Tales from the Reuther Library

Tales from the Reuther Library


Latest Episodes

Awaiting Their Feast: Latinx Food Workers and Activism from World War II to COVID-19
February 20, 2025

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

The Carter Presidency and Gay Rights
January 16, 2025

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 f

A Fond Farewell with Audiovisual Archivist Mary Wallace
December 23, 2024

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

When Detroit Played the Numbers: Gambling’s History and Cultural Impact on the Motor City
October 17, 2024

Dr. Felicia George explains how number lotteries in the citys Black Bottom and Paradise Valley neighborhoods in the 20th century, although illegal and rife with exploitation, also raised some Black D

Building Power, Breaking Power: The United Teachers of New Orleans, 1965-2008
September 03, 2024

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

Detroit Industry and ‘The Mural’
July 25, 2024

Dr. Jay Cephas considers two Depression-era murals in Detroit and their contrasting messaging about workers, labor, and power. Diego Riveras famed Detroit Industry murals, commissioned by Edsel Ford

Organizing Your Own: The White Fight for Black Power in Detroit
June 13, 2024

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 th

Hillbilly Highway: Charting White Migration from Appalachia to the Industrial Midwest
May 09, 2024

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 t

Betty Friedan’s Labor Roots
March 28, 2024

Rachel Shteir shares how Betty Friedans early experience as a labor reporter for the Federated Press informed her later work as a famed womens rights activist, author of The Feminine Mystique, and c

The UAW’s Southern Gamble in Foreign-Owned Factories
March 04, 2024

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