Cockrel, Sheila, 1947-

Kenneth V. and Sheila M. Cockrel Papers

drice — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 10:50:59 -0400

Kenneth Vern Cockrel was born November 5, 1938 and raised in Detroit. He earned a B.A. in political science and his J.D from Wayne State University. Ken Cockrel also became active in politics while at Wayne. While working at the Detroit News to pay his way through school, he met Mike Hamlin and John Watson, and together they formed the League of Revolutionary Black Workers as an umbrella organization uniting local Revolutionary Union Movements, such as the Dodge Revolutionary Union Movement (DRUM), and related support groups. In 1971, Cockrel and Motor City Labor League defectors formed the Labor Defense Coalition, which was instrumental in forcing the dismantling of STRESS, a notorious Detroit Police unit. At the same time, Cockrel helped found the law firm, Philo, Maki, Ravitz, Pitts, Moore, Cockrel & Robb. Over the next ten years, he and his colleagues earned reputations as crusaders for working and poor people by winning a number of high-profile lawsuits —cases such as New Bethel, James Johnson, Hayward Brown and Madeline Fletcher. In 1977, Cockrel was elected to a seat on the Detroit City Council as an "independent socialist". Those who had worked on his election campaign regrouped as the Detroit Alliance for a Rational Economy (DARE), and charged themselves with researching various issues Cockrel would face as a councilman such as tax abatement, public health, and attempts to create an independent, mass political force to work for strong community control of basic urban institutions. Disillusioned at his inability to use his Council position to improve conditions in the city, however, he decided not to run for re-election in 1981. He returned to the practice of law, ultimately rejoining his friend and former colleague, Justin Ravitz, at Sommers, Schwartz, Silver & Schwartz in 1988.

Sheila Ann Murphy Cockrel is the daughter of the founders of the Detroit Catholic Worker movement, Louis and Justine L'Esperance Murphy. From 1966-1968 she worked as staff secretary for the West Central Organization. In the late sixties and early seventies, as a founder of the Ad-Hoc Action Group, the Motor City Labor League and the Labor Defense Coalition, Cockrel honed her organizing skills in demonstrations and rallies against police brutality, absentee landlords and jail conditions, as well as petition campaigns such as the one to abolish STRESS. At the same time, she helped initiate and maintain a series of city-wide mass educational programs known first as the Control, Conflict & Change Book club, and then, as the From the Ground Up Bookclub. Perhaps the best tests of Murphy's organizing and administrative skills came in 1972 when she successfully managed Justin Ravitz's campaign for Detroit Recorder's Court judge, and again, in 1977 with her stewardship of the Kenneth Cockrel campaign and his Council staff. Longtime political allies, Sheila Murphy and Kenneth Cockrel married in 1978. In 1993 Sheila Cockrel ran successfully for the Detroit City Council and served on that body until 2009.

Stephen Lighthill Film Collection

drice — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 10:54:59 -0500

Stephen Lighthill has been involved in a large number of film productions, including social documentaries, feature films, and television. He has worked as a camera operator, cinematographer, and director. In 1979, he produced and directed a documentary film in Detroit called "Taking Back Detroit." The film features a movement that took an alternative approach to addressing Detroit’s long-term economic difficulties. The primary subjects are Kenneth V. Cockrel, Justin C. “Chuck” Ravitz, Sheila Murphy (Cockrel), and the Detroit Alliance for a Rational Economy (D.A.R.E.).

Lighthill's collection includes raw sound and film footage for "Taking Back Detroit," as well as intermediate materials from the film making process. Box 24 contains three final prints of the complete film. The film highlights the problems facing Detroit in 1979 and gives a short overview of some of the events that created those problems. It details the crumbling industrial, business, and residential infrastructure as well as documents Detroit city council meetings, community meetings, D.A.R.E. meetings, petition drives, and D.A.R.E.’s “City Life in the ‘80s” conference.

General Gordon Baker, Jr.: A Detroit Revolutionary to the Core

ljones — Wed, 03 Sep 2014 16:45:45 -0400

There is a select group of people who place the needs of others above their own, do so against formidable forces and at great risk to their own welfare and well-being. They take these risks never knowing exactly how they will fare, but recognizing that their convictions demand that they cannot do otherwise. General Gordon Baker, Jr., a Detroit revolutionary, was among this select group of people. On May 24, 2014, a packed audience at Dearborn, Michigan’s UAW Local 600 memorialized his life that ended six days before. It was there that attendees gave tribute to a man whose impact did not pass with his death. read more »

The Popular Crimetown Podcast Digs into Detroit Crime by Digging into the Reuther Library’s Collections

mwallace — Fri, 21 Sep 2018 14:22:50 -0400

The new season of the hit podcast Crimetown will use material from various collections at the Walter P. Reuther Library. Each season of Crimetown examines the “culture of crime” in a different American city. This upcoming season they are focusing on Detroit and using film, video, and sound from the Reuther’s collections. 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 »