• Listen to this segment

• Listen to the entire program

GUEST: Nancy MacLean, professor of History and African American Studies at Northwestern University, author of “Freedom is Not Enough: The Opening of the American Workplace.”

In the 1950s, the exclusion of women and people of color from higher-paying jobs was so universal that it seemed “normal” to most white Americans. While the struggle over fair employment is by no means over, the workplace is far more diverse today than several decades ago. How did this transformation occur? In her groundbreaking book, “Freedom is Not Enough: The Opening of the American Workplace,” Nancy MacLean, professor of History and African American studies at Northwestern University, traces the largely forgotten struggle for equal job rights within the civil rights movement, the feminist movement, and the Mexican American struggle for full citizenship. The title of MacLean’s book is taken from remarks made by President Johnson in 1965 that freedom for former slaves was just the beginning of the long process necessary to achieve true equality. I had an extended interview with her recently and today we play part 1 of our conversation.