McCarthysim, 1950-1960

Ernest Goodman Papers

drice — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 10:49:05 -0400

A founding member of the Detroit Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild, Ernest Goodman served as NLG President, and formed the nation’s first (known) interracial law firm: Goodman, Crockett, Eden and Robb. He was deeply involved with the labor movement and some of its most bitter union organizing struggles and remained committed throughout his career to serving the common man, with clients ranging from Communists, Black Panthers, prison inmates, and African-Americans during the civil rights movement.

Part I of Mr. Goodman’s papers reflect his involvement in civil rights, constitutional law and labor issues, focusing on the Michigan Smith Act trial, the Sherrill School desegregation case, and the Black Panther trial for the murder of a Detroit Police officer.

Part II reflects his activities as counsel in controversial cases, particularly first amendment and civil rights cases, courts martial, deportation and denaturalization, and the 1971 Attica prison uprising. These papers further focus on the events, places, and people who influenced both his personal life and a career spent in service to social justice for the common man.

Part III (Two storage boxes) focuses on various cases, mainly from the 1980s-1990s, Goodman's writings, his work with Wayne State University Law School, and Estonian family correspondence.

Helen Bowers Papers

dgolodner — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 11:56:31 -0400

Helen Marie Newman Bowers was born in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin on May 16, 1908. After graduating from Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota, she began teaching art in Detroit, Michigan in 1933 and quickly got involved with the Detroit Federation of Teachers (DFT), Local 231. She left the teaching profession in 1958 to become the executive secretary of the DFT. Together with DFT President Mary Ellen Riordan, Detroit teachers won collective bargaining in 1964. Helen Bowers won duty-free lunch hours for elementary teachers, and conceived of “demonstration picketing” before schools opened in the morning to raise awareness to the community about why teachers were demanding collective bargaining. Ms. Bowers served on the Executive Board and became editor of the DFT newspaper, The Detroit Teacher.

The papers of Helen Bowers reflect her work with the DFT and education reform initiatives. This involves pre-collective bargaining rights in dealing with academic freedom, civil liberties as well as a living wage for teachers. Communism files contain a thorough documentation of the Maki Case trial from clippings from the three Detroit newspapers. The collection also contains very useful information about how the union gained power after collective bargaining was won. Their influence in education issues is seen in issues about accountability, decentralization and student rights.

Trial of the Michigan Six

kchinery — Tue, 11 Jun 2013 15:30:00 -0400

On October 14, 1949, 11 members of the National Board of the Communist Party of the United States (CPUSA) were convicted of violating the Smith Act of 1940 by advocating the overthrow of the government of the United States with force and violence. The ten-month trial, which took place in New York City, captured the country’s attention with its sensational events both inside and outside of the courtroom. More importantly, it established a precedent for prosecuting other communists across the country. read more »

[Podcast] Labor Radical Harry Bridges and the Cold War Ire of the US Government

teller — Thu, 26 Oct 2023 15:26:40 -0400

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 in the 1930s, even as his militant unionism and association with communists placed him at odds with the American government during the Cold War and at the center of several deportation hearings. read more »