Often while themselves begrimed by the nation’s dirtiest jobs, new immigrants and their children quickly learned that “the worst thing one could be in this Promise Land was ‘colored.’” But if the world of work taught the importance of being “not black”, it also exposed ner immigrants to frequent comparisons and close competition with African Americans (Barret & Roediger,
Often while themselves begrimed by the nation’s dirtiest jobs, new immigrants and their children quickly learned that “the worst thing one could be in this Promise Land was ‘colored.’” But if the world of work taught the importance of being “not black”, it also exposed ner immigrants to frequent comparisons and close competition with African Americans (Barret & Roediger,