Freedom Train: Black Politics and the Story of Interracial Labor Solidarity

This event is presented in collaboration with the Department of African American Studies and the School for Workers at UW-Madison.

Cedric de Leon is Professor of Sociology and Labor Studies at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He has published six books. His newest, Freedom Train, with University of California Press is about the role of Black labor activists in desegregating the U.S. labor movement. From 2018 to 2022, Cedric directed the UMass Amherst Labor Center, the country's premier worker-side graduate program in Labor Studies. He was the first person of color to do so. Prior to becoming an academic, he was an elected leader and staff organizer in the U.S. labor movement.