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Dignity restored.

Article Excerpt
Eldorado, Arkansas, is a town of about 20,000, situated in Union County, close to the Louisiana border. It was the site of a large ConAgra poultry-processing plant, which had been there since 1969, where George Williams had worked for 32 years until he was fired in April 2001.

George, who is African-American, was a "first-line supervisor," a position similar to that of a foreperson. The plant's workforce was more than 85 percent African-American, but of the 1,700 people working there, no African-Americans occupied the upper-management positions. Shift managers, department heads, general managers, and human resources and plant managers were all white.

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Over the years, George had made formal, polite complaints about discrimination at the plant. With each successive new plant manager, he would make a formal appointment and respectfully detail the indignities he and his black employees suffered on the plant's floor.

These included vile racist graffiti in the restrooms, the cursing of African-Americans by white supervisors, nooses hanging from...

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