Racial Integration in Corporate America, 1940–1990 (review)

Historians often assume that capitalism causes racism or that corporations use white racism to “divide and conquer” the working class. Delton challenges this simplistic view of business and race by showing how pioneering corporations—and then business in general—laid the foundation for modern-day affirmative action. Delton emphasizes the importance of industrial-relations departments, tracing their roots to early work on race relations and corporate efforts to curtail labor unions. The juxtaposition of racial liberalism and business conservatism is a major theme of the book. In short, Delton offers a thought-provoking reinterpretation of civil rights that may push the field in an exciting new direction.

Racial Integration in Corporate America begins by offering a general overview from colorblind voluntarism (“fair employment”) to color-conscious “goals” imposed by the government. Whether pioneering fair employment or complying with later federal mandates, business established procedures quietly with the help of the National Urban League and government agencies. The genuine contribution of business to civil rights has always been obscured by the blanket justification that “it was just good business.” By digging deeply into corporate archives, Delton shows that industrial-relations personnel tended to be far more activist than their firms revealed. Moreover, the consensus eventually became corporate gospel as ceos fought Reagan-era efforts to roll back racial preferences. After decades of building affirmative action, corporations did not want the problems that might ensue without the simplicity of filling “goals” or “quotas.”

The chapter about the National Association of Manufacturers (nam) is most provocative. During the 1940s and 1950s, nam promoted fair employment and attacked white racism. nam did not fight the civil-rights bills of the 1950s or President Eisenhower’s creation of a Government Contracts Committee that pushed companies to hire more minorities. In this regard, Delton misses a chance to note the Republican bent of nam and the strong gop push to pass civil-rights legislation. Supporting a Republican president was natural for nam during this era when “right-to-work” laws began to undermine unions in the South. The dual Republican commitment to civil rights and opposition to unions meshed nicely with nam’s mission. By opening the door on nam’s contribution to civil rights, Delton paves the way for other scholars to explore these (and other) issues.

In overcoming internal opposition from rank-and-file members, nam resembled the cio, the labor union that supported civil rights in the face of working-class opposition. Scholars would do well to pursue and debate this parallel. This book’s blending of business history, public-policy research, and oral history tells another side of the civil-rights movement and black–white relations that still resonates today. Delton could have added a further chapter about how immigrants integrated into corporate America.

The road to civil rights was paved not just by left-wing labor unions, the naacp, the Urban League, and grassroots activists but also by (and with) corporate America. This important book deserves a wide audience.