No Right to an Honest Living: The Struggles of Boston's Black Workers in the Civil War Era

Summary

Jacqueline Jones recovers the working lives of Black Bostonians before, during, and after the Civil War, showing how the supposedly free North denied them decent jobs and steady wages. She draws on census records, court files, and city directories to follow laborers, mariners, and domestic workers who faced relentless discrimination despite the city's antislavery reputation. The book reveals the gap between Boston's abolitionist image and the economic injustice that confined its Black residents to the margins.