Abstract

The Southern Key explains the reasons for the failure of the US South to unionize-especially during the 1930s and 1940s-and why this is the crucial to understanding the evolution of American politics since that era. It is argued, primarily, that the failure of the labor movement to fully confront white supremacy led to its ultimate failure in the South, and that this regional failure has led to the nationwide decline in labor unionism, growing inequality, and the perpetuation of white supremacy.