T Tf~,rf-nuy-C/([s.•· Lit<TclfllH' rs arr.mged historicall\· in Sc'\Tll pans. each with .m
"Digger Laid Off" (2002) 873 introduction to the penod and its literature. lnchnciu,rl hc·,rdnore, prundc brogr:r}'hic.rl
"Digger, the Birthday Boy" (2002) 873 and historical coutext tor rl·admg. An imroduction b\· the edrtun tr,\Ces the tr.1d1tion of
"Digger's Territory" (1989) 87 4 \\'orkmg-clas-; \\Titing in the United State\ ,lJld discu"es r11t' u,,., ot such hteraturc in
Martin Espada, "Who Burns for the Perfection of Paper" (1993) 875 l\nrericm culture. Addition,ll resources iuclude a bibliogr.rpb\·. :r tmll·linc' of \\orking-cla"
histon·. and .1 nch arra1· of illustratiom .mel documenun photogr.rphs.
"The Toolmaker Unemployed" (1993) 876
"Alabanza: In Praise ofLocal 100" (2002) 877 This .mthologv of Llbor :md litcr.rturc. das-; :lllcl culture. cmergc:s at .1 critJcal JUncture
Lois-Ann Yamanaka, "Lovey's Homemade Singer Sewing Class Patchwork Ill Americau historY. It im·itc-; te.!chcTS and studems rn \'ll'\1 liter.1n· expressicm thmugh the
Denim Hiphuggers" (1996) 878 lem of cbS\ at ,\ time' \\·hen \\·ork itsl'lt=--becrme of Lkindustri:dizaticm. dmYmizing. :,:iob
aliz,nion . .mel technolog\'--is rapidh- changing. \Vhik orgJnized histori, .1lh. this <:ollcc
Melida Rodas, "El Olor de Cansansio (The Smell of Fatigue)" (2000) 883
tion of \Yorking-cLrss \\Titinp doc'S not suggest in .m1· \\':1\ th.rt th<e cl.h' "'tt'lll in .'\.mcric.r
is "'lnston·." lnste.rd. it pl.1ces cl.r" ditr"reiKe' m ,1 long histonc",ll Cl'lilimmm shm\ ing hcl\\.
Contents by Genre 886
pt'oplc· cre,rtcd culture out of their economrc cirnmrst.mces ,md ""i.1l 1el.rrionships.
Select Bibliography 893 Tht editors h,l\'L' org,mizcd rhi-; m.rrni,1l so tlr.1t studcm, c m to cxpLn,· nm
A Timeline of American Working-Class History 903 onh· .1 nch and uttcn hidden liter.rr\· \\orld. but .1iso rhc hlstnn, ,r! C(>Jlt,'':t' t(,r the· ''nti::;;.
This ,mtholng\· .l],o ott~rs .m opportl.llllt\ t(,r studc'Ilt' w 't'e the cllinrdJtionship' Jnd
Credits 910
imcp.rr.rbiliry of ch" \\·rdr r.tcc. c·tlmicH\. :md gL'Ihln. .r s \n·ll .rs "thn culrcrral d,tkrc·rKes
Index by Author 917 .md Lr\·ered rdcmint·s. It im ires .1 deepc·r .rppreu.ltJ(lll nt' thl' 1ck.l!s ,md -;tnl>;t-'k' lli
ordill,lr\' i\mcrrc:m }'c,opk in .rll thc'Ir cli\·crsm rhmu,_-:h rhc'Jr litt'Llturc'.
Index by Title 919
\lVh,n .rbour lirc·r:rture; The· nhrors undn,t.md "IJt,'r.nure" not ,h J:J l<oLttc',1 .r,·,tJwn,·
About the Editors 925 ubycr. h1t as \\·lur R:r\·mund \\'illi,mrs ,·,rlkd "\\ nting m •:tXlt't\ ... ,ii: c'IIgning prnccss of
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l xv
xvi American Working -Class Literature Preface xvii
• How might traditional conceptions of "literature"-how it is made, where it Jones, Stanford University; Barry Maxwell, Cornell University; Cary Nelson, the
comes from, how it is received and used-be revised and expanded to account for University of Illinois; Xiomara A Santamarina, the University of Michigan; and Gustvus
this alternative tradition? How do working-class experience, identity, history, and Stadler, Haverford College.
struggle shape literary expression? What cultural work does this literature perform, Although the majority of headnotes were written by the editors, our thanks are also
in terms of what it allows us, as readers and writers, to see, understand, and produce? due to a number scholars who contributed notes on particular authors: Ken Boas, Eric Lief
• Work as a subject is at the center of much of this literature, as it is or will be at the Davin, and Lois Williams at the University ofPittsburgh,John Crawford at West End Press,
center of much of our lives. These text allow us to ask: What is work, and what has David Demarest at Carnegie Mellon University, Babak Elahi at the Rochester Institute of
it been in America' What are the conditions of work and the relationships of the Technology, Richard Ellis at University of Birmingham, UK, Ted Genoways at the University
vvorkplace for those who do the hardest and often most physically demanding work of Virginia, John Marsh at the University of Illinois, Florence Howe of The Feminist Press
in the society? and Larry Smith at Firelands College and Bottom Dog Press.
• Class also shapes all our lives, and consciousness of class informs all the literature In addition to those named above, Nicholas Coles has benefited from collegial dis
that follO\vs. If we understand class as a set oflived relationships shaped by historical cussion with Jim Daniels, John Gilgun, Michael Helfand, Donald Petesch, Richard
forces and expressed in shared culture, we can ask: What are the connections Oestereicher, Marcus Rediker, and Scott Smith. He particularly wishes to acknowledge
between the work that people do and their experience of class? What does it Eric Lief Davin for his astute editorial advice on the book's historical sections and to
mean to be a part of America's "working-class majority"'2 What are the human Jennifer Matesa for her diligent work on securing permissions to reprint copyrighted mat
consequences of the class system? erial. Timely research help was provided by Sara Grozanick, Laura Hoover, Kirstin Collins,
and Will Seung-Hwan, students at the University of Pittsburgh. Coles wishes to thank
Responses to the questions just posed can be as multiple and varied as the 150 voices gathered
administrators of Pitt's English Department and School of Arts and Sciences for the grant
here. Our aim is not to define these fluid and contested terms once and for all, but rather, to
of release time and other resources toward the completion of this project. He is deeply
stimulate a process of dialogue and interpretation, grounded in the literature and its contexts,
grateful to Jennifer Matesa for her fine editing and constant support through the years of
that will be continued by readers individually, in groups, and in classrooms. As Constance
work represented here.
Coiner wrote, "We want readers to decipher the cultural work done by working-class texts
Janet Zandy wishes to recognize John Crawford's "installments" of literary history,
and the ways in which readers are invited to participate in that cultural work."3
theory, and scholarship, especially in the area of radical and multicultural writers. She
To initiate and frame this process, the Introduction looks further into the implications
thanks the many conference audiences and panel participants who have contributed to the
of the key terms that name the project of this book-American, worki11g class, and literature-
recognition of American working-class literature, particularly comments and advice from
explaining as we go what has motivated us, as teachers and participants in this tradition,
Paul Lauter and Barbara Foley. She also thanks the Rochester Institute of Technology for
to gather these texts into an anthology. We then examine particular processes of "cultural
a Faculty Development Grant and professional leave for providing time to complete this
formation" through which working-class literature is produced, received, and used. Finally,
and other projects. At a critical juncture, RIT's Provost Stanley McKenzie and Dean
vve describe the way in which the book itself was constructed and how it is organized so
Andrew Moore generously provided financial support to defray permission costs. Her
as to make this literature accessible and its contexts clear. Just as we argue that working
family and friends have sustained her through this long book, as well as many other
class literature enacts collective traditions of reading and writing, we also suggest that
professional commitments. Many thanks.
studying it can open a much fuller understanding of how culture is formed, sustained, and
The editors also wish to recognize these individuals at Oxford University Press for
carried from one generation to another.
their editorial advice and professional commitment to this project: Anthony English,
In this way. American ~Hnkilli?-Class Literature is designed to engage readers in
Jan Beatty, Talia Krohn, Jackie Ardam, and Marta Peimer. We appreciate the careful work
vvorking-class literature as an ongoing tradition of cultural expression. The work collected
of Lisa Grzan, production editor, Wendy Almeleh, copyeditor, and Annika Sarin, designer,
here invites students, teachers, scholars, and writers not only to discover and study this
who saw this book through the process of final production. We thank the many people
tradition, but also to contribute to it.
who granted permissions to reprint copyrighted material, librarians who offered advice,
and contemporary visual artists who allowed the reproduction of their images.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Finally, anyone who has completed an anthology of any size is aware of the hard
choices that must be made in the face of necessary restrictions that are imposed by a book's
length and by the cost of permission to reprint copyrighted material. We regret that we
As with any project of this scope. American Hi,rki11g-Class Literature is the product not only
have not been able to include many fine contemporary writers whose vvork belongs in the
of the labor of its editors. but also of the published and unpublished writings, oral and
tradition of American working-class literature. We invite readers to consider the work of
cultural traditions, scholarship, critical perceptions, and progressive commitments of too
these and other writers. who are listed in the extended bibliography.
many people to name here. This collection does, in Walt Whitman's phrase, contain
We hope this book will contribute to the restoration of a nearly lost literary legacy.
multitudes. The t!nal outcome. honed and refined, emerges out of a process of difficult
We thank the writers, alive and dead, tor their work.
choices and necessary consultation. For detailed suggestions on the contents and design
of the book, for their advice and scholarship. we especially thank our editorial advisers
Nicholas Coles
John Crawford, Florence Howe. Barbara Smith, Cary Nelson, and Laura Hapke. We are
Pittsburgh, Penmylvania 2005
gratefi.1l tor their knovYiedge and their support. Oxford University Press would also like to
acknowledge the expertise of the scholars who served as outside reviewers on this project Janet Zandy
and whose counsel informed it final shape: Michael Elliott, Emory University; Gavin Rochester, New York 2005
L_
xviii American Working-Class Literature
Notes
1. "Writing," in Tf'ntin.J; in Society (london: Verso, 19f\5), 1-7.
2. See Michael Zweig. The TH!rki11g-Cl<1ss .\1<1jority: America:, Best Kept Serrct (Ithaca. NY:
IlR/Cornell University Press, 2000).
3. Constance Coiner, "U.S. Working-Class Women's Fiction: Notes Toward an Oven·iew," in Introduction
Janet Zandy, ed., H-'hat TVe Hold i11 Commow An Introductio11 to THlrking-Class Studies (New York:
Feminist Press, 20\ll), 230.
Class ... [and] its relationship to works of literature: the great unexamined.
-Tillie Olsen, Silences
American vVorking-Class Literature invites readers to explore a world of writing that until
recently has largely been left out of the mainstream literary canon. Workers have been
singing, reciting, performing, telling stories, writing, and publishing since the beginning
of the settlements that became the United States-and they are still doing so. This collec
tion aims to represent this tradition of more than 250 years of literary \vitness to the ways
in ·which working-class people have lived, labored, and given meaning to their experiences
inside and outside the workplace.
Often during its history, this alternative literary tradition has been hidden or for
gotten, marginalized as folklore, or actively suppressed as political propaganda. From time
to time, such as during the rise of proletarian struggles in the 1930s, working-class writers
found wider audiences and greater opportunities for publication. only to have their work
muted or submerged when political backlash suppressed populist expression. Still. culture
produced out of the experience and creativity of workers continued, albeit sometimes in
fragmentary and unrecognized forms. In the context of the social changes that gathered
force through the 1960s, writers, small-press publishers, editors, students, teachers, and
activists challenged narrowly constructed vie\vs of literature. This anthology of working
class writings owes much to previous work of reclamation and recovery of the cultures of
working people, especially those of women and writers of color.! But it goes further in
that it foregrounds what worker-writer Tillie Olsen calls "the great unexamined": class.
As a continuing tradition of cultural expression, responsive to historical and economic
pressures and changes, working-class literature is rooted for the most part outside the
academy. This anthology bridges the space between the circumstances of the writing-the
site of its original production and reception-and the academic location of reading and
engaging with the text in its present form. To connect these worlds, to see how they inter
sect, and increasingly overlap in contemporary \\Titing. it is important to understand the
concepts of "literature'' and "working cbss" in elastic expansive \Yays. This anthology
represents the t\.1ll range of genres that writers of and about the working class ha\·e drawn
upon. These genres include. but are not limited to, fiction, poetry, memoir. reportage,
manifestos, letters, oral history. speeches. songs, and plavs, as well as mixed forms. such as
illustrated poem-cards, oral historv "lifelets." and collectiw ··autobiography." Within this
range, readers will find selections by ,,·ell-kno\vn American writers of the working class.
such as Tillie Olsen, Jack London. and Langston Hughes, alongside \\'Ork that has been
more obscure. local. or ephemeral. Texts have been chosen ±or both their historical and
literary value. This is \\Titing that illuminates key moments. locations, and conditions
in working-class lite and that does so in language and in forms that an.> vivid. compelling,
and arttul. And it meets the standard that Lillian Robinson proposed t()r literature that
is '"honest'': "[Itj should help us le,Jrn about the \\'d)' things are, in as much depth and
ti.Jl!ness as possible and by any means necessary.'':'
... l xix