On the surface, a book about the black experience in Boston during a short period in the mid-19th century might seem a bit niche, however so much was happening at that point in time. This book was excellently researched and written. All of the social, cultural, political and financial issues were explored and exposed. We’re about 175yrs since events in this book but there are so many parallels to contemporary society. Legal protections, or lack thereof, are both separate to and intricately joined with how we treat each other. That was starkly true then, as it continues to be now.

No Right to an Honest Living is an incredibly thorough account of the lives of Black workers in Boston and the attitudes and actions of the white Bostonians. One huge thing that stuck out to me was the way this described the treatment of freed & escaped Black people in the North without also serving up apologist excuses for the treatment in the Southern slave states.

The narrator, Leon Nixon, was also a narrator in the book I finished right before starting this (Master, Slave, Husband, Wife). He is extremely talented. He is easy to understand and adds just enough nuance to his narration that it is not stale or boring. It retains the gravity of the subject matter and draws you in, making you want to keep listening even though you’ve arrived at the end of your commute to work. I prefer to speed up my audiobooks 1.5-2x and it does not negatively affect Mr Nixon’s audio.

I was sure I wouldn’t learn anything new as I have studied this part of America’s history extensively but I was wrong.
This book is full of well researched and well paced and put together as some things happened at the same time, same day, same players in history crossing paths, ect.
The narrative was paced so well with even voice and temperament throughout. A must read for lovers of nonfiction.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this eARC in audiobook format.

No Right to an Honest Living: The Struggles of Boston’s Black Workers in the Civil War Era by Jacqueline Jones, narrated by Leon Nixon, is a profound and meticulously researched exploration of the lives of Black workers in 19th-century Boston. This audiobook offers a compelling narrative that sheds light on the systemic injustices faced by African Americans during a pivotal period in American history.

Jones, a Pulitzer Prize-winning historian, delves into the period from 1845 to 1875, a time marked by significant social and political upheaval. She paints a vivid picture of the harsh realities that Black workers endured, from discriminatory labor practices to the pervasive racial prejudices that limited their economic opportunities. The book meticulously documents how, despite the abolitionist rhetoric that Boston was known for, true equality in the workplace remained elusive for Black Bostonians.

Leon Nixon’s narration is excellent. His voice brings a powerful and emotive quality to the text, enhancing the listener’s engagement with the material. Nixon’s delivery is both clear and compelling, making the complex historical content accessible and impactful.

Jones’s narrative is enriched by detailed case studies and personal stories that highlight the resilience and ingenuity of Black workers who navigated a hostile environment to create their own opportunities. These stories are not just historical accounts but also serve as a testament to the enduring spirit of those who fought against systemic oppression.

The audiobook also explores the broader implications of these struggles, linking the historical injustices faced by Black workers in Boston to the ongoing fight for racial and economic justice in America. Jones’s analysis is both thorough and thought-provoking, prompting listeners to reflect on the long-lasting effects of these historical injustices.

No Right to an Honest Living is an essential listen for anyone interested in American history, labor rights, and racial justice. Jacqueline Jones’s scholarly rigor combined with Leon Nixon’s engaging narration makes this audiobook a powerful and enlightening experience.

First off I loved the narration! It was wonderful! I really learned a lot from this book. I consider myself to be pretty woke but I didn't know a lot of this social history. It is both black history and labor movement history. I was here looking up old news articles to enhance my new knowledge. It was great!

This audiobook was made available for me to listen to and review by Jacqueline Jones, Dreamscape Media, and NetGalley.

This was excellent, respectful, knowledgeable, well-sourced and interesting. It mostly avoids focusing on the more harrowing aspects of slavery in the Antebellum period. I'd rate this as low as far as slavery trauma focus. Though this does focus on segregation and racism in Boston and the wider Northern states. Perhaps in terms of trauma, this is closer to reading about the Civil Rights Movement than many texts that deal with chattel slavery. I add this to say: don't shy away from this for fear of trauma. That's not the tone or focus.

The main subject matter and focus of this is Black folks opportunities and everyday lives in Boston in this era. This takes specific individuals and follows their lives and includes some generational information when available. This explores the opportunities available in employment, housing and personal lives. So this includes marriages, births, relocating even outside of Boston and what the records reveal about how this person ended their days. This focuses on the basic struggle for even free Black folks during the antebellum era. It's very in depth and fascinating. Often the history of this period tends to focus on the few famous Black individuals but while this did include them, the focus was primarily on regular folks struggles.
This highlighted the differences that Black women faced in finding and maintaining freedom and affording to live. This was a hard and harrowing life for the vast majority of folks. Even more well known figures like Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman really struggled to survive in the available economy.
I was really enlightened at the struggle between the established Black Boston community and the immigrant Irish community. Irish folks attacked established Black communities and accused them of taking their jobs and housing. It was wild. I forever think Irish Americans badly bungled this, imagine the world we would all live in if Irish Americans had made common cause with Black Americans rather than focus on whiteness.

I really liked that this focused on and gave examples of the hypocrisy in white liberals/abolitionists of this era. I mean its historically focused but also relevant today. Many wealthy white liberal will march for Black Lives Matter but only so long as those lives stay in their respective red-line restricted communities. This focuses on the fact that white abolitionists were overwhelmingly anti-Black and held very troubling views of Black folks. This isn't a view of white abolitionists that we often see presented this clearly.

White abolitionists were largely in control of the funds raised to help formerly enslaved Black folks, whether escapees or post civil war. They seemed to operate from a fear that Black folks were inherently lazy and needed to be 'encouraged' to work hard. So almost the same view that enslavers held of Black folks. Their policy was to give funds to aid escape but nothing to help formerly enslaved folks settle in a new place without family. In effect their attitude reminded me of today's pro-lifers. Pro-life/anti-abortionists are obsessed with halting abortion but don't want to feed, clothe or house these unplanned babies they insisted be born. If you consider the base wealth of the major white abolitionists, their hypocrisy is glaring. It's the historical version of Kim Kardashian's empty-headed 'Nobody wants to work anymore' nonsense.

I was appalled at the bootstrap rhetoric employed by white abolitionists post civil war. At the same time these same white abolitionists largely refused to employ Black folks in their businesses. They'd hire a few favored folks in the their home but they refused to integrate their businesses. Instead the white abolitionists overly focused on Black folks willingness to work. As if enslaved people were taken care of and not exploited. It's frustrating because historically white women really struggled post civil war and that was behind many of the Jim & Jane Crow era laws requiring Black women to work outside of the home. There were laws forcing Black women into domestic labor because white women were unprepared to care for their own homes, families and children. As enslaved peoples, Black folks had been providing enough labor to provide for themselves and to enrich an entire white demographic/community/country and enrich Europe in the process. So clearly they could provide just fine for themselves as they had been since they 'arrived' in the colonies.

This also does an excellent job pointing out what would today be termed 'respectability politics' which was how some Black folks responded, and continue to respond, to racist and eugenicist views common in US society. This behavior isn't directly called out nor a focus of the book but it is included. This is important because just like the Jim & Jane Crow era racist beliefs that still plague our nation, this also works to increase racism and oppression. Black folks don't need to prove anything to be worthy of basic humanity. This is just a function of internalized racism.

This audiobook is narrated by Leon Nixon. Leon does an excellent job keeping the narrative interesting and from feeling like a very long history lecture. I pretty much binged this and my attention never waivered.

Thank you to Jacqueline Jones, Dreamscape Media, and NetGalley for the opportunity to listen to and review this audiobook. All opinions and viewpoints expressed in this review are my own.