Ben Waber reviewed No Right to an Honest Living by Jacqueline Jones
A Detailed, Case-Focused History
4 stars
This book uses a case-focused lens to illustrate how despite Boston's role as the center of the abolitionist movement it systematically discriminated against Black workers and generally tolerated high levels of everyday racism in society. While Jones occasionally steps back and looks at larger trends, this is much more about the stories of individuals, businesses, and organizations throughout the Greater Boston area. She mostly refrains from using quantitative metrics, making it challenging to evaluate claims made about the degree to which a certain practice or trend is significant. That's fairly glaring in a history dealing with core economic issues, I'd love another edition that adds that in. If you live in the area, however, it's even more critical for you to understand this history. Highly recommend
This book uses a case-focused lens to illustrate how despite Boston's role as the center of the abolitionist movement it systematically discriminated against Black workers and generally tolerated high levels of everyday racism in society. While Jones occasionally steps back and looks at larger trends, this is much more about the stories of individuals, businesses, and organizations throughout the Greater Boston area. She mostly refrains from using quantitative metrics, making it challenging to evaluate claims made about the degree to which a certain practice or trend is significant. That's fairly glaring in a history dealing with core economic issues, I'd love another edition that adds that in. If you live in the area, however, it's even more critical for you to understand this history. Highly recommend