NYC Teachers Union: Reds at the Blackboard: Communism, Civil Rights, and the New York City Teachers Union

Taylor began teaching in the New York City public school system as a special education teacher. For seven years, he worked at Junior High School 278 in Marine Park, Brooklyn, with students who were classified as emotionally disturbed, one of the most challenging student populations in the system. In 1984 Taylor left JHS 278 and became a social studies teacher at James Madison High School in Brooklyn. While teaching there, he pursued his doctorate in history at the Graduate School of the City University of New York.  Clarence Taylor joined the Baruch College faculty in 2004. Prior to his appointment at Baruch, Professor Taylor spent many years teaching in the New York public school system.

 

 Clarence Taylor provided our Dreamers and Fighters HISTORY page with an overview of the NYC Teachers Union, which will give you a preview of his forthcoming Reds On the Blackboard. He has lectured widely on the subject of teacher unionism and the TU and this book will feature a political view of the Union.

 

Reds at the Blackboard showcases the rise of a unique type of unionism that would later dominate the organizational efforts behind civil rights, academic freedom, and the empowerment of blacks and Latinos. Through its affiliation with the Communist Party, the union pioneered what would later become social movement unionism, solidifying ties with labor groups, black and Latino parents, and civil rights organizations to acquire greater school and community resources. It also militantly fought to improve working conditions for teachers while championing broader social concerns. For the first time, Taylor reveals the union's early growth and the somewhat illegal attempts by the Board of Education to eradicate the group. He describes how the infamous Red Squad and other undercover agents worked with the board to bring down the TU and how the union and its opponents wrestled over anti-Semitism and other issues as the anti-communist investigations ran their course from Rapp-Coudert through the early 1960s.

 

Clarence Taylor's history of the Teachers Union

Timeline


Dreamers and Fighters web site  is an attempt to further reach out — to those familiar with the impact of McCarthyism on a local level in New York City, and to those who would like the know more about it. Click your way through for a look at the History of the period, video clips from the Documentary, Multimedia from teachers, and for ongoing developments about the documentary and related Current Events. And don’t forget to join the conversation on the Message Board.