David Roediger
Encyclopedia
David R. Roediger is a well-established professor of history at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
(UIUC). His research interests include the construction of racial identity, class structures
, labor studies, and the history of American radicalism
. He writes from a Marxist
theoretical framework.
. He received a bachelor of science
degree in education from Northern Illinois University
in 1975, and a Ph.D.
in history from Northwestern University
in 1980, where he wrote a dissertation under the direction of George M. Frederickson.
He was assistant editor of the Frederick Douglass
Papers at Yale University
from 1979 to 1980.
After receipt of his doctorate, Roediger was a lecturer and assistant professor of history at Northwestern University
from 1980 to 1985. He then served as an assistant professor at the University of Missouri
in 1985, rising to full professor in 1992. He moved to the University of Minnesota
in 1995, and was chair of the university's American Studies Program from 1996 to 2000.
In 2000, he received an appointment as a professor of history at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Roediger has also served as the director for the Center on Democracy in a Multiracial Society at UIUC.
Roediger is a member of the board of directors of the Charles H Kerr Company Publishers
, a position he has held since 1992.
, although he has also written on radicalism in American history and politics.
Roediger's book The Wages of Whiteness: Race and the Making of the American Working Class has had a significant impact on the study of race in the U.S. In the work, Roediger argued that many different peoples now considered "white
" in the United States were not initially perceived as such. Irish American
s, for example, were not considered "white" until the idea of white shifted to an identity that contrasted themselves with black
slaves. Roediger claims that the social construction of the concept of a white race
in the United States was a conscious effort to mentally distance slave owners from slaves. By the 18th century, he says, "white" had become well-established as a racial term.
In 1989, Roediger and historian Philip Foner
co-authored Our Own Time: A History of American Labor and the Working Day, a book that provides a highly detailed account of the movement to shorten the working day
in the United States. The work broke new ground by combining labor history
with a study of culture and the nature of work. The book also extended the history of the eight hour day movement to colonial times
. The authors argued that debate over the length of the work-day or work-week has been the central issue of the American labor movement during periods of high growth.
Roediger is currently researching the interrelation between labor management and the formation of racial identities in the U.S.
for his book, The Wages of Whiteness: Race and the Making of the American Working Class. The prize is given to the best book in social history by the Organization of American Historians
.
In 1999, Roediger won the Carlton C. Qualey
Memorial Award for his article "Inbetween Peoples," which was co-authored with James Barrett. The award is given by the Immigration and Ethnic History Society for the best article in the Journal of American Ethnic History.
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
The University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign is a large public research-intensive university in the state of Illinois, United States. It is the flagship campus of the University of Illinois system...
(UIUC). His research interests include the construction of racial identity, class structures
Social class
Social classes are economic or cultural arrangements of groups in society. Class is an essential object of analysis for sociologists, political scientists, economists, anthropologists and social historians. In the social sciences, social class is often discussed in terms of 'social stratification'...
, labor studies, and the history of American radicalism
Far left
Far left, also known as the revolutionary left, radical left and extreme left are terms which refer to the highest degree of leftist positions among left-wing politics...
. He writes from a Marxist
Marxism
Marxism is an economic and sociopolitical worldview and method of socioeconomic inquiry that centers upon a materialist interpretation of history, a dialectical view of social change, and an analysis and critique of the development of capitalism. Marxism was pioneered in the early to mid 19th...
theoretical framework.
Early life and education
Roediger was born in 1952 in Columbia, IllinoisColumbia, Illinois
Columbia is a city in Monroe and St. Clair County in the U.S. state of Illinois, about south of St. Louis, Missouri. The population was 7,922 at the 2000 census.-History:...
. He received a bachelor of science
Bachelor of Science
A Bachelor of Science is an undergraduate academic degree awarded for completed courses that generally last three to five years .-Australia:In Australia, the BSc is a 3 year degree, offered from 1st year on...
degree in education from Northern Illinois University
Northern Illinois University
Northern Illinois University is a state university and research institution located in DeKalb, Illinois, with satellite centers in Hoffman Estates, Naperville, Rockford, and Oregon. It was originally founded as Northern Illinois State Normal School on May 22, 1895 by Illinois Governor John P...
in 1975, and a Ph.D.
Doctor of Philosophy
Doctor of Philosophy, abbreviated as Ph.D., PhD, D.Phil., or DPhil , in English-speaking countries, is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities...
in history from Northwestern University
Northwestern University
Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston and Chicago, Illinois, USA. Northwestern has eleven undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools offering 124 undergraduate degrees and 145 graduate and professional degrees....
in 1980, where he wrote a dissertation under the direction of George M. Frederickson.
He was assistant editor of the Frederick Douglass
Frederick Douglass
Frederick Douglass was an American social reformer, orator, writer and statesman. After escaping from slavery, he became a leader of the abolitionist movement, gaining note for his dazzling oratory and incisive antislavery writing...
Papers at Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
from 1979 to 1980.
After receipt of his doctorate, Roediger was a lecturer and assistant professor of history at Northwestern University
Northwestern University
Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston and Chicago, Illinois, USA. Northwestern has eleven undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools offering 124 undergraduate degrees and 145 graduate and professional degrees....
from 1980 to 1985. He then served as an assistant professor at the University of Missouri
University of Missouri
The University of Missouri System is a state university system providing centralized administration for four universities, a health care system, an extension program, five research and technology parks, and a publishing press. More than 64,000 students are currently enrolled at its four campuses...
in 1985, rising to full professor in 1992. He moved to the University of Minnesota
University of Minnesota
The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities is a public research university located in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, United States. It is the oldest and largest part of the University of Minnesota system and has the fourth-largest main campus student body in the United States, with 52,557...
in 1995, and was chair of the university's American Studies Program from 1996 to 2000.
In 2000, he received an appointment as a professor of history at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Roediger has also served as the director for the Center on Democracy in a Multiracial Society at UIUC.
Roediger is a member of the board of directors of the Charles H Kerr Company Publishers
Charles H Kerr Company Publishers
Charles H. Kerr Publishing Company was established in Chicago, Illinois in 1886 by Charles Hope Kerr, originally to promote his Unitarian and vegetarian views. As Kerr's personal interests moved from religion to Marxism and he became interested in the labor movement, the company's publications took...
, a position he has held since 1992.
Research
Roediger's research interests primarily concern race and class in the United StatesUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, although he has also written on radicalism in American history and politics.
Roediger's book The Wages of Whiteness: Race and the Making of the American Working Class has had a significant impact on the study of race in the U.S. In the work, Roediger argued that many different peoples now considered "white
White people
White people is a term which usually refers to human beings characterized, at least in part, by the light pigmentation of their skin...
" in the United States were not initially perceived as such. Irish American
Irish American
Irish Americans are citizens of the United States who can trace their ancestry to Ireland. A total of 36,278,332 Americans—estimated at 11.9% of the total population—reported Irish ancestry in the 2008 American Community Survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau...
s, for example, were not considered "white" until the idea of white shifted to an identity that contrasted themselves with black
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
slaves. Roediger claims that the social construction of the concept of a white race
Critical race theory
Critical Race Theory is an academic discipline focused upon the intersection of race, law and power.Although no set of canonical doctrines or methodologies defines CRT, the movement is loosely unified by two common areas of inquiry...
in the United States was a conscious effort to mentally distance slave owners from slaves. By the 18th century, he says, "white" had become well-established as a racial term.
In 1989, Roediger and historian Philip Foner
Philip Foner
Philip S. Foner was an American Marxist labor historian and teacher. The author and editor of more than 100 books, the prolific Foner wrote extensively on what were at the time academically unpopular themes, such as the role of radicals, blacks, and women in American history...
co-authored Our Own Time: A History of American Labor and the Working Day, a book that provides a highly detailed account of the movement to shorten the working day
Working time
Working time is the period of time that an individual spends at paid occupational labor. Unpaid labors such as personal housework are not considered part of the working week...
in the United States. The work broke new ground by combining labor history
Labor history of the United States
The labor history of the United States describes the history of organized labor, as well as the more general history of working people, in the United States. Pressures dictating the nature and power of organized labor have included the evolution and power of the corporation, efforts by employers...
with a study of culture and the nature of work. The book also extended the history of the eight hour day movement to colonial times
Colonial America
The colonial history of the United States covers the history from the start of European settlement and especially the history of the thirteen colonies of Britain until they declared independence in 1776. In the late 16th century, England, France, Spain and the Netherlands launched major...
. The authors argued that debate over the length of the work-day or work-week has been the central issue of the American labor movement during periods of high growth.
Roediger is currently researching the interrelation between labor management and the formation of racial identities in the U.S.
Awards
In 1992, Roediger was given the Merle Curti AwardMerle Curti Award
The Merle Curti Award is awarded annually by the Organization of American Historians for the best book in American social and/or American intellectual history. A committee of 5 members of the Organization of American Historians chooses the winners from published monographs submitted by the author...
for his book, The Wages of Whiteness: Race and the Making of the American Working Class. The prize is given to the best book in social history by the Organization of American Historians
Organization of American Historians
The Organization of American Historians , 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...
.
In 1999, Roediger won the Carlton C. Qualey
Carlton C. Qualey
Carlton C. Qualey was an American professor, author and historian. His research specialized principally in Norwegian-American immigration. An imminent historian, his publications including books, articles and reviews produced over a 60 year career...
Memorial Award for his article "Inbetween Peoples," which was co-authored with James Barrett. The award is given by the Immigration and Ethnic History Society for the best article in the Journal of American Ethnic History.
Solely authored works
- How Race Survived U.S. History: From Settlement and Slavery to the Obama Phenomenon New York: Verso, 2008.
- History Against Misery Chicago: Charles H. Kerr Company, 2006. ISBN 0-882-86305-3
- Working Toward Whiteness: How America's Immigrants Became White. The Strange Journey from Ellis Island to the Suburbs New York: Basic Books, 2005.
- Colored White: Transcending the Racial Past. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2002. ISBN 0-520-24070-7
- Towards the Abolition of Whiteness: Essays on Race, Class and Politics. London and New York: Verso Books, 1994. ISBN 0-86091-658-8
- The Wages of Whiteness: Race and the Making of the American Working Class. Rev. ed. London and New York: Verso Books, 1999. ISBN 1-85984-240-2
Co-authored works
- Roediger, David R. and Foner, Philip S. Our Own Time: A History of American Labor and the Working Day. Greenwood, Colo.: Greenwood Press, 1989. ISBN 0-313-26062-1
- Stallings, Tyler; Roediger, David R.; Jones, Amelia; and Gonzales-Day, Ken. Whiteness: A Wayward Construction. Laguna Beach, Calif.: Laguna Art Museum, 2003. ISBN 0-911291-31-8
Works edited by
- Blatt, Martin and Roediger, David R., eds. The Meaning of Slavery in the North. New York: Garland, 1998. ISBN 0-8153-3758-2
- Kent, Ronald C.; Markham, Sara; Roediger, David R.; and Shapiro, Herbert, eds. Culture, Gender, Race, and U.S. Labor History. Greenwood, Colo.: Greenwood Press, 1993. ISBN 0-313-28828-3
- Roediger, David R., ed. Black on White: Black Writers on What It Means to Be White. Paperback ed. New York: Schocken Books, 1999. ISBN 0-8052-1114-4
- Roediger, David R., ed. Fellow Worker: The Life of Fred Thompson, By Fred Thompson. Chicago: Charles H. Kerr Publishing Co., 1993. ISBN 0-88286-220-0
- Roediger, David R., ed. John Brown, By W.E.B. DuBois. New York: Random House, 2001. ISBN 0-679-78353-9
- Roediger, David R., ed. Labor Struggles in the Deep South, By Covington Hall. Chicago: Charles H. Kerr Publishing Company, 1999. ISBN 0-88286-244-8
- Roediger, David R. and Rosemont, Franklin, eds. Haymarket Scrapbook. Chicago: Charles H. Kerr Publishing Co., 1986. ISBN 0-88286-147-6
- Green, ArchieArchie GreenArchie Green was a folklorist specializing in laborlore and American folk music. Devoted to understanding vernacular culture, he gathered and commented upon the speech, stories, songs, emblems, rituals, art, artifacts, memorials, and landmarks which constitute laborlore...
; Roediger, David; Rosemont, FranklinFranklin RosemontFranklin Rosemont was a poet, artist, historian, street speaker, and co-founder of the Chicago Surrealist Group...
; and Salerno, Salvatore, eds. The Big Red Songbook. Chicago: Charles H. Kerr Publishing Co., 2007. ISBN 0-88286-277-4 - Roediger, David R., ed. The Best American History Essays 2008. New York: Palgrave MacMillan, 2008. ISBN 0-2306-0591-5
- Roediger, David R. and Martin Smith, eds. Listening to Revolt: Selected Writings of George Rawick. Chicago: Charles H. Kerr Publishing Co., 2010. ISBN 0-88286-318-5
- Roediger, David, Jeremy Krikler and Wulf D. Hund, eds. Wages of Whiteness & Racist Symbolic Capital. Berlin: Lit, 2010. ISBN 978-3643109491