''Hammer and Hoe: Alabama Communists during the Great Depression'' is a 1990 book on U.S. history by

Robin D. G. Kelley Robin Davis Gibran Kelley (born March 14, 1962) is an American historian and academic, who is the Gary B. Nash Professor of American History at UCLA. From 2006 to 2011, he was Professor of American Studies and Ethnicity at the University of Sout ...

. It describes labor, racial and social history in Alabama during the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

, focusing on black

communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

organizing. In particular ''Hammer and Hoe'' describes the way black workers brought existing traditions of resistance to racial oppression to their development of a unique version of Marxism. The book won several prizes and was republished in a 25th anniversary edition in 2015.

Development and publication

developed ''Hammer and Hoe'' during graduate school in the 1980s in a climate of

activism Activism (or Advocacy) consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in Social change, social, Political campaign, political, economic or Natural environment, environmental reform with the desire to make Social change, changes i ...

, including the protests against police violence in Liberty City, Florida, Harold Washington’s election as Mayor of Chicago, and the growing presidential campaign of

Jesse Jackson Jesse Louis Jackson (né Burns; born October 8, 1941) is an American political activist, Baptist minister, and politician. He was a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1984 and 1988 and served as a shadow U.S. senator ...

. As a young organizer, Kelley worked to pressure the University of California system to divest from its holdings in South Africa and simultaneously became interested in radical black organizing in the US, specifically the Communist Party in Alabama, which became the topic of his dissertation and then the book. Robin D

Kelley published ''Hammer and Hoe'' with the University of North Carolina Press in 1990. A 25th anniversary edition, with a new preface, was published in 2015.

Subject matter

''Hammer and Hoe'' describes the Communist Party's role in the efforts to win racial equality in the south, specifically in highly segregated Alabama, working for racial, economic, and political reforms. Reviewing ''Hammer and Hoe'' for ''

American Quarterly ''American Quarterly'' is an academic journal and the official publication of the American Studies Association. The journal covers topics of both domestic and international concern in the United States and is considered a leading resource in the ...

'', historian David Roediger emphasized Kelley's methodological approach as descriptive rather than normative project: "Kelley asks not whether the Communist party was good (or correct or independent) but how the party came to attract a substantial number of African-American workers in Alabama and to energize ''their'' struggles mphasis in the original Or, more exactly he asks how these black workers could embrace and use the Communist party as a vehicle for organizing themselves. He insists on measuring radicalism not by its ideological purity but by its ability to interact with a received culture to generate bold class organizations." Writing at '' The Nation'', Sarah Jaffe says, "Kelley details ..how black workers in Alabama made communism their own, blending the teachings of Marx and Lenin with those of the black church and the lessons of decades of resistance to slavery, segregation, and racist terrorism."

Reception

Roediger praised ''Hammer and Hoe'' as "superbly crafted...a story that is fresh in every way." For ''Hammer and Hoe'', Kelley won the Elliott Rudwick Prize from the

Organization of American Historians The Organization of American Historians (OAH), formerly known as the Mississippi Valley Historical Association, is the largest professional society dedicated to the teaching and study of American history. OAH's members in the U.S. and abroad inc ...

, the Outstanding Book Award from the Gustavus Myers Center for the Study of Bigotry and Human Rights in North America, and the Francis Butler Simkins Award from the Southern Historical Association. In 2015, Jaffe wrote that the book on "what might have seemed to be a fairly esoteric topic yet offered lessons that activists have been drawing on for twenty-five years. Throughout that time, the book has remained in print, winning awards and, more important to Kelley, a place in the hearts and strategic thinking of decades of young organizers struggling with the questions of race, gender, class, and solidarity."

References

External links

25th Anniversary Edition of Hammer and Hoe
at the University of North Carolina Press {{DEFAULTSORT:Hammer And Hoe 1990 non-fiction books University of North Carolina Press books Labor history of the United States Books about labor history American history books Books about communism History of Alabama 20th century in Alabama African-American history of Alabama Labor relations in Alabama