Tales from the Reuther Library

Latest Episodes
Detroit Under Fire: Police Violence and Racial Justice in the Civil Rights Era
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 creat
Labor Radical Harry Bridges and the Cold War Ire of the US Government
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 i
Labor Legend Harry Bridges and the Pacific Coast Longshore Strike of 1934
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 longshoremens and mar
Taming the Octopus: Eli Black and the Search for Social Responsibility at the United Fruit / United Brands Company
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
Toxic Debt: An Environmental Justice History of Detroit
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 disaster
Latinx Encounters: How Mexicans, Mexican Americans, and Puerto Ricans Made the Modern Midwest
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 twentiet
Under the Iron Heel: Repressing the IWW and Free Speech
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 th
“Girls, We Cannot Lose!”: Midwestern Black Women Activists During the Great Depression
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. Fo
“No Labor Dictators For Us”: Revisiting Anti-Union Forces in the Flint Sit-Down Strike
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 Flin
Heard It On the News: Preserving 20th Century Detroit History Through Local Newscasts
Reuther Library audiovisual archivist Mary Wallace discusses the Librarys WWJ / WDIV Film, Video, and Teleprompter Scripts collection, which captures seven decades of news, current events, politics,