WIU history professor examines dockworkers' power in book

MACOMB, Ill. (AP) - A Western Illinois University history professor has published a book on the power dockworkers have shown over time in the struggle for racial equality and social-justice issues.

Peter Cole's book is "Dockworker Power: Race and Activism in Durban and the San Francisco Bay Area." It is published by the University of Illinois Press.

Cole's first book was along the same theme. The 2007 publication examined Industrial Workers of the World union dockworkers in Progressive-era Philadelphia.

Cole says he never imagined writing a second book about dockworkers. But he says he learned there was more to tell about the power dockworkers and their unions wielded in the name of justice.

The professor repeatedly visited Durban, South Africa and the San Francisco Bay Area for his research.