Blair L.M. Kelly
Historian and Joel R. Williamson Distinguished Professor of Southern Studies at the University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill; author of Black Folk: The Roots of the Black Working Class and Right to Ride, specializing in African American labor, social movements, and Southern history.
Best podcasts with Blair L.M. Kelly
Ranked by the Snipd community
Jan 31, 2026 • 45min
Blair Kelley, "Black Folk: The Roots of the Black Working Class" (LIveright, 2023)
Dr. Blair L.M. Kelley, Joel R. Williamson Distinguished Professor and historian of African American labor, reconnects Black working-class life to US history. She discusses laundresses, Pullman porters, domestic maids, and postal workers. She explains her use of family stories, oral histories, and photographs. She traces policy exclusions and the networks that sustained Black labor and community.
Feb 3, 2026 • 45min
Blair Kelley, "Black Folk: The Roots of the Black Working Class" (LIveright, 2023)
Blair L. M. Kelley, historian and UNC-Chapel Hill Southern Studies professor, explores how Black laundresses, Pullman porters, postal workers and others built institutions and community from emancipation into the 20th century. She discusses her family stories, archival photos and oral histories. The conversation traces labor organizing, federal policy exclusions, and the spaces Black workers made for dignity and resistance.
