INTERNATIONAL COMPARATIVE LABOR STUDIES

ICLS Programs

Curriculum

CORE COURSES

Organizing for Social Justice: Unions and Black Workers (Sociology)

This course introduces students to African American and Pan-African working people's experiences and their histories and engagement with philosophies and strategic political questions underlying the development of a global network of workers organizations, including principles of ethics and justice from different theoretical perspectives. These include the meaning of work, division of labor, hierarchy, cooperation and the role of the state. Philosophies of work and human rights, and social relations will begin with Kemetic society (Egyptian) and African culture, look at slave labor, industrialization and labor migrations, and investigate key questions for the future of work.

RECOMMENDED COURSES

Politics and Protest (Political Science)

Course work in political science at Morehouse College was initiated in 1948 by the late Dr. Robert Brisbane, who sought to augment a traditional political science curriculum with an emphasis on more engaged teaching, learning, and scholarship.  "Black Protest" was Dr. Brisbane’s signature course, which he taught into the 1980s and which inspired generations of political science graduates in the Morehouse tradition of service and leadership.  PSC 100, “Politics and Protest,” is meant to give students a stimulating introduction to the study of politics and draws very explicitly upon the Department’s distinctive heritage, in particular the legacy of its founder.  The seminar uses the histories and living legacies of Black protest, in the United States and worldwide, as an entrée into the study of politics and political science theories and methodologies.  “Politics and Protest” explores, among other questions: how political claims and identities are forged through protest; how political agency takes shape within relations of power, oppression, and domination; how moral and ethical values, principles, narratives, and traditions foment or suppress political conflict and change.

Senior Seminar (2018, Douglas and Jensen): "Martin Luther King and Racial Capitalism" 

It has been nearly fifty years since Morehouse alumnus Martin Luther King, Jr. sacrificed his life battling in solidarity with the poor. King was killed at a time when despair, tension, and bitterness were widespread, when the confluence of racial and economic inequity had set urban ghettoes aflame. Younger generations are left to wonder what has changed. Today, American cities teeter on the brink and grassroots activists work to vivify the deadening vulnerability of Black lives. Indeed, today’s unrest extends far beyond the extrajudicial and state-sanctioned killings of African Americans. Key economic indicators reveal that Black Americans as a whole are no better off now, and in some ways are worse off, than they were a half-century ago. The Black unemployment rate is unchanged; income, wealth, and educational attainment disparities between White and Black Americans have worsened. While it is remarkable, given the history of pro-capitalist, market-friendly attitudes in this country, it should come as no surprise that the language of democratic socialism is again moving more squarely into the public discourse, and in ways that resonate especially among a diverse cadre of young people who are eager to think more clearly about where we are and more creatively about where we might go from here. Few know about King’s socialist leanings. Recent scholarship has sought to intervene on this score, to reveal to a popular audience a less “sanitized,” more “radical” King. The course will also provide an entrée into the burgeoning scholarly literature on racial capitalism.

ICLS Staff

Dr. Cynthia Lucas Hewitt

Dr. Hewitt is an associate professor of sociology and faculty of the sustainability minor and the African American Studies Program at Morehouse. She received her Ph.D. from Emory University, M.A. from Howard University, and B.A. from Brown University. Dr. Hewitt’s areas of specialization are the political economy of the world-system, race/class/gender inequality, sustainable development, and environmental sociology. Her current research includes the historical and contemporary impact of matrist (particularly the “dual-gender” authority heritage in Ghana) and patriarchal authority structures on social well-being; and labor market outcomes of racial and ethnic inequality in Atlanta and the United States. Dr. Hewitt is also a member of the SERC/InTeGrate HBCU Working Group to increase minority participation in geosciences. She was co-chair of the annual Africa Awareness Week program for many years, and co-chair of the Nile Valley Conference II – From the Nile to the Niger to the Mississippi,” held in the Atlanta University Center, 2011. Dr. Hewitt is also a Kettering Foundation Whisenton Public Scholar.

Ilana Lucas
Project Coordinator

Ilana Lucas is a Project Coordinator for the ICLS Program at Morehouse College. She is pursuing a B.A. in Sociology with a Minor in Data Science at Lehman College in New York. Ilana brings experience in youth-based community organizing and education. Ilana is interested in discovering alternative models of learning and working that can challenge capitalist models of overproduction and inspire the spirit of solidarity amongst working class people and youth. Ilana was drawn to Morehouse College for its commitment to black history which she considers synonymous to American history and essential to envisioning a healthier, safer and more sustainable future for black and brown people.

ICLS Affiliated Faculty

Dr. Algernon Austin

Algernon Austin has over a decade of experience conducting policy-focused research on the economic aspects of racial inequality. He is also skilled at effectively communicating his research findings to a variety of audiences. He has discussed racial inequality on PBS, CNN, NPR, and on other national television and radio networks.

Dr. Taura Taylor

Dr. Taura Taylor’s research interests are diverse, including: sociology of education, social determinants of health; social movements; and entrepreneurship; all of which converge into her express interest in intersectionality and micro-level resistance.

Professor Taylor’s approach to teaching revolves around her belief that college has the potential to foster enlightened citizenship by teaching students how to relate to others as members of a community. Thus, as an instructor, her goal is to facilitate this process by cultivating a learning environment where students value diversity, respect alternative perspectives, challenge their proclivities towards unfounded opinions, and think critically about a myriad of viewpoints and interpretations. Professor Taylor’s instruction and allyship centers and explores how effects of social divisions such as race, gender, class, ethnicity, sexuality, ability, and political affiliation impacts worldviews and life chances. To preserve and advance her students’ wholeness and integrity, she advocates for their wholistic well-being. Overall, she strives to hold space for students to tap into their wholeness and see themselves as agents of social change and members of local and global pluralistic communities.

Dr. Stephane Dunn

Dr. Dunn is an associate professor and Director of the Cinema, Television, and Emerging Media Studies program. She received her M.A., M.F.A., and Ph.D. from the University of Notre Dame. She specializes in film, creative writing, and African American and American cultural and literary studies. She authored the 2008 book, "Baad Bitches & Sassy Supermamas: Black Power Action Films" (U of Illinois Press), which explores the representation of race, gender, and sexuality as they play out in the Black Power and feminist influenced explosion of Black action films in the early 1970s, including, Sweetback Sweetback's Baad Assssss Song, Cleopatra Jones, and Foxy Brown. Her writings about film and Black popular culture and history appeared in several edited books, Ms. magazine, Screening Noir, The Chronicle of Higher Education, TheRoot.com, AJC, CNN.com, and the Best African American Essays (2009), among others. Her plays include You a Baad N***, Titty, Chem Girls, and The Box. She wrote and co-produced the winning first place short film in the 2013 Georgia Lottery- Bronze Lens Film Festival Lights, Camera, Georgia competition. She received a Napa Valley Writer's Conference Scholarship and an FMS Postdoctoral Mentoring Fellowship. She is working on a novel and a short film. Dr. Dunn traveled with a delegate of students and faculty from Morehouse and Spelman to the A. Philip Randolph Institute National Convention in Phoenix.

Dr. Andrew Douglas

Dr. Douglas is an associate professor of political science at Morehouse. He teaches political theory courses and is affiliated with interdisciplinary programs in Africana Studies and International Comparative Labor Studies. He is the author of two books—"W. E. B. Du Bois and the Critique of the Competitive Society" (2019) and "In the Spirit of Critique: Thinking Politically in the Dialectical Tradition" (2013)—and is at work on another, a study of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s critique of capitalism (coauthored with Jared Loggins). Articles and other writings have appeared in, among other outlets, The Du Bois Review, The C.L.R. James Journal, Constellations, Philosophy and Social Criticism, Contemporary Political Theory, The Review of Politics, Boston Review, and Political Theory. Douglas was a 2016-2017 residential research fellow at the Whitney Humanities Center at Yale University. He holds a B.A. from the University of California at Berkeley and a Ph.D. from the University of Virginia.

Dr. Haile Larebo

Dr. Larebo is an associate professor of history at Morehouse College with a Ph.D. in History from the School of Oriental and African Studies of the University of London in 1990, specializing in the History of Africa with emphasis on Italian colonial history. His B.D. and S.T.L. are from the Angelicum University in Rome, Italy. He has an M.Phil. in History and Philosophy of Religion from Kings College, London, UK. Dr. Larebo has been teaching the History of Africa alongside World History and Western Civilization since 1991 in a number of academic institutions.

Dr. Laredo's magnum opus, "The Building of an Empire: Italian Land Policy and Practice in Ethiopia, 1935-1941," published by Clarendon Press Oxford University Press in 1994, was a winner of a prestigious award for his unique contribution to Italo-Ethiopian studies. He has also published several articles on the field of his specialty and has presented academic papers on Ethiopia at national and international conferences. Beyond being a member of many professional bodies, Dr. Larebo has been awarded several prestigious grants and fellowships, including the National Endowment for the Humanities and senior fellowship at the National Humanities Center at Research Triangle, in N.C. He has also been a special guest speaker at, or interviewee by, many community and political organizations, paltalks, satellite TV, and radio programs on issues relating to Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa. Currently, Dr. Larebo is working on Ethiopic/Geez medieval manuscripts and the relationship between the Ethiopian state, church, and society. Apart from being fluent in Ge'ez and Latin, Dr. Larebo speaks and writes in several languages, including Amharic, Ge'ez, Italian, and Tigrinya.

Dr. M. Adrienne Jones

Dr. Jones teaches courses in American politics, race, and law. Adrienne serves as the Morehouse College Pre-Law Director. Adrienne’s research broadly focuses on the history and politics of black Americans and legal and public policy issues related to the black experience. Her doctoral dissertation, The Voting Rights Act Under Siege: The Development of the Influence of Colorblind Conservatism on the Federal Government and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, is currently being excerpted for journal publication. She is a regular opinion editorial writer on issues of race and politics.

Edward "Buzz" Palmer

Palmer is a visiting lecturer and honorary chair of the ICLS Advisory Council. Palmer is a retired Chicago police officer and activist. He was married to activist Alice Palmer. He was a founder of the Afro-American Patrolman's League. Palmer is also the co-director of the PEOPLE Programme. Palmer has also been a senior fellow for the Institute for Government and Public Affairs at the University of Illinois, an affiliate of the Great Cities Program, the chairman of Chicago' s Sister Cities Committee under the late Mayor Harold Washington, chair of the Senate Advisory Committee on South Africa, member of the International Board of United Townships in Paris, the president of the Black Press Institute. Palmer acted as a confidante to Prime Minister Michael Manly of Jamaica; Glyn Ford, Member of European Parliamentary for the UK; and Harlem Desirs, MEP for France. In these capacities, he advises policymakers on the issues surrounding urban instability. Palmer is presently a visiting professor of practice at Morehouse College and the honorary director of the ICLS conference.

Marc Bayard

Marc Bayard is an Associate Fellow and the director of the Institute for Policy Studies’ Black Worker Initiative., and ICLS Visiting Adjunct Faculty. He is a leading expert on racial equity and organizing strategies with extensive experience in building partnerships between labor, faith groups, and civil rights communities. A frequent speaker and social commentator for a number of institutions and organizations, Bayard's dedication to achieving just and humane treatment for workers worldwide is grounded in his first-hand work and experiences in nearly 50 countries. From 2003 to 2011, he was the Africa Regional Program Director for the American Center for International Labor Solidarity, AFL-CIO, and was recently a fellow with the Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor at Georgetown University. Bayard holds master's degrees from Cornell University and Georgetown University and is a highly regarded labor politics scholar. He is the author of the forthcoming biography "Standing Together in Service: William Lucy, Civil Rights and the American Labor Movement" (University of Illinois Press).

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BLACK EMPLOYEE OWNERSHIP 

We believe employee ownership has the potential for enhancing the economic well-being of Black communities across America while addressing the “Silver Tsunami” phenomenon of baby boomer entrepreneurs who seek to cash-out and retire. While the movement is national, we focus on Atlanta with its unique social, political, and economic culture.

What is employee ownership?

• There are several different forms and pathways possible to employee ownership — through creation of inclusive employee-owned cooperative enterprise or enriched traditional employee stock option plans and trusts. EO cooperative transitions are distinguished as those business situations where:
• The people who worked there in agreement with the owners buy out and acquire ownership of a profitable or potentially profitable ongoing enterprise from the current owners.
• This proceeds with all the comparative advantages over start-ups or buy-outs that do not have worker engagement.
• The former owner may be bought out altogether or gradually, or the owner may choose to remain an investor in the business by holding some of the shares.

The Benefits of Employee Ownership 

 For Workers:

• Consistent, steady employment: The stability provided by employee ownership gives workers the opportunity to plan, save, build credit, purchase property, and pursue a path to prosperity.
• In general, workers enjoy better pay and benefits. They also enjoy more stable work schedules important to family and childcare.
• The change to employee ownership can be a life changing experience. Workers can move from feeling disrespected to respected in their work – without much of the risk of attempting traditional entrepreneurial start-up.
• For Black workers, particularly those working in White-owned and managed enterprises, direct participation in the organization of the enterprise can lead to ending the otherwise ubiquitous “glass ceiling” inhibiting Black and women workers’ career paths. Fair and open promotions and career goals can come firmly into sight.

For Owners:

• Succession: Only 15% of businesses succeed to the second/next generation, and yet 85% of business owners do not have succession plans to transition the people whose work has built the company.
• EO transitions may unlock new access to financing that can allow an entrepreneurial spirit to move on to another project or provide for a much needed capital injection to modernize or diversify.
• Becoming a part of a cooperative group of cooperatives also allows sharing of information and financing opportunities, makes adjusting the size of the workforce easier through organization of an internal labor exchange, and can serve as a safety net for members when faced with unexpected market driven or environmental challenges beyond their control.

For Communities:

• Employee ownership helps communities retain good businesses and jobs, increase civic engagement, and circulate more money locally.
• Employee ownership can be a tool to empower working people as it creates more business owners with both financial and organizational assets that allow them to contribute to delivering the political directions that serve both working people and owners of businesses, both important to empowering communities to meet their goals and become a solid middle class.
• EO is a way that hard-working respected business leaders in the community can, using their own resources, do something about stemming the tide of local business decline, unemployment, absence of wealth, and loss of community.

The Opportunity for Employee Ownership in Atlanta

• The Situation: Almost 3 million businesses in the U.S. have owners at or
• near retirement age and 67% have no succession strategy (the Silver Tsunami). Black workers account for 15 million (12%) of the 125 million U.S. private-sector workers, 60% of Black workforce lives in Southern states. 50% of Black workers are concentrated in 3 industries: health and social assistance, retail and accommodation, and food service.
• The Opportunity: There are 30,000 Silver Tsunami businesses in Atlanta with $163B in revenues and over 430,000 workers could become owners. The Potential spillover effects to the Black community are enormous: 88,800 Silver Tsunami businesses are Black-owned with $200M in revenues.

Learn more

• Join an Employee Ownership study group
• Download our Black Employee Ownership report
• Resources
  • Videos
    • Mondragon Cooperatives (2:40)
    • The Unstoppable Rise of a Collaborative Economy (11:58)
  • Books and Articles:
    • [Book] Collective Courage : A History of African American Cooperative Economic Thought and Practice By Dr. Jessica Gordon Nembhard (328 Pages)
    • [Handbook] North American Students of Cooperation (NASCO) Cooperative Organizer’s Handbook: Fourth Edition
    • [Article] Africa-US trade: Agoa deal expires in 2025 - an expert unpacks what it’s achieved in 23 years
    • [Handbook] Map of Black-owned Businesses by State

Contact

To get involved or partner with ICLS, contact Terron Ferguson at terron.i.ferguson@gmail.com.

Contact ICLS

Phone: (470)639-0396

Dr. Cynthia Hewitt
Cynthia.hewitt@morehouse.edu

Ilana Lucas
ilana.lucas@morehouse.edu

Closing the Racial Wealth Gap

Women, Black, and Rural Workers Being Left Behind in COVID Recovery

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