Blair L.M. Kelly
Historian and Joel R. Williamson Distinguished Professor of Southern Studies at the University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill; author of Black Folk: The Roots of the Black Working Class and Right to Ride, specializing in African American labor, social movements, and Southern history.
Best podcasts with Blair L.M. Kelly
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Jan 31, 2026 • 45min
Blair Kelley, "Black Folk: The Roots of the Black Working Class" (LIveright, 2023)
Dr. Blair L.M. Kelley, Joel R. Williamson Distinguished Professor and historian of African American labor, reconnects Black working-class life to US history. She discusses laundresses, Pullman porters, domestic maids, and postal workers. She explains her use of family stories, oral histories, and photographs. She traces policy exclusions and the networks that sustained Black labor and community.
Jan 31, 2026 • 45min
Blair Kelley, "Black Folk: The Roots of the Black Working Class" (LIveright, 2023)
Dr. Blair L.M. Kelley, a historian of African American labor and Southern history, explores how laundresses, Pullman porters, maids, and postal workers shaped community, unions, and citizenship. She uses family archives and oral histories. The conversation highlights archival photos, labor organization, New Deal exclusions, and links between past struggles and today’s labor movements.
