LaShawn Harris, MSU History associate professor, has been named the recipient of the 2017 Philip Taft Prize by the Industrial and Labor Relations School at Cornell, in collaboration with the Labor and Working-Class History Association.
Harris received the 2017 Taft Award for her book “Sex Workers, Psychics, and Number Runners: Black Women in New York City’s Underground Economy” (University of Illinois Press). Her book highlights the labor in the informal and irregular urban economy, focusing on the experiences of poor, working-class women.
Each year the Taft Prize Committee selects winners based on submitted books relating to the history of American labor, including the history of workers, their institutions, workplaces and broad historical trends that have molded working-class life. This year marks the 39th time the Taft Prize has been awarded.
