Racism, Segregation, Acceptance: American Economics and Black Labor Studies, 1885-1965

This paper investigates the failure of American economists to engage positively with Black issues and Black students until recent times. The paper traces this history, beginning with the early American Economic Association and the overt racism to be found in the AEA Publications series and other major economics journals up to about 1910. It is noteworthy that during this time W. E. B. Du Bois attempted to gain acceptance within the AEA, but his efforts ultimately failed. Following this, there was a long period of some 30 years during which economic issues relating to the Black population were rarely considered at all by White economists. This despite major events such as Great Migration of Black people to Northern cities. Issues having anything to do with race relations, including discrimination in labor markets, became seen as outside of the proper domain of economics. These issues were, however, dealt with by Black scholars working within Black organizations and Black colleges, mostly in sociology or history departments rather than in economics. They created what became known as Black labour studies, but the work they produced was largely ignored by the established economics profession. Other disciplines such as sociology developed different trajectories. It was only in the 1940s that a few works dealing with Black labor issues found acceptance in leading economics journals, and it was not until in the mid 1960s, that a more substantial literature developed.