Blacks Were Among the Country’s First Construction Workers. What Happened? (Part I)

There’s been a long history of racial exclusion and discrimination on construction sites, which has contributed to economic and political powerlessness in black neighborhoods and has negatively impacted men and women who simply wanted to work and to provide for their families, but who have not been permitted to do so.

History also tells us that there has been a substantial degree of antagonism between blacks and the Irish in the Philadelphia construction industry. While the Irish have not single-handedly constituted an impediment to black inclusion in the industry, they have clearly played a critical role in minimizing black advancement on work sites.

Aside from their discriminatory treatment of blacks in the construction business, however, I must confess that I have a great deal of respect for the way in which the Irish, as a people, organized themselves, in the mid-to-late 1800's, to take significant control of the industry. They utilized construction, and the political process, to pull themselves up from the margins of Philadelphia society to become some the city's most important and respected leaders. There’s a lesson in there for Philadelphia’s black community, especially today. Why can’t we do the same?

According to one source, during the early 1800's, the Irish and Germans were commonly viewed as racially inferior to and/or religiously and linguistically incompatible with the native-born, predominantly British population in the U.S. Dennis Clark, author of “The Irish in Philadelphia,” further described the Irish condition in the City when he wrote: "In 1885, the foreign-born Irish alone accounted for 35 percent of the arrests in the city, while representing only a tenth of the population."

I’m not sure if the Irish, who still control much of the construction industry, or the blacks, who are still excluded from much of it, are fully aware of how we arrived at this place, but both groups continue to play roles that were scripted about 160 years ago, in this city. The fact is, however, that the economic exclusion of a group that constitutes 45 percent of the City’s population is not a very smart thing for an industry to do ─ or for a city to condone.

The 2002 Census informed us that black construction firms participated in just $140.9 million (0.5%) of the $25.6 billion in greater Philadelphia’s construction industry revenues.

It’s also important to note that construction work, especially union construction work, is one of the few remaining sources of good wages and benefits available to workers who don’t have college educations. That's especially important because more than 80 percent of Philadelphians are not college graduates.

In Philadelphia, construction jobs are only 11 percent of all blue-collar jobs, but they do represent 38.5 percent of blue-collar jobs that pay wages above $20.00 per hour.

In addition, in a city wherein we have a significant number of ex-offenders, we can't overlook the fact that the construction industry, historically, has served as a vital, informal "re-entry" program. It has routinely provided the opportunity to previously incarcerated people to move solidly into the middle class--people who had been restricted from employment in banks, insurance companies and, even, in most government jobs.

To emphasize this point, a report by the University of Missouri, in September 2008, called "The Road to Good Jobs," described minority construction industry participation in 25 metro areas, including Philadelphia. The researchers found that blacks are employed in construction at well below their level of participation in the overall workforce, nationwide. They estimated that if blacks had commensurate access to such jobs, more than 137,000 additional black workers would be employed in the construction industry, in just those 25 locations.

Think back to every major, publicly funded construction project in the City’s recent history: The Eagles stadium, the Phillies ball park, the original Convention Center construction, the Convention Center expansion, etc., etc. In each case, there was resistance to black and minority inclusion, as businesses or workers, on those sites. And this, remarkably, was on projects funded with public dollars.

Usually, the employment opportunities on these very-Philadelphia projects are kept from Philadelphia residents and reserved, in the overwhelming majority, for people who live in the surrounding suburbs, or, even, in other states. That's not much help, at all, to a city whose population is comprised 61 percent by African Americans, Hispanics and Asians, and which, according to the Census Bureau, currently enjoys a 25 percent poverty rate, the highest among America's 10 largest cities.

So how did all of this begin?

Most of you are aware that the first African slaves in British North America arrived in Jamestown, Virginia, in 1619. You might not be aware, however, that, closer to home, Philadelphia’s Quakers were also slave owners. They purchased their first slaves, the entire cargo of 150 Africans, from the merchant ship Isabella, in 1684.

While most Americans are familiar with the stereotype of the African slave as an agricultural field hand or as a domestic servant, there was also significant utilization of slaves as mechanics, builders and craftsmen.

African craftsmen, some of whom brought their craft with them from Africa, and others, who learned under an apprenticeship to a white craftsman, were considered more valuable than field slaves because of their training and ability. They made repairs to buildings and tools and worked as mechanics, blacksmiths and carpenters.

Accordingly, when the U.S. government decided to construct its Capitol Building in 1793, slaves in the Washington, D.C.-area made up a substantial portion of the labor pool. In fact, the 400 slaves who worked on the project represented half of the entire documented workforce.

"The History of Slave Laborers in the Construction of the Nation's Capitol," was a report written in 2005 for the members of the U.S. Congress, by William C. Allen, architectural historian of the Office of the Architect of the U.S. Capitol. Allen's report confirmed that, for one of the country’s most important, most recognizable and longstanding structures ─ the U.S. Capitol Building ─ African slaves actually cleared the trees on the site, dug up stumps, baked the bricks and dug the trenches for the foundation and walls. Black men sawed lumber for the interior walls and floors, cut sandstone from the Virginia quarries, and laid the stone that still holds up the Capitol, to this day. In addition, Allen pointed out that slaves were also responsible for some of the most impressive architectural features inside the Capitol building.

Ironically, when it was finished, the Capitol Building began to be commonly called “The Temple of Liberty."

In addition, the White House, itself, was built substantially with African slave labor. Pierre L’Enfant, who was appointed by President George Washington to design the new Capital City in 1791, hired slaves, from their masters, to help dig the foundation for the building. While the foundation was being dug, “25 able-bodied Negroes” were also brought on to quarry the stone for use in the walls of the White House. In fact, Allen went on to disclose that “The homes of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison were all constructed with the help of slaves.”

Unaware, or in denial, about that history, many Philadelphians still doubt African-American aptitude to build even the smallest construction project.

Meanwhile, back in Philadelphia, in the 1800’s, according to Dennis Clark, there was a tremendous influx of largely unskilled Irish laborers into Philadelphia. “To obtain jobs, the immigrants had to compete, and some of the competition, as in the building trades, was racial, with the Irish displacing Negro mechanics (and craftsmen).” "Race riots between blacks and Irishmen occurred between 1832 and 1842 in Southwark and Schuylkill, for blacks were competitive with the Irish for menial jobs.”

In next week’s column, we’ll examine the dynamics of that relationship and how it still impacts black exclusion from the construction industry, even today.
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