The History of Black Jobs in America

Were These the Jobs Donald Trump Meant?

William Spivey
AfroSapiophile
Published in
5 min readOct 5, 2024

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Weighing Cotton After a Day’s Work A. Simon, Monticello, Florida, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Donald Trump ignited the conversation about "Black jobs," which he indicated were being taken by illegal immigrants from South of the border. Trump was mocked for the suggestion that there was such a thing as Black jobs, with the implication that those jobs were such that immigrants could take them with no training or education in those fields. At the Democratic National Convention, Michelle Obama reminded Trump that one Black job might once again be President of the United States. But throughout American history, there have been "Black jobs," where Black people were overrepresented if not exclusively tasked to do certain things.

Having Black Babies

Perhaps the biggest job Black people were asked to do was to have more Black people. America, the South in particular, needed the labor, and the greatest source was the existing pool of enslaved people. The Constitution provided for the possible end of the importation of enslaved people from Africa after twenty years, which is precisely what happened. The goal wasn't to end enslavement but to reduce competition for domestic-bred enslaved people. Ending the International Slave Trade increased the value of homegrown products, primarily benefitting plantation owners in Virginia, Delaware, and Maryland who had…

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