srafferty's blog

The Walter P. Reuther Library is happy to announce an addition to the NAACP Detroit Branch Records collection.

The Detroit Branch of the NAACP was established in 1912, making it one of the oldest branches in the country. Over the past century, this organization has worked to support and improve the lives of African Americans, particularly in areas of housing, employment, education, police-community relations, and voting.  read more »

This fall we have processed two new collections that add to the history of desegregation efforts in Detroit schools. These collections highlight the disparate perspectives represented in archives, where pieces of evidence can be assessed together to gain a deeper understanding of events in the past.

Attempts to desegregate Detroit Public Schools, particularly the court case Bradley v Milliken during the 1970s and 1980s, were very controversial endeavors.  read more »

At 12:01 am on March 4th, 1989 the ALPA pilots of Eastern Airlines (EAL) walked out in a sympathy strike to support the International Association of Machinists (IAM) strike. The pilots held the line for 285 days, but when they finally voted to return to work at the end of November there were no jobs left to return to. In fact, in less than three years after the vote to strike, Eastern Airlines ceased operations permanently, never to fly again.  read more »

It was 1973, and the Air Line Pilots Association was rife with tension. Things hadn’t been working out for a while between the Steward and Stewardess and Pilot Divisions of ALPA. It was clear to both that “the Problem” (as the relationship between the Pilot and S&S Division was being referred to) needed to be fixed. But a solution, one which would work for both divisions, ensuring pilot control over ALPA and stewardess autonomy, proved elusive. While “the Problem” was first brought to the fore in 1970, it took one convention, four study groups, and countless meetings, proposals and counter proposals, for the two divisions to work out a solution and bring the Association of Flight Attendants into being.  read more »