The Black O

Racism and Redemption in an American Corporate Empire

By: Steve Watkins

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Paperback | 15 March 2012

At a Glance

Paperback
300 Pages

Dimensions(cm)
22.86 x 15.24 x 2.54

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$54.75

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In 1988 several white managers of the Shoney&rsquo;s restaurant chain protested against the company&rsquo;s discriminatory hiring practices, including an order to blacken the &ldquo;O&rdquo; in &ldquo;Shoney&rsquo;s&rdquo; on minorities&rsquo; job applications so that the marked forms could be discarded. When the managers refused to comply, they lost their jobs but not their resolve&mdash;they sued the company. Their case grew into the largest racial job discrimination class action lawsuit of its time. Shoney&rsquo;s eventually offered to settle out of court, and the nearly 21,000 claimants divided a $132.5 million settlement, bringing to an abrupt end a landmark case that changed corporate attitudes nationwide. The Black O is a fascinating, behind-the-scenes story populated with many unforgettable characters, including civil rights lawyer Tommy Warren, the former college football star and convicted felon who took the case; Ray Danner, the ironfisted former CEO who developed the Shoney&rsquo;s concept; and Justice Clarence Thomas, former head of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which sat idly by for years while complaints mounted against Shoney&rsquo;s. The Black O speaks to an issue that continues to have great urgency, serving as a stark refutation that the civil rights movement eliminated systemic discrimination from the workplace.

Industry Reviews

A meticulously documented account.

Anyone who thinks blacks are too paranoid about racism should read The Black O.

A startling journalistic effort . . . An unsettling, fascinating revelation of a truly wretched corporate environment and a rare triumph for the underdog.

Watkins brings to our attention an important component in the ongoing civic debate concerning the meaning of race in contemporary American life.

A fast-paced, riveting, and fascinating investigative narrative.

A fascinating account of discriminatory corporate employment practices.

Although it is actually a painstakingly researched account of the largest private civil-rights case in U.S. history, at times it reads like an old-fashioned detective story.

An interesting, at times fascinating, account . . . of one of the largest racial discrimination class-action lawsuits in U.S. history.

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