Scholar traces African American labor movement in California from townships to wartime shipyards

Dr. Robin Muhammad, an associate professor of history at Ohio University and a labor historian, gave a Black History Month presentation to the Agricultural Labor Relations Board titled “Harbors and Homes: The African American Labor Movement in California, Past and Present.” Muhammad traced patterns of migration, industry, and organizing that shaped Black labor in California from the nineteenth century through the late twentieth century and offered observations about contemporary challenges.

Muhammad summarized how nineteenth‑century migration and a set of extractive and service industries (rail, maritime, gold mining and agriculture) established a foundation for a twentieth‑century Black labor presence in the West. She discussed Black townships such as Allensworth that developed local institutions focused on farming, banking and retail, and noted that California had among the largest number of Black townships in the period she studied.

A central theme of her talk was the growth of the Black labor presence during World War II driven by the defense and shipbuilding industries. Muhammad described how networks of unions, churches, civic groups and civil‑rights organizations helped newly arrived workers find housing and information. She highlighted the role of the Fair Employment Practice Committee (FEPC) in the 1940s as a place where workers could file grievances: "The FEPC opened up a physical place for people to go, and it generated an enormous set of documents that tell us something about how workers were organizing," Muhammad said.

Muhammad emphasized the often‑overlooked role of women in wartime labor organizing: although she said roughly 90% of Bay Area shipyard workers who were Black were men, FEPC records showed more than half of filings came from women, who gathered affidavits and coordinated with NAACP auxiliaries and other civic groups. She also described how workplace safety concerns, exposure to toxic chemicals, and decentralization of shipyard supervision shaped workers’ grievances.

Muhammad moved to the postwar era and described how housing desegregation and access became a major focus for workers and unions, showing a redlining map of Sacramento to illustrate restricted housing practices. She said the growth of labor representation among Black workers later shifted toward service and public‑sector unions such as SEIU and AFSCME and that shipping, transportation and public‑sector jobs remain part of the movement’s legacy.

Ending with contemporary issues, Muhammad noted an aging African American workforce in California and the need to mentor younger labor and civic leaders, to preserve cross‑sector coalitions (environmental, civil‑rights and labor groups), and to center education in humanities and STEM as part of workforce development. Board members thanked Muhammad and raised a few brief follow‑up questions during the meeting’s question period.