Jo Ann Argersinger's innovative analysis of the New Deal years in Baltimore establishes the significance of citizen participation and community organization in shaping the welfare programs of the Great Depression. Baltimore, a border city divided by race and openly hostile to unions, the unemployed, and working women, is a particularly valuable locus for gauging the impact of the New Deal.
This book examines the interaction of federal, state, and local policies, and documents the partial efforts of the New Deal to reach out to new constituencies. By unraveling the complex connections between government intervention and citizen action, Argersinger offers new insights into the real meaning of the Roosevelt record. She demonstrates how New Deal programs both encouraged and restricted the organized efforts of groups traditionally ignored by major party politics. With federal assistance, Baltimore's blacks, women, unionizing workers, and homeless unemployed attempted to combat local conservatism and make the New Deal more responsive to their needs. Ultimately, citizen activism was as important as federal legislation in determining the contours of the New Deal in Baltimore.
Originally published in 1988.
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"A volatile, competitive, and seasonal industry, the making of men's suits has long been characterized by manufacturers who search relentlessly for the cheapest labor pools. Sweatshop labor conditions have been a regular feature of the industry, provoking repeated and explosive investigations and constituting a target for social reform and a major source of union concern. The Amalgamated Clothing Workers from its inception in 1914 has sought to create a process of labor-management relations that emphasizes cooperation and negotiation" -- from the Introduction

Making the Amalgamated examines the policy and power relationships that developed on the shopfloor, in the union hall, on the picket line, and within the national organization of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers (ACW) in the period when this industry -- now largely departed from the United States -- teemed with activity. A progressive union imbued with socialist principles, the ACW practiced labor-management cooperation and attempted simultaneously to discipline union members and to bring clothing manufacturers to heel.

Jo Ann E. Argersinger examines both the interests that tended to unify workers and the forces that divided them. She studies the complex nature of union building itself, explores the seasonal cycles of the clothing industry as a whole, and places Baltimore and the ACW in national context, illustrating how local trends collided with national union politics. Argersinger draws from the strengths of the traditional approach to labor history. While offering a full account of institutional growth of the union movement, however, she also incorporates new insights, stressing labor's social context and the shiftinginfluences of ethnicity, gender, and culture. Blending old and new perspectives, Making the Amalgamated calls for a more nuanced understanding of organized labor and business practices.

This highly visual survey of American history introduces students to the key features of American political, social, and economic history in an exciting format designed to ignite students passion to know history. "The American Journey, ""Brief Edition "provides students with the most help available in reading, thinking, and applying the material they are learning in the text and in lecture. A series of pedagogical aids, in text and out of class study companions, as well as complete instructor presentational and assessment support make this text the perfect choice for those looking to make history come alive for their students. The path that led the authors to "The American Journey "began in the classroom with their students. The goal of this text is to make American history accessible to students. The key to that goal--the core of the book--is a strong, clear narrative and a positive theme of The American "Journey." American history is a compelling story that the authors tell in an engaging, forthright way, while providing students with an abundance of tools to help them absorb that story and put it into context. This text combines political and social history, to fit the experience of particular groups into the broader perspective of the American past, to give voice to minor and major players alike, because the history of America is in the stories of its people.

This highly visual survey of American history introduces students to the key features of American political, social, and economic history in an exciting format designed to ignite students passion to know history. "The American Journey, ""Brief Edition "provides students with the most support available in reading, thinking, and applying the material they are learning in the text and in lecture. A series of pedagogical aids, in text and out of class study companions, as well as complete instructor presentational and assessment support make this text the perfect choice for those looking to make history come alive for their students. The path that led the authors to "The American Journey "began in the classroom with their students. The goal of this text is to make American history accessible to students. The key to that goal--the core of the book--is a strong, clear narrative and a positive theme of The American "Journey." American history is a compelling story that the authors tell in an engaging, forthright way, while providing students with an abundance of tools to help them absorb that story and put it into context. This text combines political and social history, to fit the experience of particular groups into the broader perspective of the American past, to give voice to minor and major players alike, because the history of America is in the stories of its people.