Tales from the Reuther Library

Host Dan Golodner and Katrina Rouan trade quips while reflecting on the progress that has been made during her first 18 months as the director of the Reuther Library as well as the goals and challenges that lie ahead for the archives. Prior to her appointment as the Reuther’s director, Rouan coordinated reference services and graduate student assistants in the Wayne State University Library System, and served as the subject specialist librarian for the departments of psychology, communication sciences and disorders, and nutrition and food science. Related Resources: Walter P. Reuther Library Episode Credits Interviewee: Katrina Rouan Producers: Dan Golodner and Troy Eller English Music: Bart Bealmear

Dr. Michael Stauch explains how newly elected Detroit Mayor Coleman Young introduced “community policing” to the city in 1974, an experimental approach to law and order that included affirmative action hiring policies and neighborhood police stations to address community concerns about both police brutality and criminal activity in the neighborhoods. Despite these changes, tensions with the police remained, leading Black youth in the city to embrace labor radicalism from the shopfloors as they built informal economies and decentralized gangs to challenge and achieve political and social power in the 1970s and 1980s. Stauch is an Associate Professor of History at the University of Toledo and author of Wildcat of the Streets: Detroit in the Age of Community Policing . Related Resources: Wildcat of the Streets: Detroit in the Age of Community Policing Related Collections: James and Grace Lee Boggs Papers (UP001342) Kenneth V. and Sheila M. Cockrel Papers (UP001379) Coleman Young Papers (UP000449) Episode Credits Interviewee: Michael Stauch Producers: Dan Golodner and Troy Eller English Music: Bart Bealmear

Children’s book author and engineer Suzanne Slade describes the creative process she used to engage the next generation of women in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) with the stories of twelve women who worked behind the scenes on the Apollo lunar landing mission. Slade is the author of Women on a Mission: The Remarkable Heroes Who Put Men on the Moon. Related Resources: Women on a Mission: The Remarkable Heroes Who Put Men on the Moon Related Collections: Society of Women Engineers Profiles of SWE Pioneers Oral Histories Society of Women Engineers Records (LR001539) Episode Credits Interviewee: Suzanne Slade Producers: Dan Golodner and Troy Eller English Music: Bart Bealmear

John Fabian Witt recounts how in the 1920s and 1930s Charles Garland donated his million-dollar inheritance to the American Fund for Public Service, or Garland Fund, to support progressive causes and organizations he believed could challenge inequality and reshape capitalism and democracy in America. Dr. Witt is a Professor of History and the Allen H. Duffy Class of 1960 Professor of Law at Yale University and author of The Radical Fund: How a Band of Visionaries and a Million Dollars Upended America. Related Resources: The Radical Fund: How a Band of Visionaries and a Million Dollars Upended America Related Collections: Brookwood Labor College Records (LR000567_BLC) John and Phyllis Collier Papers (LP000141) Richard W. and Constance Cowen Papers (LP000924) Henry Richardson Linville Papers (LP000373) UAW President’s Office: Walter P. Reuther Records (LR000261) Episode Credits Interviewee: John Fabian Witt Producers: Dan Golodner and Troy Eller English Music: Bart Bealmear

Dr. Jody Baxter Noll recounts the 1968 Florida Teachers’ Strike, in which 27,000 teachers across the state, amidst a shift in Florida politics toward a pro-business and suburban “Sunshine conservatism” reluctant to raise taxes for public education, submitted their resignations to gain collective bargaining rights and improved school funding. Noll is a Lecturer in the History Department at Georgia State University and author of The 1968 Florida Teachers’ Strike: Public Sector Unionism and the Fight against Sunshine State Conservatism. Related Resources: The 1968 Florida Teachers’ Strike: Public Sector Unionism and the Fight against Sunshine State Conservatism Related Collections: AFT Office of the President Records (LR001553) AFT President’s Office: Albert Shanker Records (LR001553_Shanker) AFT Southern Regional Office Records (LR001863) Howard Hursey Papers (LP2047) Episode Credits Interviewee: Jody Baxter Noll Producers: Dan Golodner and Troy Eller English Music: Bart Bealmear

Karen Horting, Executive Director and CEO of the Society of Women Engineers, talks about SWE’s archives at the Reuther Library and shares how the 75-year-old organization leverages its history to advocate for the inclusion of women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Related Resources: Society of Women Engineers 75th Anniversary SWE Archives Virtual Tour [Part 1] SWE Archives Virtual Tour [Part 2] Related Collections: Society of Women Engineers Records (LR001539) Society of Women Engineers Publications (LR002487) Episode Credits Interviewee: Karen Horting Producers: Dan Golodner and Troy Eller English Music: Bart Bealmear

Dr. Martin Hershock recounts the violent three-day strike against General Motors supplier Federal Screw Works in 1938, when women from Detroit’s Polish community led the fight to preserve both their recently-recognized union and their neighborhood. Hershock is a Professor of History at the University of Michigan-Dearborn and author of the article, “Seems to Me You Have Plenty of Nerve”: Polish American Women, Detroit’s Federal Screw Works Strike of 1938, and the Fate of the UAW.” Related Resources: “Seems to Me You Have Plenty of Nerve”: Polish American Women, Detroit’s Federal Screw Works Strike of 1938, and the Fate of the UAW.” Related Collections: Peter H. Amann Papers (UP001229) Joe Brown Papers (LP000047) Stanley and Margaret Collingwood Nowak Papers (LP000003) UAW President’s Office: Walter P. Reuther Records (LR000261) Virtual Motor City / Detroit News Photograph Collection Episode Credits Interviewee: Martin Hershock Producers: Dan Golodner and Troy Eller English Music: Bart Bealmear

In celebration of the Reuther Library’s 50th anniversary, Sara Nelson, International President of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, AFL-CIO discusses the importance of understanding labor and legislative history when bargaining for better labor contracts for flight attendants today. Related Resources: Turbulent Romance: The History of the Association of Flight Attendants Related Collections: Association of Flight Attendants: Dallas Records (LR000981) AFA Chicago/Rosemont: McDonald v. UAL Case Records (LR002386) AFA Washington, D.C.: McDonald v. UAL Case Records (LR002385) ALPA Steward and Stewardess Division Records (LR002252) ALPA Dallas BNF MEC Records (LR003073) Episode Credits Interviewee: Sara Nelson Producers: Dan Golodner and Troy Eller English Music: Bart Bealmear

Professor Michelle Adams describes the struggles to integrate Detroit’s highly segregated neighborhoods and schools in the 1960s, a federal judge’s ruling to alleviate that segregation by bussing students between the predominately Black schools in Detroit and predominantly white schools in the suburbs, and the Supreme Court’s subsequent 1974 Milliken v. Bradley decision that acknowledged the segregated state of Detroit schools but overturned the “metropolitan remedy,” thereby allowing de facto school segregation to persist today. Adams is the Henry M. Butzel Professor of Law at the University of Michigan and author of The Containment: Detroit, the Supreme Court, and the Battle for Racial Justice in the North. Related Resources: The Containment: Detroit, the Supreme Court, and the Battle for Racial Justice in the North Related Collections: Robert E. DeMascio Papers (LP002075) Detroit Board of Education Detroit Public Schools Records (WSR000681) Detroit Public Schools Community Relations Division Records (LR000951) Damon J. Keith Papers (UP001582) NAACP Detroit Branch Records (UR000244) Remus Robinson Papers (UP000447) Wayne State University College of Education, Dean’s Office: Detroit Public Schools Monitoring Commission on Desegregation Records (WSR001371) Coleman Young Papers (UP000449) Episode Credits Interviewee: Michelle Adams Producers: Dan Golodner and Troy Eller English Music: Bart Bealmear

Dr. Beth Widmaier Capo discusses the Detroit Feminist Women’s Health Center and the role health practitioners there—including her mother—played in empowering women to understand their bodies and take control of their health in the 1970s. Capo is the Edward Capps Professor of Humanities and Professor of English at Illinois College, and author of the article, “The Detroit Feminist Women’s Health Center; Or, on Hearing Your Mom Described as ‘The Fucking Bravest Bitch I Knew.’” Related Resources: “The Detroit Feminist Women’s Health Center; Or, on Hearing Your Mom Described as ‘The Fucking Bravest Bitch I Knew.’” Related Collections: Detroit Feminist Women’s Health Center Episode Credits Interviewee: Beth Widmaier Capo Producers: Dan Golodner and Troy Eller English Music: Bart Bealmear

John Miles Branch discusses the National Labor Relations Board’s policy to dismiss union petitions at charitable organizations in the decades following the Second World War, and the policy’s reversal in 1976 when the board acknowledged nonprofit institutions as a “third sector” of the economy linked with the nation’s commercial life. Branch is a Ph.D. candidate in U.S. History at Northwestern University and author of the article, “Union Exemption: Nonprofit Work and the Boundaries of the Commercial Economy, 1951–1976.” Related Resources: “Union Exemption: Nonprofit Work and the Boundaries of the Commercial Economy, 1951–1976” Related Collections: Milton Tambor Papers (LP002342) Thelma Bernstein Papers (LP000683) Episode Credits Interviewee: John Miles Branch Producers: Dan Golodner and Troy Eller English Music: Bart Bealmear

In celebration of the Reuther Library’s 50th anniversary, AFSCME Secretary-Treasurer Elissa McBride reflects on the role the union’s history and archives play in current and future labor actions and organizing campaigns. Related Resources: AFSCME History Related Collections: AFSCME collections at the Reuther Library Episode Credits Interviewee: Elissa McBride Producers: Dan Golodner and Troy Eller English Music: Bart Bealmear

Dr. Keith Wunderlich shares the life and legacy of D.L. Holmes, athletic director of what is now Wayne State University from 1917 though 1958. With a meager budget and outdated equipment, Coach Holmes nurtured a generation of track and field Olympians and world record holders in Detroit, regardless of race, ethnicity, or religious background. Wunderlich is co-author of Coach of Champions: D.L. Holmes and the Making of Detroit’s Track Stars. Related Resources: Coach of Champions: D.L. Holmes and the Making of Detroit’s Track Stars Related Collections: Wayne State University Collegian Newspapers (WSR001897) Wayne State University Yearbooks (WSR002149) Episode Credits Interviewee: Keith Wunderlich Producers: Dan Golodner and Troy Eller English Music: Bart Bealmear

Dr. Nick Juravich discusses the experiences of the first-generation of paraprofessional educators in New York City in the 1960s-1980s and their impact on the city’s educational system, community relations, and public sector unions. Juravich is an Assistant Professor of History at the University of Massachusetts Boston and author of Para Power: How Paraprofessional Labor Changed Education. Related Resources: Para Power: How Paraprofessional Labor Changed Education Related Collections: AFT President’s Office: Albert Shanker Records AFT Massachusetts Federation of Teachers Records (LR001071) Kansas City Federation of Teachers, Local 691 Records (LR000624) United Educators of San Francisco Local 61 Records (LR000524) Episode Credits Interviewee: Nick Juravich Producers: Dan Golodner and Troy Eller English Music: Bart Bealmear

Roger Biles and Mark Rose discuss the legacy of Eddie Sadlowski, a charismatic and progressive Chicago steelworker who, unhappy with the United Steelworker of America’s closed-rank authoritarian leadership and tepid support for rank-and-file members, led a highly visible yet unsuccessful dissident campaign in the contentious election for the USWA’s presidency in 1977. Dr. Biles is a Professor Emeritus of history at Illinois State University. Dr. Rose is a professor of history at Florida Atlantic University. Their article, “’Oil Can Eddie’ and the Battle for the Steelworkers’ Union,” was published in the Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society. Related Resources: “’Oil Can Eddie’ and the Battle for the Steelworkers’ Union” Related Collections: Edward Sadlowski Papers (LP000754) Episode Credits Interviewee: Roger Biles and Mark Rose Producers: Dan Golodner and Troy Eller English Music: Bart Bealmear

Dr. Anna E. Lindner discusses the rise and subsequent downfall of the West Central Organization in Detroit, a coalition of civil rights organizations, community groups, and church congregations that sought to bring attention to housing inequality and other social issues in the 1960s. Although founded with good intent, the group’s aggressive lobbying gained short-term results but turned local media and government administrations against them, and the predominantly white liberal leaders in the organization’s first early years struggled to fully understand and address the systemic racism faced by Black Detroiters. Lindner is an assistant professor of Media & Communication at Nazareth University and author of the essay, “Seeking ‘Self-Determination’ in Detroit: Housing, Race, and the Activism of the West Central Organization, 1964-1971.” Related Resources: “Seeking ‘Self-Determination’ in Detroit: Housing, Race, and the Activism of the West Central Organization, 1964-1971” Related Collections: (WSR001897) Wayne State University Collegian Newspapers (WSR001896) Wayne State University South End Newspaper (LP000255) David Cohen Papers (UP000379) Jerome P. Cavanagh Papers Episode Credits Interviewee: Anna Lindner Producers: Dan Golodner and Troy Eller English Music: Bart Bealmear

Dr. Matt Kautz explores how evolving school disciplinary practices, changes in crime reporting, and political pressure in the decades following school desegregation led to the rise of student suspensions, expulsions, dropouts, and the school-to-prison pipeline in Detroit and other cities. Kautz is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Leadership and Counseling at Eastern Michigan University. His article “Schools and the Rise of Mass Incarceration in a Post-Brown World,” was published in the Summer 2024 issue of Harvard Educational Review. Related Resources: “Schools and the Rise of Mass Incarceration in a Post-Brown World” Related Collections: (UR000267) Detroit Commission on Community Relations (DCCR) / Human Rights Department Records (WSR000681) Detroit Board of Education Detroit Public Schools Records Wayne State University College of Education, Dean’s Office: Detroit Public Schools Monitoring Commission on Desegregation Records Episode Credits Interviewee: Matt Kautz Producers: Dan Golodner and Troy Eller English Music: Bart Bealmear

Dr. Justine Modica discusses the Worthy Wages movement centered in Seattle from the 1980s through the 2000s. Affiliated with SEIU, daycare directors and childcare workers in childcare centers and home-based daycares joined together to raise public awareness of the underfunding of daycare and lobby for increased state childcare subsidies, hoping to increase the wages and retention of skilled workers in a lowly-paid but critical field. Modica is a Klarman Postdoctoral Fellow in History at Cornell University. She authored the article, “Worthy Wages in the Emerald City: Worker- and Director-Led Childcare Movements in Seattle, 1984–2006,” and is writing a book examining how the government, employers, and families have shaped childcare as wage labor. Related Resources: “Worthy Wages in the Emerald City: Worker- and Director-Led Childcare Movements in Seattle, 1984–2006” Related Collections: Center for the Child Care Workforce Records Episode Credits Interviewee: Justine Modica Producers: Dan Golodner and Troy Eller English Music: Bart Bealmear

Dr. Lori Flores discusses food systems in the US and Northeast region specifically, illuminating how the nation has developed a growing appetite for both Latinx food and Latinx food laborers, who are often underpaid and under-nourished as they help grow, process, transport, prepare, and serve food across the country. Flores is an associate professor of history at Stony Brook University and author of Awaiting Their Feast: Latinx Food Workers and Activism from World War II to COVID-19.. Related Resources: Awaiting Their Feast: Latinx Food Workers and Activism from World War II to COVID-19 Related Collections: UFW New York Boycott Records UFW Massachusetts Boycott: Boston Office Records UFW New Jersey Boycott: Jersey City Office Records UFW Maryland Boycott Records UFW Administration Department Records UFW Boycott Central Records UFW Central Administration Records Other United Farm Workers collections at the Reuther Episode Credits Interviewee: Lori Flores Producers: Dan Golodner and Troy Eller English Music: Bart Bealmear

Dr. Harris Dousemetzis shares the extraordinary impact of U.S. President Jimmy Carter on gay rights in the 1970s and early 1980s, from instituting policies to prevent anti-gay discrimination of most federal employees to facilitating IRS nonprofit status for gay rights organizations and community centers, enabling them to receive federal funding for educational materials and health clinics, among other things. While Carter’s actions were unprecedented and pivotal, Dousemetzis also describes how they created a strong backlash among Evangelicals opposed to gay rights. Dr. Dousemetzis is a lecturer at the University of Sunderland and a tutor at Durham University, UK, and author of The Carter Presidency and Gay Rights: The Revolution that Dared Not Speak Its Name. Related Resources: The Carter Presidency and Gay Rights: The Revolution that Dared Not Speak Its Name Related Collections: Metropolitan Detroit AFL-CIO Council: Tom Turner Records (LR000053) UAW Washington Office: Stephen Schlossberg Records (LR001219) Episode Credits Interviewee: Harris Dousemetzis Producers: Dan Golodner and Troy Eller English Music: Bart Bealmear

Reuther Library audiovisual archivist Mary Wallace has worn many hats over the past 27 years, from student page in the Reading Room to interim director and chief weather-spotter and safety monitor. As she prepares to retire in January 2025, Wallace reflects on the changes she’s seen at the Reuther and in the field, shares a few of her favorite collections and reference requests, and retells some of the more entertaining stories of life at the Reuther. Related Resources: Walter P. Reuther Library Related Collections: WWJ / WDIV Film, Video, and Teleprompter Scripts (UAV001112) Virtual Motor City (Detroit News Photograph Collection) Tony Spina Collection (Detroit Free Press photographs) Episode Credits Interviewee: Mary Wallace Producers: Dan Golodner and Troy Eller English Music: Bart Bealmear

Dr. Felicia George explains how number lotteries in the city’s Black Bottom and Paradise Valley neighborhoods in the 20th century, although illegal and rife with exploitation, also raised some Black Detroiters out of poverty and created an important social support in a community stressed by racial discrimination and job insecurity. Dr. George is an adjunct professor of anthropology at Wayne State University and the author of When Detroit Played the Numbers: Gambling’s History and Cultural Impact on the Motor City. Related Resources: When Detroit Played the Numbers: Gambling’s History and Cultural Impact on the Motor City Related Collections: Folklore Archive: Student Field Projects Records (WSR002714) Folklore Archive: Student Field Projects Oral Histories (WSOH002714) Folklore Archive: Studies and Research Projects Records (WSR001731) Untold Tales, Unsung Heroes Oral Histories (UOH001605) Wayne State University Libraries Digital Collections Episode Credits Interviewee: Felicia George Producers: Dan Golodner and Troy Eller English Music: Bart Bealmear

Dr. Jesse Chanin describes how the United Teachers of New Orleans (UTNO) gained power and influence in a region hostile to unions from the mid-1960s to the mid-2000s by building trust in the community with transparent and democratic decision-making and a focus on racial and economic justice to improve the lives of the New Orleans community. In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, however, politicians and charter school advocates fired 7,500 educators in New Orleans, dismantling the city’s public education system and decimating the union. Dr. Chanin is a postdoctoral researcher at the Coalition for Compassionate Schools and the author of Building Power, Breaking Power: The United Teachers of New Orleans, 1965-2008. Related Resources: Building Power, Breaking Power: The United Teachers of New Orleans, 1965-2008 Related Collections: AFT Inventory Part II Records AFT Organizing Department Records AFT Office of the President Records AFT President’s Office: Albert Shanker Records AFT Secretary-Treasurer’s Office Records AFT Southern Regional Office Records Episode Credits Interviewee: Jesse Chanin Producers: Dan Golodner and Troy Eller English Music: Bart Bealmear

Dr. Jay Cephas considers two Depression-era murals in Detroit and their contrasting messaging about workers, labor, and power. Diego Rivera’s famed Detroit Industry murals, commissioned by Edsel Ford for the Detroit Institute of Arts in 1932, champions industrial and technological progress and the factory workers who fueled it. In contrast, Walter Speck and Barbara Wilson’s 1937 untitled mural, which originally hung in the UAW Local 174 union hall and now hangs behind the reference desk at the Reuther Library, champions the progress those industrial workers made laboring for their own welfare via union action. Dr. Cephas is Assistant Professor of the History and Theory of Architecture at Princeton University. His essay “Detroit Industry and ‘The Mural’: Representing Labor and Reappropriating Care in the Museum and in the Union Hall,” was published in the 2023 volume, Architectures of Care: From the Intimate to the Common. Related Resources: “Detroit Industry and ‘The Mural’: Representing Labor and Reappropriating Care in the Museum and in the Union Hall” Collection Spotlight: UAW Local 174 Mural Detroit Industry, North Wall Detroit Industry, South Wall Detroit Industry, West Wall Detroit Industry, East Wall Episode Credits Interviewee: Jay Cephas Producers: Dan Golodner and Troy Eller English Music: Bart Bealmear

Dr. Say Burgin explains that contrary to the common belief that white activists were purged from the Black freedom movement in the mid-1960 and 1970s, Black-led organizations in Detroit – including the Northern Student Movement, the City-Wide Citizens Action Committee, and the League of Revolutionary Workers—called on white activists to organize within their own white networks to support Black self-determination in education, policing, employment, and labor unions. Burgin is an assistant professor of history at Dickinson College and author of Organizing Your Own: The White Fight for Black Power in Detroit. Related Resources: Organizing Your Own: The White Fight for Black Power in Detroit Related Collections: Mike Hamlin and Joann Castle Papers (LP001946) Kenneth V. and Sheila M. Cockrel Papers (UP001379) George Crockett Papers (UP000276) Detroit Industrial Mission Records (LR000131) Ernest Goodman Papers (UP001152) New Detroit, Inc. Records (UR000660) Rosa L. Parks Papers Episode Credits Interviewee: Say Burgin Producers: Dan Golodner and Troy Eller English Music: Bart Bealmear

Dr. Max Fraser shares the often overlooked story of the “hillbilly highway,” the route nearly eight million poor, rural, white Americans took in the 20th century from economically depressed areas in the Southeastern and Southern United States toward higher paying factory jobs in the Upper South and Midwest. He explains how the social advancement and marginalization they experienced transformed American culture, the labor movement, and today’s political landscape. Dr. Fraser is an assistant professor of History at the University of Miami. His book Hillbilly Highway: The Transappalachian Migration and the Making of a White Working Class received an Honorable Mention for the Frederick Jackson Turner Award from the Organization of American Historians. Related Resources: Hillbilly Highway: The Transappalachian Migration and the Making of a White Working Class Related Collections: Detroit Commission on Community Relations (DCCR) / Human Rights Department Records (UR000267) George Roberts Papers (LP000038) Lewis B. Larkin Papers (WSP000122) Michael Manning Papers (LP000018) UAW Local 78 Records (LR000645) UAW Local 174 Records (LR000006) UAW Oral Histories (LOH002229) UAW President’s Office: Homer Martin Records (LR000063) UAW President’s Office: Walter P. Reuther Records (LR000261) UAW Secretary Treasurer’s Office: George Addes Records (LR000052_Addes) Episode Credits Producers: Dan Golodner and Troy Eller English Interviewee: Max Fraser Music: Bart Bealmear

Rachel Shteir shares how Betty Friedan’s early experience as a labor reporter for the Federated Press informed her later work as a famed women’s rights activist, author of The Feminine Mystique, and co-founder of the National Organization for Women. Although Friedan’s activism shaped the American women’s movement in the latter half of the 20th century, Shteir also notes that her pugilistic attitude ignored or antagonized would-be allies, including non-white women and lesbians. Shteir is head of dramaturgy and dramatic criticism in the Theatre School at DePaul University and is the author of Betty Friedan: Magnificent Disrupter, a finalist in the biography category for the National Book Critics Circle Award. Related Resources: Betty Friedan: Magnificent Disrupter Related Collections: UAW Women’s Department Records (LR00446) UAW Women’s Department: Dorothy Haener Records (LR000848) Toni Swanger Papers (UP001777) Episode Credits Producers: Dan Golodner and Troy Eller English Interviewee: Rachel Shteir Music: Bart Bealmear

Dr. Stephen Silvia explains how the UAW built a cooperative relationship with workers’ councils and unions at foreign automotive companies, but has nevertheless struggled to organize those companies’ vehicle factories in the southern United States since the 1990s due to anti-labor politics and the companies’ shared anti-union playbooks. Silvia is a professor in the School of International Service at American University and author of The UAW’s Southern Gamble: Organizing Workers at Foreign-Owned Vehicle Plants. Related Resources: The UAW’s Southern Gamble: Organizing Workers at Foreign-Owned Vehicle Plants Related Collections: UAW President’s Office: Douglas Fraser Records (LR001116) UAW Vice-President’s Office: Donald Ephlin Records (LR001404) UAW President’s Office: Howard Young Records (LR001400) UAW President’s Office: Owen Bieber Records (LR001270) UAW President’s Office: Stephen P. Yokich Records (LR001626) Episode Credits Producers: Dan Golodner and Troy Eller English Interviewee: Stephen J. Silvia Music: Bart Bealmear

Dr. Matthew Lassiter shares stories uncovered in Detroit Under Fire: Police Violence, Crime Politics, and the Struggle for Racial Justice in the Civil Rights Era, a collaborative digital exhibit created by undergraduate history students documenting nearly 200 civilians killed between 1957 and 1973 by the Detroit Police Department and other law enforcement agencies in the city. Because identifying information was rarely included in official reports or the city’s mainstream media, the students instead searched the archives of local activists and community organizations to identify the victims and the circumstances of their deaths. In the process, they also found that “get-tough” policies, investigative arrests, and policing units like STRESS (Stop the Robberies–Enjoy Safe Streets) encouraged police brutality, and that nearly all of the officers involved were exonerated despite approximately two-thirds of the victims being unarmed. They found patterns of racial abuse, including that 79% of the victims were Black, and that the killings were clustered in downtown and midtown Detroit, commercial corridors, and other “color lines” where the predominantly white and predominantly Black areas of the city converged. Beyond these patterns of state violence, the website also documents the activism and resilience of the Black community. Lassiter is Professor of History, Professor of Urban and Regional Planning, and the Arthur F. Thurnau Professor at the University of Michigan and director of the Policing and Social Justice HistoryLab, an initiative of the University of Michigan Department of History and the UM Carceral State Project. Related Resources: Detroit Under Fire: Police Violence, Crime Politics, and the Struggle for Racial Justice in the Civil Rights Era Related Collections: Jerome P. Cavanagh Papers (UP000379) Kenneth V. and Sheila M. Cockrel Papers (UP001379) Coleman Young Papers (UP000449) Detroit Commission on Community Relations (DCCR) / Human Rights Department Records (UR000267) NAACP Detroit Branch Records (UR000244) Episode Credits Producers: Dan Golodner and Troy Eller English Intervi

In the second of a two-part series, Dr. Robert Cherny recounts how immigrant Harry Bridges successfully led the powerful International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) for four decades beginning in the 1930s, even as his militant unionism and association with communists placed him at odds with the American government during the Cold War and at the center of several deportation hearings. Cherny is professor emeritus at San Francisco State University and author of Harry Bridges: Labor Radical, Labor Legend. Related Collections: CIO Office of the Secretary-Treasurer Records Civil Rights Congress of Michigan Records Industrial Workers of the World Records M.A. Williams Papers Workers’ Defense League Records Related Resources: Harry Bridges: Labor Radical, Labor Legend Episode Credits Producers: Dan Golodner and Troy Eller English Interviewee: Robert Cherny Music: Bart Bealmear

In the first of a two-part series, Dr. Robert Cherny explains how the early life of Australian immigrant Harry Bridges prepared him to lead the groundbreaking 1934 Pacific Coast longshoremen’s and maritime workers’ strikes in the United States, later becoming the first president of the powerful International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU). Cherny is professor emeritus at San Francisco State University and author of Harry Bridges: Labor Radical, Labor Legend. Related Collections: CIO Office of the Secretary-Treasurer Records Civil Rights Congress of Michigan Records Industrial Workers of the World Records M.A. Williams Papers Workers’ Defense League Records Related Resources: Harry Bridges: Labor Radical, Labor Legend Episode Credits Producers: Dan Golodner and Troy Eller English Interviewee: Robert Cherny Music: Bart Bealmear

Dr. Matt Garcia traces the legacy of Eli Black, a former rabbi who, as CEO of United Fruit/United Brands Company in the late 1960s and early 1970s, attempted to instill corporate social responsibility into the notorious fruit conglomerate before ending his life following a series of business setbacks and looming corruption scandals. Garcia is the Ralph and Richard Lazarus Professor of History, Latin American, Latino, and Caribbean Studies, and Human Relations at Dartmouth College, and author of Eli and the Octopus: The CEO Who Tried to Reform One of the World’s Most Notorious Corporation. Related Collections: LP000467: Reverend Victor P. Salandini Papers LP002659: Anna Andreini-Brophy Papers LR000221_admin: UFW Administration Department Records LR002435: UFW Information and Research Department Records Related Resources: Eli and the Octopus: The CEO Who Tried to Reform One of the World’s Most Notorious Corporation Episode Credits Producers: Dan Golodner and Troy Eller English Interviewee: Matt Garcia Music: Bart Bealmear

Dr. Josiah Rector explains that since the 1880s a confluence of unregulated industrial capitalism and racist practices in housing and employment in Detroit created pollution and environmental disasters disproportionately affecting the poor, working class, and particularly African Americans. He explores the resulting environmental justice movements in Detroit as residents have fought for clean air, water, and improved public health amid government and corporate divestment and Detroit’s 2013 bankruptcy. Rector is an assistant professor of urban, environmental, and labor history at the University of Houston and author of Toxic Debt: An Environmental Justice History of Detroit. Related Resources Toxic Debt: An Environmental Justice History of Detroit Related Collections: Joe Brown Papers Olga Madar Papers Thomas W. Stephens Papers UAW Conservation and Recreation Department Records UAW Foundry and Forge Departments Records UAW Health and Safety Records UAW President’s Office: Douglas Fraser Records UAW President’s Office: Walter P. Reuther Records UAW President’s Office: Leonard Woodcock Records Episode Credits Producers: Dan Golodner and Troy Eller English Interviewee: Josiah Rector Music: Bart Bealmear

Dr. Juan I. Mora examines three groups of Latinxs as they used postwar migration, temporary guest-worker programs, and agricultural labor to redefine migrant power, justice, and rights in the twentieth century Midwest, and particularly in Michigan. He shows that Latinx migrants melded distinct claims to U.S. citizenship, ethnic identity, and labor rights through conflicts over access to intermediary influence, shifting processes of racialization, and the politics of foodways. Mora is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Center for Research on Race and Ethnicity in Society and a Visiting Assistant Professor in the Department of History at Indiana University. Related Collections: Agricultural Workers History Collection Ken Barger Papers Detroit Latino Records Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC) Records Monsignor Clement Kern Papers New Detroit, Inc. Records UFW Central Administration Records UFW Michigan Boycott Records UFW Office of the President: Cesar Chavez Records Episode Credits Producers: Dan Golodner and Troy Eller English Interviewee: Juan I. Mora Music: Bart Bealmear

Ahmed White explains how industrialists and government officials in the United States used violence and legal maneuverings to stultify the Industrial Workers of the World and silence its members in the early twentieth century. White teaches labor and criminal law at University of Colorado Boulder and is the author of Under the Iron Heel: The Wobblies and the Capitalist War on Radical Workers, which received the International Labor History Association Book of the Year Award in 2022. Related Collections: Industrial Workers of the World Records Nicolaas Steelink Papers Related Resources: Under the Iron Heel: The Wobblies and the Capitalist War on Radical Workers Episode Credits Producers: Dan Golodner and Troy Eller English Interviewee: Ahmed White Music: Bart Bealmear

Dr. Melissa Ford explores the influence of working-class Black women in Detroit, St. Louis, and Cleveland on the development of Black radicalism in the American Midwest during the Great Depression. Ford is an associate professor of African American history at Slippery Rock University and author of A Brick and a Bible: Black Women’s Radical Activism in the Midwest during the Great Depression. Related Collections: Black Workers in the Labor Movement Oral Histories Black Workers in the Labor Movement Oral Histories: Joseph and Rose Billups Robert W. Dunn Papers Maurice Sugar Papers Related Resources: A Brick and a Bible: Black Women’s Radical Activism in the Midwest during the Great Depression. Subject Focus: Ford Hunger March 1932 Ford Hunger March Image Gallery Episode Credits Producers: Dan Golodner and Troy Eller English Interviewee: Melissa Ford Music: Bart Bealmear

While the 1936-1937 Flint Sit-Down is usually viewed as a pivotal success for the UAW, Dr. Gregory Wood considers more closely the influence of anti-union workers and the General Motors-supported Flint Alliance both during and after the strike. Wood is an associate professor and chair of the history department at Frostburg State University. His research will be featured in a forthcoming article in the Michigan Historical Review titled, “’No Labor Dictators for Us’: Anti-Union Workers During the Flint Sit-Down Strikes.” Related Collections: Henry Kraus Papers Flint Auto Worker Reuther Library Oral History Collections Related Resources: Michigan Historical Review Subject Focus: Remembering the Flint Sit-Down Episode Credits Producers: Dan Golodner and Troy Eller English Interviewee: Greg Wood Music: Bart Bealmear

Reuther Library audiovisual archivist Mary Wallace discusses the Library’s WWJ / WDIV Film, Video, and Teleprompter Scripts collection, which captures seven decades of news, current events, politics, and community life as reported by the Detroit news station from the 1920s through 1990s. Related Collections: WWJ / WDIV Film, Video, and Teleprompter Scripts Episode Credits Producers: Dan Golodner and Troy Eller English Interviewee: Mary Wallace Music: Bart Bealmear

Peter Hammer describes the life and legacy of civil rights icon George W. Crockett, Jr. A Black lawyer who fought racism and defended constitutional rights in landmark cases in the 1940s through the 1960s, Crockett brought his ethos to the Detroit Recorder’s Court during his time on the bench from 1966 through 1978, and to his decade of service in the 1980s as a Congressman in the U.S. House of Representatives. Hammer is an A. Alfred Taubman Endowed Chair in the Wayne State University Law School and director of the Damon J. Keith Center for Civil Rights. With Wayne State Law Professor Emeritus Edward J. Littlejohn, Hammer coauthored the biography, No Equal Justice: The Legacy of Civil Rights Icon George W. Crockett Jr. Related Collections: George Crockett Papers Ernest Goodman Papers Edward J. Littlejohn Papers (Available for public access in 2023) Related Resources: No Equal Justice: The Legacy of Civil Rights Icon George W. Crockett Jr. Episode Credits Producers: Dan Golodner and Troy Eller English Interviewee: Peter Hammer Music: Bart Bealmear

Louise Milone recounts how smog produced by the southwestern Pennsylvanian steel industry poisoned the air in the Monongahela Valley town of Donora on November 1, 1948, killing more than 22 people and sickening thousands more. Exploring the response of the US Steel Corporation, employees, and Donora residents, Milone explains how the United Steelworkers of America union pushed for an investigation and improved environmental and health and safety regulations following the disaster. Milone is a Ph.D. candidate in the University of Georgia Department of History. Related Collections: Olga Madar Papers Harvey O’Connor Papers UAW President’s Office: Walter P. Reuther Records Episode Credits Producers: Dan Golodner and Troy Eller English Interviewee: Louise Milone Music: Bart Bealmear

Emma Maniere describes how homeowners associations in Grosse Pointe, an affluent suburb bordering Detroit, developed a point system following the Second World War to rank and exclude prospective homebuyers to maintain the community’s Anglo Christian whiteness and affluence. The point system, which ranked nativity and ethnicity, accent, skin tone, and occupation, among other measures, was dismantled in 1960 but left a pernicious legacy that continues to reverberate in the community today. Maniere is a doctoral candidate in the history program at New York University. Related Collections: ACLU of Michigan and Metropolitan Detroit Branch Records Kathy Groehn Cosseboom El-Messidi Papers Grosse Pointe Civil Rights Organizations Records JCA: Jewish Community Council Records Related Resources: A “Most Conscientious and Considerate Method”: Residential Segregation and Integrationist Activism in Grosse Pointe, Michigan, 1960-1970 Episode Credits Producers: Dan Golodner and Troy Eller English Interviewee: Emma Maniere Music: Bart Bealmear

Dr. Jason Resnikoff explains that the rise of automation in the mid-20th century workplace was heralded as a way to free workers from manual labor, but resulted instead in the intensification of human labor and the degradation of workers’ protections and powers. Resnikoff is a core lecturer in the History Department at Columbia University and author of Labor’s End: How the Promise of Automation Degraded Work. Related Collections: UAW archival collections Detroit Revolutionary Movements Records James and Grace Lee Boggs Papers Related Resources: Labor’s End: How the Promise of Automation Degraded Work Episode Credits Producers: Dan Golodner and Troy Eller English Interviewee: Jason Resnikoff Music: Bart Bealmear

Dr. Vincent Haddad explains that while Detroit has often served as the inspiration for crime-ridden settings in comics, DC Comics rose above those stereotypes with black superheroes Amazing-Man in the 1980s series All-Star Squadron and the Cyborg solo series in the 2010s. He describes how those two series represented Detroit and issues of race, policing, and culture in a more historically-informed and nuanced manner. Haddad is an associate professor of English at Central State University in Ohio, and the author of “Detroit vs. Everybody (Including Superheroes): Representing Race through Setting in DC Comics,” published in Inks: The Journal of the Comics Studies Society. Related Collections: Virtual Motor City / Detroit News Photograph Collection Related Resources: Detroit vs. Everybody (Including Superheroes): Representing Race through Setting in DC Comics Episode Credits Producers: Dan Golodner and Troy Eller English Interviewee: Vincent Haddad Music: Bart Bealmear

Dr. Krysta Ryzewski explains how historical archaeology digs at famous Detroit locales – including the Little Harry speakeasy, the Blue Bird Inn, and the Grande Ballroom – have clarified how underrepresented communities of Detroit experienced and responded to the Great Migration, changing economic forces, and a shifting political and social landscape in the 20th century. Ryzweski is an associate professor and chair of the Anthropology Department at Wayne State University, and author of Detroit Remains: Archaeology and Community Histories of Six Legendary Places. Related Collections: Virtual Motor City / Detroit News Photograph Collection Related Resources: Detroit Remains: Archaeology and Community Histories of Six Legendary Places Wayne State University Gordon L. Grosscup Museum of Anthropology Episode Credits Producers: Dan Golodner and Troy Eller English Interviewee: Krysta Ryzewski Music: Bart Bealmear

Brandon Ward explains how Detroit residents, community organizations, and the labor movement, alarmed by the pollution remaining in Detroit’s deindustrialized era that mostly heavily impacted Black Americans and the working class, worked together from the 1970s onward to create a healthier, greener, and more livable city. Ward is a lecturer at Perimeter College at Georgia State University and author of Living Detroit: Environmental Activism in an Age of Urban Crisis. Donations to the Walter P. Reuther Library Endowment Fund are gratefully accepted to support this podcast and enhance access to the Reuther Library’s collections. Related Collections: Detroit Revolutionary Movements Records Olga Madar Papers UAW Conservation and Recreation Department Records UAW Local 600 Records Related Resources: Living Detroit: Environmental Activism in an Age of Urban Crisis Episode Credits Producers: Dan Golodner and Troy Eller English Interviewee: Brandon Ward Music: Bart Bealmear

Labor leader and social activist Milton Tambor discusses his life’s work in Detroit since the 1950s as a social worker; AFSCME local union president, staff representative and assistant education director; and teaching faculty in both labor studies and social work at Wayne State University and other institutions. He also discusses the intersection of labor and social political movements through his involvement in organizations such as the Detroit Coalition to End the War Now, the Michigan Labor Committee on Central America, and the Democratic Socialists of America in both Detroit and Atlanta. Tambor recently published a memoir titled A Democratic Socialist’s Fifty Year Adventure. Related Collections: AFSCME Michigan Council 25 Records Detroit Coalition to End the War Now! Records Milton Tambor Papers Related Resources: A Democratic Socialist’s Fifty Year Adventure Episode Credits Producers: Dan Golodner and Troy Eller English Interviewee: Milton Tambor Music: Bart Bealmear

Reuther Library SEIU archivist Sarah Lebovitz shares highlights from the union’s first 100 years, and explains how its archives at the Reuther Library have supported labor organizing and centennial celebrations. Related Collections: SEIU District 925 Records SEIU Executive Office: George Hardy Records SEIU Executive Office: John Sweeney Records SEIU Executive Office: William McFetridge Records SEIU Historical Records SEIU Photographs SEIU Publications Related Resources: Blog: SEIU at Churchill Downs Blog: SEIU’s Justice for Janitors MOPSCAR Awards Blog: Notable Women of SEIU Podcast: SEIU: A Successful Union in an Era of Labor Decline Podcast: Documenting the Now: SEIU Archivist Sarah Lebovitz on Using Archives to Empower the Future Episode Credits Producers: Dan Golodner and Troy Eller English Interviewer: Dan Golodner Interviewee: Sarah Lebovitz Music: Bart Bealmear

Dr. Allyson Brantley explains how large and diverse groups joined together for a decades-long consumer boycott of the Coors Brewing Company to fight against its union busting, discriminatory hiring practices, and politics. Brantley is an assistant professor of history and Director of Honors & Interdisciplinary Initiatives at the University of La Verne and author of Brewing a Boycott: How a Grassroots Coalition Fought Coors and Remade American Consumer Activism. Related Collections: AFSCME Office of the President: Gerald W. McEntee Records AFT President’s Office: Albert Shanker Records Bob Barber Papers Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC) Records Dolores Huerta Papers Metropolitan Detroit AFL-CIO Council: Tom Turner Records Michigan Coalition for Human Rights Records UAW President’s Office: Owen Bieber Records UFW Office of the President: Arturo Rodriguez Records Related Resources: Brewing a Boycott: How a Grassroots Coalition Fought Coors and Remade American Consumer Activism Episode Credits Producers: Dan Golodner and Troy Eller English Interviewer: Dan Golodner Interviewee: Allyson Brantley Music: Bart Bealmear

Dr. Ryan Pettengill explains how communist activists in Detroit worked with labor activists during and after the Second World War to enhance the quality of life in the community by advocating for civil rights, affordable housing, protections for the foreign-born, and more. Pettengill is a Professor of History at Collin College and author of Communists and Community: Activism in Detroit’s Labor Movement, 1941-1956. Related Collections: Don Binkowski Papers Nat Ganley and Saul Wellman Papers Maurice Sugar Papers Sam Sweet Papers Shelton Tappes Papers Edith Van Horn Papers UAW Fair Practices and Anti-Discrimination Department Records UAW President’s Office: Walter P. Reuther Records Related Resources: Communists and Community: Activism in Detroit’s Labor Movement, 1941-1956 Episode Credits Producers: Dan Golodner and Troy Eller English Interviewer: Dan Golodner Interviewee: Ryan Pettengill Music: Bart Bealmear

Artist and author Justin Beal shares the career and legacy of influential yet often forgotten architect Minoru Yamasaki. Yamasaki’s human-centered architectural design was often overrun by economics, politics, and capitalist symbolism, leading to his two most well-known developments, the Pruitt-Igoe housing project in St. Louis and the World Trade Center in New York City, to come crashing down on live television some thirty years apart–one at the hands of bureaucrats, the other by terrorists. Beal also considers how modern architectural trends and a changing climate have created a generation of buildings that ignore human needs, contributing to sick building syndrome. Beal recently published Sandfuture, his autobiographical exploration of Yamasaki’s legacy and how modern architecture has failed human health. Related Collections: Minoru Yamasaki Papers Wayne State University College of Education Building Committee Records Fred Hansen Papers Related Resources: Sandfuture Episode Credits Producers: Dan Golodner and Troy Eller English Interviewer: Dan Golodner Interviewee: Justin Beal Music: Bart Bealmear