Ahmed White (born September 5, 1970) is the Nicholas Rosenbaum Professor of Law at the

University of Colorado Law School The University of Colorado Law School is one of the professional graduate schools within the University of Colorado System. It is a public law school, with more than 500 students attending and working toward a Juris Doctor or Master of Studies in ...

. His scholarship centers on the intersection of labor and criminal law and on the concept of rule of law. He has written numerous academic articles and two books, ''The Last Great Strike'', which details the history of the 1937

Little Steel Strike The Little Steel strike was a 1937 labor strike by the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) and its branch the Steel Workers Organizing Committee (SWOC), against a number of smaller steel producing companies, principally Republic Steel, In ...

, and ''Under the Iron Heel'', which is the first comprehensive account of the campaign of legal repression and vigilantism that effectively destroyed the

Industrial Workers of the World The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), members of which are commonly termed "Wobblies", is an international labor union that was founded in Chicago in 1905. The origin of the nickname "Wobblies" is uncertain. IWW ideology combines genera ...

Academic career

In 2000, after spending three semesters as a Visiting Professor at

Northwestern University Law School Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law is the law school of Northwestern University, a Private university, private research university. It is located on the university's Chicago campus. Northwestern Law has been ranked among the top 14, ...

, White joined the faculty at the

as an Assistant Professor; he was the second African American hired on the tenure-track faculty there. In 2007, he was granted tenure and, in 2011, he was promoted to full professor. In 2016, he was named the Nicholas Rosenbaum Professor of Law.http://www.colorado.edu/law/sites/default/files/attached-files/viewbook_2016_0.pdf "The Nicholas Rosenbaum Professorship of Law was endowed by a gift from the estate of Nicholas Rosenbaum and is used to . . . attract and retain outstanding legal scholars."

''Under The Iron Heel''

In October 2022, the

University of California Press The University of California Press, otherwise known as UC Press, is a publishing house associated with the University of California that engages in academic publishing. It was founded in 1893 to publish scholarly and scientific works by faculty ...

published White's second book, ''Under the Iron Heel'', which documents the rise and fall of the

or ''IWW'', whose members are often referred to as ''Wobblies''. The book details the torrent of legal persecution and extralegal, sometimes lethal violence that shattered the IWW. In so doing, the book reveals the remarkable courage of those who faced this campaign, lays bare the origins of the profoundly unequal and conflicted nation we know today, and uncovers disturbing truths about the law, political repression, and the limits of free speech and association in class society.

''The Last Great Strike''

In January 2016, the

published White's first book, ''The Last Great Strike'', which details the

. It has received several reviews. Reviewer and historian Randi Storch describes the book as a "powerful read" that is "particularly relevant in today's 'post-truth' political environment." History News Network gives White "great credit" for engaging in a "reevaluation" of the Little Steel Strike and its impact, and says he "shines an overdue spotlight" on President Franklin D. Roosevelt's role in the episode. Professor Charles K. Piehl, of Minnesota State University, Mankato, writing for ''Library Journal,'' describes ''The Last Great Strike'' as the first book-length study of the well-known Little Steel Strike, and calls the book a "great read" with "wide appeal."Charles K. Piehl, LIBRARY JOURNAL at 118, JANUARY 2016 Kevin Baker, author of (among other publications) ''The Big Crowd'', calls ''The Last Great Strike'' "a brilliant, incisive, always intriguing, sometimes heartbreaking account of critical moment in America's labor history."Ahmed White, THE LAST GREAT STRIKE: Little Steel, the CIO, and the Struggle for Labor Rights in New Deal America, back cover (University of California Press 2016).

Dale Maharidge Dale Maharidge (born 24 October 1956) is an American author, journalist and academic best known for his collaborations with photographer Michael Williamson. Maharidge and Williamson's book '' And Their Children After Them'' won the Pulitzer Prize ...

, author of ''Journey to Nowhere'', which inspired

Bruce Springsteen Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen (born September 23, 1949) is an American singer and songwriter. He has released 21 studio albums, most of which feature his backing band, the E Street Band. Originally from the Jersey Shore, he is an originat ...

's song, ''Youngstown'', says the book is "a must-read for anyone interested in today's labor issues." And Steve Fraser, author of ''The Age of Acquiescence: The Life and Death of American Resistance to Organized Wealth and Power'', calls the book "a superb piece of scholarship about a critical event in modern American labor history." The cover of ''The Last Great Strike'' features a detail of the painting, ''American Tragedy'', by

Philip Evergood Philip Howard Francis Dixon Evergood (born Howard Blashki; 1901–1973) was an American painter, etcher, lithographer, sculptor, illustrator and writer. He was particularly active during the Depression and World War II era. Life Philip Evergoo ...

, and is used courtesy of ACA Galleries, New York. The painting depicts the 1937 Memorial Day Massacre in Chicago, Illinois.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:White, Ahmed 1970 births Living people University of Colorado Boulder faculty American legal scholars