S2, Episode 5: Alonzo Ward on the Hidden History of Black Labor in Illinois

 In Episode 5, guest Alonzo Ward (history, Eastern Illinois University) and host Augustus Wood explore the less well known threads of American labor history, specifically Black labor in Illinois. Beyond any easy, simplified reading of the past—Black workers as "strike breakers," for example—they ask listeners to look deeper at the real, lived conditions and context of people's lives.

As history is written, are the subjects' voices part of the narrative? Is the multifaceted nature of their lives, in all of its complexity, incorporated into the analysis? As they discuss the importance of agency and complicating the story of Black labor in the 19th and 20th centuries, Ward and Wood find connections to labor trends unfolding today.  View Episode 5 show notes and transcript.