Rise & Fall of Labor Liberalism in Arkansas, 1941-1992 — Arkansas Education Assoc. Leadership Conf.

Michael C. Pierce, Ph.D., traces the role of organized labor in Arkansas’s political arena from the start of World War II through Bill Clinton’s election to the presidency more than 50 years later. He argues that a coalition of trade unionists, civil rights activists and urban liberals remade the state in the 1950s and 1960s by opening up the state’s political system to working class voters. These voters, in turn, ushered in the most progressive era of reform in the state’s history — protecting consumers, empowering African Americans, making the wealthy pay their fare share of taxes, enacting a minimum wage, increasing government transparency and protecting worker safety. This brief period of reform came to an end by the late 1970s as the men whom the labor-black-liberal coalition put into office cozied up to the state’s economic elite. (Note: This recording begins a few minutes into the lecture.)

Michael Pierce is associate professor of history at the University of Arkansas. He received his A.B. from Kenyon College and his Ph.D. from Ohio State University. He is author of "Striking with the Ballot: Ohio Labor and the Populist Party" and co-editor of two volumes, the most recent being "Race, Labor, and Violence in the Delta: Essays to Mark the Centennial of the Elaine Massacre." His essays have appeared in "Journal of Southern History," "Labor History," "Agricultural History" and several edited volumes. Pierce has won multiple teaching awards, including the John E. King Award for Outstanding Service, Outstanding Faculty Member Award, Fulbright College Justice and Ecology Award, Connor Endowed Faculty Fellowship, Fulbright College Master Teacher and the OMNI Center for Peace Fulbright Justice and Ecology Award. He serves on the board of UA-Fayetteville Education Association / Local 965 https://arkansas965.org

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