“telling a story about her father, a college-educated black man who was relegated by his race to working at a shipyard in southern Mississippi in the 1970s.”
Odd. When I applied for a job just out of college in the 70s, I was told they would only hire me if the deadline came up and no minority - regardless of qualifications - applied. “If a high school graduate applies and they aren’t a white guy, I will be required to hire them!”
It was a short term job, and I got it (eventually) because no minority wanted it!
A black man with a college degree in the 70s could write his own ticket! People would have lined up at his door to offer him jobs!
And my father had a college degree and worked at a can factory and a paper mill in the 70’s. You weren’t automatically ushered to a corner office in a high rise just because you had a college degree. He was just glad to have a job.
What you wrote is spot on.
As a non-veteran in the 1972 employment line, I missed out on a great federal job because I was white, not a woman, and of course the veterans got 5 points, 10 points for a wounded vet.
My future Father in Law interviewed me, and told me I was qualified and on his short list of 9 hires. They hired 5 veterans and 4 women. I was shunted to the sidelines.
At the next hire, the war was ejecting more men than it was sending to Vietnam. I was offered a job as a painter instead of a Machinist apprentice and took a pass. Stupidity and pride, along with preferences kept me from my dream job.
Little did I realize that once into the apprentice program, I had only to await an opening for machinists and transfer. Young and dumb was my problem, but I am not inventing a story of prejudice, like Miss Abrams.