Tales from the Reuther Library

Walter P. Reuther Library, Wayne State University
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Tales from the Reuther Library

Archivists and researchers at the Walter P. Reuther Library of Labor and Urban Affairs share stories from its collections about the American labor movement, metropolitan Detroit, and Wayne State University.

  1. FEB 20

    Awaiting Their Feast: Latinx Food Workers and Activism from World War II to COVID-19

    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

    43 min

  2. JAN 16

    The Carter Presidency and Gay Rights

    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

    53 min

  3. 12/23/2024

    A Fond Farewell with Audiovisual Archivist Mary Wallace

    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

    58 min

  4. 10/17/2024

    When Detroit Played the Numbers: Gambling’s History and Cultural Impact on the Motor City

    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

    26 min

  5. 09/03/2024

    Building Power, Breaking Power: The United Teachers of New Orleans, 1965-2008

    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

    47 min

  6. 07/25/2024

    Detroit Industry and ‘The Mural’

    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

    32 min

  7. 06/13/2024

    Organizing Your Own: The White Fight for Black Power in Detroit

    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

    39 min

  8. 05/09/2024

    Hillbilly Highway: Charting White Migration from Appalachia to the Industrial Midwest

    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

    44 min
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Archivists and researchers at the Walter P. Reuther Library of Labor and Urban Affairs share stories from its collections about the American labor movement, metropolitan Detroit, and Wayne State University.

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