Integration

AFT Affiliate St. Louis Teachers Union Local 420 Records

dgolodner — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 16:06:08 -0400

The St. Louis (Missouri) Teachers Union was organized in 1935 by Paul W. Preisler, as
the Teachers Union of St. Louis and St. Louis County. Its jurisdiction extended over
these separate political entities in order to include members from Washington University.
In 1944 the name of the local was changed to Teacher’s Federation of St. Louis and St.
Louis County. Its 1948 merger with Local 680, St. Louis Vocational Teachers’ Union,
extended Local 420’s jurisdiction to include “all eligible teachers in St. Louis and St.
Louis County including vocational and college teachers.” By 1962 its name had been
shortened to St. Louis Teachers Union. The St. Louis Teachers Union experienced great growth between 1961 and 1963, during which period its membership grew from 81 to 1,417. Membership grew in the 1970s after the AFT became sole bargaining agent for teachers and with the inclusion of paraprofessionals and support staff, but internal disputes and unsuccessful strikes led to many resignations and a decline in membership in 1968 and 1976.

Part I of this collection contains office files of the AFT local representing the teachers of St. Louis, Missouri. Correspondence, clippings, minutes, press releases, and other materials dealing with such topics as tenure, desegregation, educational standards, membership drives, and collective bargaining by teachers. Several of the files consist of the records of Betty Finneran as a vice-president of the AFT.

Part II of this collection contains material created or used by Betty Finneran and reflect her activities as well as activities of the union as a whole. Finneran served as president, secretary, and treasurer of Local 420 and founded the Retiree Chapter. Local 420 subjects include a dispute with the Missouri Federation of Teachers, raiding between Local 420 and the local National Education Association chapter, internal disputes among board members, organizing and elections, and desegregation of St. Louis schools. Outside of Local 420, Finneran was involved with the St. Louis Coalition of Labor Union Women and other women's rights efforts.

Wade H. McCree, Jr. Papers

drice — Mon, 09 Nov 2015 13:55:18 -0500

Wade Hampton McCree, Jr. began his career as a lawyer in the Detroit law firm of Harold E. Bledsoe and Hobart Taylor. He later served on the state’s Workmen’s Compensation Commission and as a judge in the county and U.S. court system. During his tenure on the bench, McCree took part in a number of school desegregation cases iand as the government’s lawyer, he argued a number of significant cases before the Supreme Court. He resigned in 1977 to accept appointment as U.S. Solicitor General in the Carter administration. In the last few years of his life, McCree taught law at the University of Michigan, and consulted on various cases and served as Special Master for the U.S. Supreme Court in cases in which it exercised original jurisdiction. Judge McCree’s professional, educational, civic and charitable activities were many and he was the recipient of numerous honors and awards.

His papers contain his personal and professional correspondence, speeches and writings, voluminous case files, including his notes and opinions, meeting minutes, publications and other material relating to his service on the bench and as the federal government’s chief lawyer as well as his work on professional committees and his involvement with a wide range of civic, fraternal and charitable organizations.

African Americans and the UAW

mosmith — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 11:53:30 -0500

The Reuther Library celebrates African American History Month with a brief review of the important role that African Americans have played in the formation and growth of the United Automobile Workers of America (UAW), one of the most powerful unions in American history, and the influence of black UAW members within the polity of Detroit. read more »

Collection Spotlight: Wade McCree's contribution to Detroit and the nation

ljones — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 09:37:16 -0500

The Walter P. Reuther Library continues to celebrate Black History Month by highlighting the life of Wade McCree and his papers.

In his work as a judge, appointed official, and educator coupled with his sense of civic responsibility, Wade Hampton McCree, Jr. made a unique contribution to the Detroit metropolitan area and beyond. His success in these areas are noteworthy by themselves, but even more so given the barriers to success experienced by African Americans read more »

Subject Focus: African American History at the Reuther Library

wlefevre — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 12:19:12 -0500

The Reuther Library celebrates African American History Month with a look at some of the significant collections housed in the library that deal with African American history.

A gem from Rosa Parks’s collection is a set of her hand written notes from her time at the Highlander Folk School in 1955, shortly before the Montgomery Bus Boycott. These notes showcase her read more »

Podcast: "She Never Gave Up on This City:" Remembering Firebrand Detroit City Councilwoman Maryann Mahaffey

teller — Mon, 11 Feb 2019 10:36:35 -0500

Labor and Urban Affairs archivist Shae Rafferty shares how Maryann Mahaffey's college summer job as recreation director at the Poston Japanese internment camp in Arizona in 1945 strengthened her resolve to fight against discrimination and help those in need later in her career in social work. read more »

Podcast: Assembly Line Housing: Walter P. Reuther, George Romney, and Operation Breakthrough – Part 1

teller — Tue, 07 Aug 2018 09:45:14 -0400

In the first of a two-part series, Dr. Kristin Szylvian explains the role of the American labor movement, and UAW president Walter Reuther in particular, in lobbying for and shaping fair housing programs and legislation in Detroit and nationally after the Second World War. That influence paved the way for an unlikely alliance in the 1960s between Reuther and George Romney, the former Republican governor of Michigan, when they joined together in the late 1960s to launch Operation Breakthrough, a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development program to use union-made manufactured housing to alleviate the housing crisis in minority communities while also creating job opportunities and encouraging racial and income integration in the larger community. read more »

Podcast: Assembly Line Housing: Walter P. Reuther, George Romney, and Operation Breakthrough – Part 2

teller — Tue, 14 Aug 2018 09:04:23 -0400

In the second of a two-part series, Dr. Kristin M. Szylvian explains how racial segregation and the fear of declining property values ultimately scuttled Operation Breakthrough, a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Program early in the Nixon administration to use union-made manufactured housing to create racially- and economically-integrated housing communities throughout the country. read more »

[Podcast] Punishing Promise: School Discipline in the Era of Desegregation

teller — Thu, 17 Oct 2019 16:24:05 -0400

Matt Kautz explains how his observations while teaching in Detroit and Chicago led him to study the rise of suspensions and other disciplinary tactics in urban districts during school desegregation, fueling the school-to-prison pipeline. read more »