Archie Green: The Making of a Working-Class Hero celebrates one of the most revered folklorists and labor historians of the twentieth century. Devoted to understanding the diverse cultural customs of working people, Archie Green (1917–2009) tirelessly documented these traditions and educated the public about the place of workers' culture and music in American life. Doggedly lobbying Congress for support of the American Folklife Preservation Act of 1976, Green helped establish the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress, a significant collection of images, recordings, and written accounts that preserve the myriad cultural productions of Americans. Capturing the many dimensions of Green's remarkably influential life and work, Sean Burns draws on extensive interviews with Green and his many collaborators to examine the intersections of radicalism, folklore, labor history, and worker culture with Green's work. Burns closely analyzes Green's political genealogy and activist trajectory while illustrating how he worked to open up an independent political space on the American Left that was defined by an unwavering commitment to cultural pluralism. | Cover Title Page Copyright Contents Foreword Illustrations Abbreviations Introduction: Worker, Scholar, and Organizer Part 1. Of Shreds and Patches: Early Political Formation Chapter 1. Family, Revolution, and Emigration Chapter 2. Boyle Heights in the 1920s Chapter 3. Student Politics and Labor in the Thirties Part 2. Triangle of Commitments: San Francisco Maritime Politics of the Thirties Chapter 4. From Berkeley Stacks to Stake-Side Trucks Chapter 5. "Brother Slugging Brother": Sailors, Longshoremen, and Legacies of the '34 Strike Chapter 6. Harry Bridges and Reconsiderations of Communist Party History Chapter 7. Union Service and Organizing World War II Veterans Part 3. A Decent Philosophy: Culture, Politics and the American Folk Revivalism Chapter 8. Folk Music and the American Communist Party Chapter 9. Moments in the Making of a Laborlorist Chapter 10. Vernacular Music and Cultural Pluralism Part 4. "Always on Stolen Time": Folklore, Labor History, and Cultural Studies Chapter 11. Alternative Popular Front Imaginary Chapter 12. New Labor History and American Cultural Studies Chapter 13. Laborlore: A Pedagogy of the Working Class Epilogue: A Conversation with Archie Acknowledgments Notes Bibliography Index | Awarded the CLR James Award for Best Book from the Working Class Studies Association, 2012. — the Working Class Studies Association
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Sean Burns is a teacher, musician, and administrator serving as Director of Undergraduate Research and Scholarships at the University of California, Berkeley. His research and teaching interests center on the history, culture, and politics of progressive social movements. His band, Professor Burns and the Lilac Field, is rooted in Berkeley, California.