Reddit reviews American Slavery, American Freedom

This actually had nothing to do with unions at the outset. The tradition predates unions by quite a bit. It started with immense economic opportunity driven by cheap land and labor shortages. This tied with English traditions about individualism and free labor.

Unlike workers all over the world, Americans have a tradition of not being bound to one particular job or employer. At will employment benefits the workers when you live in a land of scarce labor, immense availability of land, and enormous opportunity. The conflict between free labor traditions in the North and unfree labor traditions in the South (enabled by a color-coded slave system) was one of the most important tensions between ~1820-1865.

Now, as immigration increases (more labor available) and the opportunity to get new land or new jobs goes down (no more frontier and increasing urbanization and mechanization), then at will employment now benefits employers more. But this was not the case for much of U.S. history.

Citations:
Eric Foner, Free Soil, Free Labor, Free Men: The Ideology of the Republican Party before the Civil War (available at
https://www.amazon.com/Free-Soil-Labor-Men-Republican/dp/0195094972

Edmund S. Morgan, American Slavery, American Freedom (https://www.amazon.com/American-Slavery-Freedom-Edmund-Morgan/dp/039332494X/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1538998439&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=american+slavery%2C+american+freedom&dpPl=1&dpID=51h4aolAGJL&ref=plSrch#immersive-view_1538998477709)

I also grew up in a pretty racist community. Then I read "American Slavery, American Freedom" by Edmund S. Morgan. The basic thesis is that racism was perpetuated by the ruling elite in Colonial Virginia because they were afraid of white indentured servants and black slaves uniting to kill the wealthy. They had reason be afraid, because that is exactly what happened in 1676 (notice the symbolic, if random, year) during Bacon's Rebellion. After the British army invaded and put down the insurrection, they changed the laws to make slavery hereditary, interracial marriage illegal, etc. That was the start of a long line of racism between poor whites and blacks, and arguably the genesis of the entire Republican electoral strategy. http://www.amazon.com/American-Slavery-Freedom-Edmund-Morgan/dp/039332494X

TL;DR- Racism was perpetuated by the rich to keep poor whites and blacks from uniting and changing things.

In reality, it was the discovery of tobacco in the New World that led to slavery, esp. in N. America. People would leave England & Europe for the early colonies and as a way to pay off the debt for the trip, would serve as "indentured servants" for a period of time.
England was so hooked on tobacco that early colonists would grow it instead of food. It helps to realize that corn (aka maize) was unknown in Europe. Colonists were unable to master growing their own food anyway. They traded with the native population who were more or less paripatetic and frequently treated poorly by the colonists anyway. This is all from my history class at UMichigan and draws heavily from American Slavery, American Freedom.

Edmund S. Morgan - American Slavery, American Freedom

http://www.amazon.com/American-Slavery-Freedom-Edmund-Morgan/dp/039332494X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1279493322&sr=1-1

Great book on colonial Virginia.

It depends on what you want to go into.

For a general history of colonization I can't recommend Alan Taylor's "American Colonies" enough. It's a good overview of European colonization in North America.

If you're mostly into Slavery (that sounds weird), Slave Ship. I definitely have some issues with things he says, but it's still a good beginning.

The Island of the Center of the World talks about the Dutch in North America.

If you want more about Slavery in what would become the U.S. you could get American Slavery American Freedom.

That's all I can think of off the top of my head. I'll edit more in later. But yeah, I'd start with Taylor's book first.