My research examines the relationship between race and class in American politics and seeks to contribute deep historical and institutional explanations for the persistence of racial and economic inequality. By focusing on the coalitions fighting for racial and economic justice in the middle of the twentieth century, my research considers important political battles that fused critiques of capitalism and calls for racial equality in America that took place before the heyday of the Civil Rights Movement. Most centrally, I challenge characterizations of race and class as analytically and politically distinct concepts by focusing on a period of U.S. history when advocates fighting for racial equality believed that realizing their goals would require major changes to the political economic system. In working towards structural economic change, often in coalitions alongside labor unions, they fought for – and sometimes won – more expansive and universal labor and social policies that would put the government to work for the public good.
In my current book project, Tangled Fates, I examine this period in history when coalitions of racial advocacy organizations and labor unions worked toward political goals that encompassed both racial and economic equality and provide instructive and illustrative examples of how race and class were not only seen as compatible – but as intrinsically linked. Importantly, debates over labor, employment, and economic policies in the New Deal era also brought deep and fractious debates over ideology and strategy to the fore. Some racial equality advocates saw unions, particularly those committed to Jim Crow segregation, not as potential allies but as targets of reform in themselves. Others believed that racial equality could not be achieved without fundamental changes to the economic system and saw unions as a necessary – albeit imperfect – partner. Tangled Fates’ central argument is that the opening of this social democratic moment, through policies designed more for the working classes, not only fostered this important debate among racial equality advocates but also gave rise to coalitions that fused racial and economic equality. These coalitions understood labor and economic policy to be a key vehicle for progressive policy transformation, as it encompassed some of the most radical ideas and policy innovations, including national economic planning, federal jobs programs, publicly owned enterprises, and state support for labor union organization and collective bargaining. The attention to both economic and racial equality also led these coalitions to push for economic and employment policies that would as be as expansive and universal as possible, putting the government to work for working people and the public good.
In my current book project, Tangled Fates, I examine this period in history when coalitions of racial advocacy organizations and labor unions worked toward political goals that encompassed both racial and economic equality and provide instructive and illustrative examples of how race and class were not only seen as compatible – but as intrinsically linked. Importantly, debates over labor, employment, and economic policies in the New Deal era also brought deep and fractious debates over ideology and strategy to the fore. Some racial equality advocates saw unions, particularly those committed to Jim Crow segregation, not as potential allies but as targets of reform in themselves. Others believed that racial equality could not be achieved without fundamental changes to the economic system and saw unions as a necessary – albeit imperfect – partner. Tangled Fates’ central argument is that the opening of this social democratic moment, through policies designed more for the working classes, not only fostered this important debate among racial equality advocates but also gave rise to coalitions that fused racial and economic equality. These coalitions understood labor and economic policy to be a key vehicle for progressive policy transformation, as it encompassed some of the most radical ideas and policy innovations, including national economic planning, federal jobs programs, publicly owned enterprises, and state support for labor union organization and collective bargaining. The attention to both economic and racial equality also led these coalitions to push for economic and employment policies that would as be as expansive and universal as possible, putting the government to work for working people and the public good.
Source: A. Philip Randolph Collection, Schomburg Center, NYPL, Folder 14, “MOWM.”
Peer-Reviewed Articles:
Sidney Milkis, Katherine Rader, and Haley Stiles, “Military Service, A. Philip Randolph, and the Fight for Civil and Economic Freedom.” Political Science Quarterly. Published online: March 2025. https://doi.org/10.1093/psquar/qqaf007 [PDF below]
Katherine Rader, "Delineating Agriculture and Industry: Reexamining the Exclusion of Agricultural Workers from the New Deal," Studies in American Political Development 37, no. 2 (October 2023): 146-163. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0898588X23000020. [PDF below]
Sidney M. Milkis and Katherine Rader, “The March on Washington Movement, the Fair Employment Practices Committee, and the Long Quest for Racial Justice," Studies in American Political Development 38, no. 1 (April 2024): 16-35. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0898588X23000044. [PDF below]
Essays & Reviews:
Katie Rader, “Race and the New Deal,” Catalyst 8, no. 1 (Summer 2024). [link and PDF below]
Katherine Rader, “A Tale of Two Orders: From the New Deal to Neoliberalism,” Review of Gary Gerstle, The Rise and Fall of the Neoliberal Order: America and the World in the Free Market Era (New York: Oxford University Press, 2022), New Labor Forum 32, issue 2 (Spring 2023). [PDF below]
Works in Progress:
Katherine Rader, Tangled Fates: Casting Racial and Economic Equality in Twentieth Century America. [Book Manuscript]
Katherine Rader, “The Origins of the Anti-Discrimination Ideology: An Institutional Consideration of the NAACP.” [Article in Progress]
Selected Public Scholarship:
"How Democrats Can Win Working-Class Voters and How Doctors Are Fighting Against Hospitals." Start Making Sense Podcast Interview with Katie Rader. June 22, 2023. [link]
Katie Rader and Carissa Guadron, "What Running on a Jobs Guarantee Could Mean for Democrats." The Nation, June 15, 2023. [link]
Katherine Rader, "How to Stop Progressives From Losing the Working Class." The Nation, November 11, 2021. [link]
Episode 47: Krystal, Kyle and Friends, Interview with Katie Rader. November 13, 2021. [link]
Episode 2.9 "The 100-Million Dollar Question: Is the University of Pennsylvania Really Paying Its Fair Share?" The Andrea Mitchell Center Podcast Interview with Dr. Dennis Culhane and Katherine Rader [interviewer]. December 2020. [link]
"The Party of Lincoln? A Post-Election Conversation with Tara Setmayer and Rogers Smith." Wednesday, November 18, 2020. Katherine Rader [moderator]. [link]
Katherine Rader, "What Do Penn's Austerity Measures Mean?" The Daily Pennsylvanian, April 27, 2020. [link]
Sidney Milkis, Katherine Rader, and Haley Stiles, “Military Service, A. Philip Randolph, and the Fight for Civil and Economic Freedom.” Political Science Quarterly. Published online: March 2025. https://doi.org/10.1093/psquar/qqaf007 [PDF below]
Katherine Rader, "Delineating Agriculture and Industry: Reexamining the Exclusion of Agricultural Workers from the New Deal," Studies in American Political Development 37, no. 2 (October 2023): 146-163. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0898588X23000020. [PDF below]
Sidney M. Milkis and Katherine Rader, “The March on Washington Movement, the Fair Employment Practices Committee, and the Long Quest for Racial Justice," Studies in American Political Development 38, no. 1 (April 2024): 16-35. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0898588X23000044. [PDF below]
Essays & Reviews:
Katie Rader, “Race and the New Deal,” Catalyst 8, no. 1 (Summer 2024). [link and PDF below]
Katherine Rader, “A Tale of Two Orders: From the New Deal to Neoliberalism,” Review of Gary Gerstle, The Rise and Fall of the Neoliberal Order: America and the World in the Free Market Era (New York: Oxford University Press, 2022), New Labor Forum 32, issue 2 (Spring 2023). [PDF below]
Works in Progress:
Katherine Rader, Tangled Fates: Casting Racial and Economic Equality in Twentieth Century America. [Book Manuscript]
Katherine Rader, “The Origins of the Anti-Discrimination Ideology: An Institutional Consideration of the NAACP.” [Article in Progress]
Selected Public Scholarship:
"How Democrats Can Win Working-Class Voters and How Doctors Are Fighting Against Hospitals." Start Making Sense Podcast Interview with Katie Rader. June 22, 2023. [link]
Katie Rader and Carissa Guadron, "What Running on a Jobs Guarantee Could Mean for Democrats." The Nation, June 15, 2023. [link]
Katherine Rader, "How to Stop Progressives From Losing the Working Class." The Nation, November 11, 2021. [link]
Episode 47: Krystal, Kyle and Friends, Interview with Katie Rader. November 13, 2021. [link]
Episode 2.9 "The 100-Million Dollar Question: Is the University of Pennsylvania Really Paying Its Fair Share?" The Andrea Mitchell Center Podcast Interview with Dr. Dennis Culhane and Katherine Rader [interviewer]. December 2020. [link]
"The Party of Lincoln? A Post-Election Conversation with Tara Setmayer and Rogers Smith." Wednesday, November 18, 2020. Katherine Rader [moderator]. [link]
Katherine Rader, "What Do Penn's Austerity Measures Mean?" The Daily Pennsylvanian, April 27, 2020. [link]
PDFs:
| rader_delineating_agriculture_and_industry_reexamining_the_exclusion_of_agricultural_workers_from_the_new_deal.pdf |
| milkis_rader_[print]_the-march-on-washington-movement-the-fair-employment-practices-committee-and-the-long-quest-for-racial-justice.pdf |
| rader_gerstle_review.pdf |
| race-and-the-new-deal__final_.pdf |
| milkis_rader_stiles_military_service_psq_[2025].pdf |