The 1968 Florida Teachers' Strike - (Making the Modern South) by Jody Baxter Noll (Hardcover)

About the Book

"In early 1968, more than 27,000 teachers across Florida mailed in their letters of resignation, creating the country's first statewide teacher strike. By going on strike, Florida's teachers fought for and gained improvements in education and their profession. Teachers won a monumental victory and gained collective bargaining rights for all public sector employees. While historians have often viewed the late 1960s and 1970s period as a period of declension for the American labor movement, Jody Noll's "The 1968 Florida Teachers' Strike" challenges this notion by extending the focus to teachers and public sector unionism. Through the Florida teacher strike and teacher militancy that swept across the country during this period, it becomes clear that a vibrant labor movement remained that helped reshape the country's political and social structures, even as industrial labor saw a decline in membership and power. Noll's study explores the political and social factors that led to the strike. In doing so, he examines how a population boom led to a rise in modern conservatism in Florida, serving as a bellwether for the South's switch to the Republican Party. Led by Republican Governor Claude Kirk, the first Republican governor elected in the Deep South since Reconstruction, Florida played an instrumental role in forming modern conservatism and helped create a blueprint for Republicans to build a New Right powerhouse throughout the country. While much attention has been paid to the ascendancy of the New Right, Florida has often been on the periphery of this scholarship. "The 1968 Florida Teachers' Strike" addresses this oversight and demonstrates that Florida's diversity from transplants moving to the state from across the country offers a better lens than other southern states into how modern conservatism gripped the country. Noll examines the strike and the following years to analyze teachers' vital role in shaping political and social policy within the United States. As an interracial work stoppage in the Deep South, the Florida teacher strike provides insight into how interracial unionism was possible in the South and a potent weapon for labor movements. Moreover, as a predominantly female-led workforce, teachers challenged notions of passivity and used their union to fight for gender equality"--

Book Synopsis

In early 1968, more than 27,000 teachers across Florida mailed their resignation letters, initiating the country's first statewide teachers' strike. The striking teachers fought for and won a monumental victory, improving education in the state and gaining collective bargaining rights for all public sector employees. Even as the influence of industrial labor unions decreased across the country, the Florida teachers' strike and the spirit of teacher militancy that swept the nation during the late 1960s and 1970s demonstrate that a vibrant labor movement remained. Jody Baxter Noll's study challenges the prevailing view of these decades as a period of decline for the American labor movement by turning the spotlight on teachers and public sector unionism.

In his examination of the 1968 strike and its aftermath, Noll illuminates the vital role of teachers in shaping political and social policy in the United States. As a predominantly women-led workforce, teachers challenged notions of feminine passivity in their mobilization efforts and used their union to fight for gender equality. The strike also provides insight into how interracial unionism could be a potent weapon for labor movements, even in the Deep South.

In exploring the political and social factors that prompted the teachers' strike, Noll considers Florida's instrumental role in forming modern conservatism. Led by Republican governor Claude Kirk, the first Republican governor elected in the Deep South since Reconstruction, Florida helped to create a blueprint for Republicans to build a New Right powerhouse throughout the country. Though Florida has remained on the periphery of much scholarship on the ascendancy of the New Right, Noll demonstrates that the state more accurately reflects the nation's political attitudes than much of the rest of the South because of its economic, racial, social, and political diversity.

Review Quotes

"Jody Baxter Noll's study of the 1968 Florida teachers' strike, the first such strike in American history, is timely, engaging, and significant. . . . [this book] offers fascinating insights into the changing lives of teachers, racial tensions inside and outside the classroom, and the rising tide of conservatism."--Gary R. Mormino, author of the award-winning Land of Sunshine, State of Dreams: A Social History of Modern Florida

About the Author

Jody Baxter Noll is a lecturer in history at Georgia State University.