The Color Line and the Assembly Line

Managing Race in the Ford Empire

Elizabeth Esch

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English

University of California Press
04 May 2018

History of the Americas; Social & cultural history; Ethnic studies; Road vehicle manufacturing industry

Series: American Crossroads

The Color Line and the Assembly Line tells a new story of the impact of mass production on society. Global corporations based originally in the United States have played a part in making gender and race everywhere. Focusing on Ford Motor Company’s rise to become the largest, richest, and most influential corporation in the world, The Color Line and the Assembly Line takes on the traditional story of Fordism. Contrary to popular thought, the assembly line was perfectly compatible with all manner of racial practice in the United States, Brazil, and South Africa. Each country’s distinct racial hierarchies in the 1920s and 1930s informed Ford’s often divisive labor processes. Confirming racism as an essential component in the creation of global capitalism, Elizabeth Esch also adds an important new lesson showing how local patterns gave capitalism its distinctive features.

By: Elizabeth Esch
Imprint: University of California Press
Country of Publication: United States
Volume: 50
Dimensions: Height: 229mm, Width: 152mm, Spine: 20mm
Weight: 408g
ISBN: 9780520285385
ISBN 10: 0520285387
Series: American Crossroads
Pages: 280
Publication Date: 04 May 2018
Audience: College/higher education , Professional and scholarly , Primary , Undergraduate
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Acknowledgments Introduction • The Color Line and the Assembly Line 1 • Ford Goes to the World; the World Comes to Ford 2 • From the Melting Pot to the Boiling Pot: Fascism and the Factory-State at the River Rouge Plant in the 1920s 3 • Out of the Melting Pot and into the Fire: African Americans and the Uneven Ford Empire at Home 4 • Breeding Rubber, Breeding Workers: From Fordlandia to Belterra 5 • “Work in the Factory Itself”: Fordism, South Africanism, and Poor White Reform Conclusion • From the One Best Way to The Way Forward to One Ford—Still Uneven, Still Unequal Notes Selected Bibliography Index

Elizabeth Esch is Assistant Professor of American Studies at the University of Kansas. She is the coauthor, with David Roediger, of The Production of Difference: Race and the Management of Labor in US History.

Reviews for The Color Line and the Assembly Line: Managing Race in the Ford Empire

Esch provides a valuable study that shows how racism was an essential part of the creation of global capitalism. * Journal of American History * Provides a useful starting point for examining Ford's adaptation of its labor practices to differing national contexts. Historians and historically minded social scientists will find this book to be an accessible, informative, and engaging contribution to the literature about Ford. * Journal of Interdisciplinary History * In this exciting contribution to the historiography of the Ford Motor Company, Elizabeth D. Esch reframes a familiar Michigan history topic within historians' rich conversations about race and empire. * Michigan Historical Review *