Community activists

Detroit Committee for Responsible Banking Records

dgolodner — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 13:17:59 -0400

The Detroit Committee for Responsible Banking (DCRB) grew out of awareness that banks in Detroit were under-funding city development while frequently supporting development in suburban areas. The DCRB was formed by James M. Edwards and Patrick J. Murray, both Detroit lawyers, and backed by an advisory board of community members. Initially, they focused their efforts on one bank – Comerica – and later went after Standard Federal, National Bank of Detroit, Manufacturers Bank, First of America, Michigan National Bank, and First Federal of Michigan.

The Detroit Committee for Responsible Banking Records document the efforts of the committee to bring attention to redlining practices of banks in the city of Detroit. They reflect a multi-faceted approach, including direct correspondences with banking officials, protests to state and federal banking oversight institutions, correspondence with various news media, and collaboration with other organizations. The materials in the collection include correspondences, acquisition and merger applications, mortgage and home improvement loan statements; Community Reinvestment Act files; bank publications, notes, news clippings, and related reports.

UAW Public Relations Department Photographs and Sound and Video Recordings

mwallace — Fri, 25 Oct 2013 14:01:25 -0400

Since the United Automobile Workers of America (UAW) was established as an affiliate of the American Federation of Labor (AFL) in August 1935, the union has maintained an office to deal with public relations. At that time, a "Committee on Publication" was formed, which became the "Publication Committee" in April 1936. The Committee subsequently became the "Publicity Department" in August 1936, when the UAW became an independent union affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO). This became the UAW's Public Relations Department some years later. The primary purpose of the original Committees and Department was the production of the union's national newspaper, the United Automobile Worker, which became Solidarity in 1957. Over the years, as the UAW grew into a large, powerful union, the P.R. department played an increasingly important role in writing speeches and producing various publications. It also generated large numbers of photographic images, created television advertisements, and issued press releases, delivering the union’s official stance on nearly all issues. In recent years, the P.R. Department has also been responsible for maintaining the union’s social media presence. The collection consists of Audio-Visual material, including photographic prints and contact sheets, videotapes, and audio recordings.

Eleanor Josaitis — Hands Across the Racial Divide

wlefevre — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 09:32:36 -0400

As a symbol, it is exquisite in its simplicity. Two hands inside a circle, one black and one white, almost but never quite touching across the racial divide. This has been the logo of Focus: HOPE, an organization fighting for basic human rights in Detroit and Southeast Michigan for over forty years. And until her death last week, one of the leaders of the fight was Eleanor Josaitis. read more »

Recent additions: Black perspectives at the Reuther Library

srafferty — Thu, 06 Aug 2020 18:06:22 -0400

Detroit’s Black citizens have faced a long, complicated history of struggle and perseverance. While the voices of Black individuals are generally underrepresented in archives, Reuther Library has a number of collections that help document this history in varied formats and perspectives, and we've added more in recent years. Here are descriptions of just a few of these notable collections: read more »

Subject Focus: Poverty and Charity in Turn-of-the-Century Detroit

teller — Mon, 07 Jan 2013 14:39:53 -0500

In the late 19th century Detroit’s industrial base and burgeoning prosperity quickly attracted immigrants from across the country and around the world, increasing the city’s population six-fold between 1860 and 1900. While the strong and industrious were able to find steady work, the city proved to be harsh to ill or injured laborers, the elderly and widowed, and others for whom life had not been kind. Numerous public and private social service organizations and charities formed to serve the needs of the growing number of Detroit residents living in poverty. read more »

(28276) Ethnic Communities, Latin American, Community Centers, 1991

eclemens — Fri, 18 May 2012 14:31:35 -0400

Howard Freeman works with children in an after-school boxing program at the Latino Family Services youth center at 3815 Fort Street in Southwestern Detroit.

(32630) James and Grace Lee Boggs, Candid Views, 1970s-1980s

eclemens — Tue, 06 Jan 2015 15:49:27 -0500

Polaroid snapshot of James and Grace Lee Boggs with an unidentified man and woman.

(32631) Grace Lee Boggs, Speaking, 1980s-1990s

eclemens — Tue, 06 Jan 2015 16:01:23 -0500

Community activist Grace Lee Boggs addresses the audience at an unidentified meeting.

(32632) Grace Lee Boggs, Speaking, 1980s-1990s

eclemens — Tue, 06 Jan 2015 16:02:39 -0500

Community activist Grace Lee Boggs addresses the audience at an unidentified meeting.

(32633) Grace Lee Boggs, Speaking, 1980s-1990s

eclemens — Tue, 06 Jan 2015 16:08:36 -0500

Community activist Grace Lee Boggs addresses the audience at an unidentified meeting.

(32634) Asian Political Alliance, Wayne State University, Detroit, 1970-1971

eclemens — Tue, 06 Jan 2015 16:11:35 -0500

Members of the Asian Political Alliance (APA) man an information table on the campus of Wayne State University. At far right, partially obscured, APA’s founder Grace Lee Boggs speaks to a woman.

(32635) James and Grace Lee Boggs, Candid Views, 1980s-1990s

eclemens — Tue, 06 Jan 2015 16:27:46 -0500

James and Grace Lee Boggs share a moment with an unidentified friend.

(32636) Grace Lee Boggs, Candid Views, 1980s

eclemens — Tue, 06 Jan 2015 16:29:58 -0500

Community activist Grace Lee Boggs poses for a Polariod shot with an unidentified family, possibly during her 1984 trip to China.

(32637) Kenneth Cockrel, Hibbitt Trial, Detroit,1969

eclemens — Tue, 06 Jan 2015 17:01:21 -0500

Portrait of Attorney Kenneth Cockrel, taken after he was tried in contempt of court for an outburst against Judge Maher during the Alfred Hibbitt trial.

(32639) Kenneth Cockrel, Police, STRESS, Rallies, Detroit, 1972

eclemens — Wed, 07 Jan 2015 10:30:33 -0500

Attorney Kenneth Cockrel addresses the audience at an Anti-STRESS (Stop the Robberies and Enjoy Safe Streets) event in Detroit, Michigan.

(38418) Michigan Poor People's Campaign, Demonstrations, 2018

eclemens — Wed, 23 May 2018 14:43:02 -0400

A member of the clergy is arrested during the second of six planned demonstrations by the Michigan “Poor People’s Campaign.” The clergyman, along with 15 other protesters were arrested for blocking the entrance of the state Department of Health and Human Services.

The events, modeled after the Poor People’s Campaign of 1968, called for racial, economic, environmental and immigration justice. Michigan was one of 30 states participating in the six-week long project.

(46494) Portraits, Aliqae Geraci, 2010s

teller — Wed, 25 Mar 2020 09:58:26 -0400

Portrait of Aliqae Geraci, Director of the Walter P. Reuther Library (2020- ).

Seeking "Self-Determination" in Detroit: Housing, Race, and the Activism of the West Central Organization, 1964-1971

teller — Wed, 25 Jun 2025 11:05:25 -0400

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. read more »

[Podcast] "Girls, We Cannot Lose!": Midwestern Black Women Activists During the Great Depression

teller — Tue, 17 Jan 2023 12:46:10 -0500

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. read more »

[Podcast] Bargaining for the Common Good: Milton Tambor Reflects on 50 Years in Labor and Social Activism

teller — Tue, 11 Jan 2022 15:23:33 -0500

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. read more »

[Podcast] Communists and Community in Wartime Detroit

teller — Thu, 28 Oct 2021 09:57:06 -0400

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. read more »

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

teller — Wed, 05 Jun 2024 09:44:07 -0400

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. read more »

[Podcast] Rise Up Detroit: Stories from the African American Struggle for Power

teller — Wed, 24 Jul 2019 08:11:36 -0400

Dr. Peter Blackmer discusses the launch of Rise Up Detroit (www.riseupdetroit.org), a website documenting the stories of activists in the Civil Rights and Black Power movements in Detroit. The website uses extensive oral history interviews and extensive archival resources from the Walter P. Reuther Library and other archives in the region to teach audiences of all ages about social justice issues through the history of the African American struggle for power. read more »