The success of the Civil Rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s in the South was obviously related to the smarts and bravery of the Black movement. But there were plenty of Black brave people in 1930, and in 1900. Why they win in the 1950s and 1960s requires an analysis of economic changes in the South, and of course the North as well - which were party the result of the New Deal.

In a far-ranging interview, historian Judith Stein examines the political and economic fates of Black and White workers across the 20th century - from the racial integration of organized labor as Blacks moved from agricultural to industrial work, to the Democratic party's abandonment of pro-working class policies as it shifted to the right in an effort to court suburban White collar voters in the 1980s and 90s.

Judith was interviewed by Connor Kilpatrick for the Jacobin piece Why Did White Workers Leave the Democratic Party?