Workers, Consumers, and Civil Rights at G. Fox & Co. Department Store

**Please note this has been rescheduled from the original date of Sept. 6**

We invite CMCH members and visitors to join us for a brown bag lunch talk with Dr. Traci Parker, a New England Regional Fellowship Consortium (NERFC) fellow who will be conducting research here this summer.

This presentation will examine the racial integration of sales and clerical work at G. Fox during and after the Second World War. Dr. Parker’s research at CMCH is in support of her book, Department Stores and the Black Freedom Struggle: Workers, Consumers, and Civil Rights. The book examines the African American movement to dismantle racially discriminatory hiring and customer service practices in department stories. It reveals that, at the historical juncture when Americans’ realization of democracy had become intricately tied to their identity as consumers, blacks leveraged their collective labor and purchasing power to fully realize middle-class citizenship, a status dependent on equal treatment as consumers as well as workers.

We will provide coffee and dessert; bring your lunch to enjoy during the talk. Please RSVP by Wednesday, September 5 by calling (860) 236-5621 x238 or emailing rsvp@chs.org. Questions? Contact Natalie Belanger, Adult Programs Manager, at natalie_belanger@chs.org. Free for members, free with admission for non-members.

About the Speaker
Traci Parker holds a Ph.D. in History from the University of Chicago. She is currently an assistant professor of Afro-American Studies at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Her work focuses on African American history, gender, labor, and capitalism.