Cedric de Leon

Cedric de Leon is Professor of Sociology and Labor Studies at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He has published five books and is finishing a new book under contract at University of California Press on independent Black labor organizations in the United States from 1917 to 1963. He writes on race, labor, and party politics and teaches courses in social theory, political sociology, organizing, and U.S. labor history. 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.