Presentation Schedule
Socialism, Communism, and Black Secular Thought, 1877-1940 (94747)
Session Chair: Carlos De Oro
Sunday, 4 January 2026 15:25
Session: Session 4 (Parallel)
Room: Hawaii Convention Center: Room 305A
Presentation Type: Oral Presentation
Shortly after the commencement of the Great Railroad Strike of 1877, the African American abolitionist, Unitarian, and deist Peter H. Clark joined the Workingmen’s Party, marking him as the first openly identified Black socialist in the United States. In a speech to striking railroad workers shortly after joining the party, Clark noted that the workers deserve “the aid and sympathy of all good people, especially when, in the struggle for life, he is pitted against a powerful organization such as the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad.” Clark also condemned the fact that the government usually took the side of corporations instead of workingmen in labor disputes and called for an educated citizenry that could forcefully resist the machinations of wealthy and connected leaders, both in business and government. Clark’s foray into socialist politics would presage a more widespread engagement with socialism and communism by African Americans in the early 20th century, an engagement that for them was aimed at fulfilling the democratic promise of America’s founding documents and promoting racial and class equality in the nation. Figures such as Hubert H. Harrison, Harry Heywood, Richard B. Moore, Louise Thompson Patterson, Elizabeth Hendrickson, and others also argued that resisting American capitalism was an essential component of undermining American imperialism abroad. The secularism of socialists and communism was appealing to Black activists critical of religion, and the intersection of these identities produced thinkers who creatively combined anti-capitalism, anti-imperialism, and anti-racism in advancing their democratic and egalitarian vision for the nation.
Authors:
Christopher Cameron, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, United States
About the Presenter(s)
Christopher Cameron is Professor of History at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.
See this presentation on the full schedule – Sunday Schedule
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