Reuther, Roy, 1909-1968

Brookwood Labor College Records

aergas — Mon, 09 Nov 2020 10:44:37 -0500

Brookwood Labor College was a co-educational, residential workers' institution founded in 1921 in Katonah, New York. The curriculum focused on a progressive, non-factional education for workers, as the college sought to play an increasing role in the task of building a militant, intelligent, powerful labor movement. The records document the operation of the college during its sixteen years. Brookwood College closed in 1937.

Hy Fish Papers

drice — Wed, 27 Jun 2012 16:24:17 -0400

Hy Fish was born June 11, 1913. He lived in Chicago and earned his MBA from the University
of Chicago in 1960. Hy was a Socialist who was active in the Young Peoples Socialist League
where he was the business manager of their monthly newspaper, “The Challenge.” After the Flint sit-down strike began in 1936, Hy was sent to Flint to act as an organizer for the Socialist Party. Awhile later he became a labor education teacher at Roosevelt University in Chicago, IL., and traveled to India and Israel in the 1950s as an economic advisor for the International Labour Office. In the 1960s he left Roosevelt University to work as a self-employed consultant. Hy Fish died July 9, 1994.

The Hy Fish collection consists largely of Socialist publications covering topics such as labor,
Socialism, Communism, post WWI housing issues in the United States, war, religion and
specific labor unions of the 1920s and 1930s. The collection contains materials from the Young Peoples Socialist League (YPSL) and the Socialist Party with correspondence from his years in the YPSL. Some material from the Flint sit-down strike, from his trip to India for a mission on productivity, and his independent consultant work are also included.

Roy Reuther Papers

drice — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 15:17:20 -0500

Correspondence, newspaper clippings, newspapers, reports, notes, and pamphlets collected by Roy Reuther, who served as national director of the UAW's Citizenship and Legislative Department and administrative assistant to Walter P. Reuther. In addition, he was co-director of the National Voters' Registration Committee in John Kennedy's presidential campaign (1960), director of AFL-CIO's voter registration campaign (1962 and 1964), and appointed member of a President's commission to study state and local laws concerning voter registration and elections (1963). Subjects include UAW's PAC registration drives; AFL-CIO's COPE registration drive and financial affairs; Democratic politics and elections (national, Michigan, and Detroit); congressional debate on civil rights (1958-59); Brookwood Labor College (1936); Wayne County CIO Council; and the Third World Congress of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (1953). Major correspondents are Victor Reuther, Walter Reuther, and Paul Sifton. An oral history interview with Mr. Reuther concerning the Flint sit-downs is available.

Southeast Michigan Council of Governments (SEMCOG) Records

drice — Wed, 11 May 2011 15:43:34 -0400

SEMCOG grew out of primarily the Detroit Metropolitan Area Regional Planning Commission (DRPC) and the Supervisors Inter-County Committee (SICC) in an effort to consolidate regional planning agencies and avoid duplication of programs and services. SEMCOG has continued its predecessors' work of assisting local planning programs, collecting area planning data, and providing an infrastructure for procurement of federal aid.

Records in Part I document SEMCOG's predecessor, the DRPC, and its transition to and early operation of the Planning Division of SEMCOG, through the office files of Paul Reid, Executive Director at the time of transition. Contained therein are findings of various planning projects and studies conducted by the two entities.

Records in Part II relate primarily to the administration of SEMCOG and the environmental, transportation, and economic issues it dealt with.

Records in Part III related to SEMCOG's work in environment, transportation, and urban planning. Documented are the activities of executive directors John Amberger and Paul Tait, and the Executive and Advisory Council from SEMCOG's inception through 2003. The records of the Metropolitan Affairs Coalition (MAC) a private-sector sister organization to SEMCOG are also included.

UAW Citizenship Department: Roy Reuther Records

drice — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 11:16:34 -0500

In 1957 the United Auto Workers changed the name of their Political Action Department to the Citizenship Department , headed by Roy Reuther. Their records cover activities until the subsequent name change to the Citizenship-Legislative Department.

UAW Political Action Department: Roy Reuther Records

drice — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 12:08:49 -0500

Subjects include: civil rights; Detroit elections; Michigan Congressional elections; UAW factionalism

A Legacy Unspooled: Archival Research for Documentary Filmmakers

Public Relations Team — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 09:48:48 -0400

In April 2013, we begin a periodic guest blogging series where we invite frequent researchers to discuss their projects. Our first comes from Sasha Reuther.

Sasha Reuther is a Producer/Director of commercials, music videos, and historical programming for networks and clients including National Geographic, Sundance Channel, VIBE Magazine, Armani, Motorola, and The Starwood Hotel Group. His first documentary feature, Brothers On The Line, is an award-winning historical odyssey exploring the lives of labor organizers Walter, Roy, and Victor Reuther (his grandfather) and their extraordinary, though equally contentious, leadership of the United Auto Workers union. Aside from his film work, Sasha has written articles for Time Magazine, Huffington Post, and The IFP. Born in Detroit and a graduate of NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, he lives in NYC with his wife, Sonya. read more »

Alan Reuther: the UAW's Voice in Washington

mosmith — Mon, 16 Jul 2012 09:54:47 -0400

The Walter Reuther Library is pleased to announce that an oral history with Alan Reuther is now open for research. Alan Reuther was the Legislative Director for the United Automobile Workers of America (UAW). He served in the UAW’s Washington Office from 1982 until his retirement in 2010. Over the course of his tenure as Legislative Director, Automotive News often cited Reuther as one of the 50 most influential people in the auto industry. read more »

Event: "Roy Reuther and the UAW: Fighting for Workers and Civil Rights"

eclemens — Mon, 24 Feb 2025 07:58:12 -0500

Join the Walter P. Reuther Library on March 27th as we host Alan Reuther to celebrate his new book, Roy Reuther and the UAW: Fighting for Workers and Civil Rights.

Alan will discuss the biography about his father, Roy Reuther, a leader of the 1937 Flint sit-down strike that gave rise to the UAW. The book chronicles Roy’s central involvement in the civil rights struggle, support for striking farmworkers, and efforts to expand registration and voting in elections, as well as his close work with icons Robert Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr., and Cesar Chavez. Roy Reuther and the UAW will be on sale at the event, and Alan will be available to sign your copy! read more »

Reuther Library content used in new documentary

mwallace — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 10:35:44 -0400

Walter Reuther and Richard Frankensteen shortly after being attacked by Ford Service men during the “Battle of the Overpass.” The men were beaten for distributing United Auto Workers leaflets outside of the Ford Rouge Plant, Dearborn, Michigan, 23 May 1937.

The 2010 North American Labor History Conference will top off this year’s event with a viewing of the latest cut of the new documentary Brothers on the Line on Saturday, October 23 at 11:00 AM.

The documentary, which relies heavily on the collections of the Walter P. Reuther Library, looks at the lives of the Reuther Brothers, Walter, Victor, and Roy, and their struggles to organize the United Auto Workers read more »

Subject Focus: Remembering the Flint Sit-Down

teller — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 13:52:57 -0500

Tired of reductions in pay and jobs, increased workloads, and harassment of United Automobile Workers organizers, on December 30, 1936 automotive workers in the General Motors Fisher Number One Plant in Flint, Michigan sat down on the job. For the next 44 days workers refused to work or leave the Fisher One and Two plants, and later Chevrolet Number 4. Michigan Governor Frank Murphy refused to order the strikers out, so GM attempted to expel them by shutting off the plants’ heat and electricity and by preventing food deliveries. read more »

(8745) Walter Reuther and Richard Frankensteen "Battle of the Overpass" Dearborn Michigan

eclemens — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 11:23:50 -0500

Walter Reuther and Richard Frankensteen shortly after being attacked by Ford Service men during the “Battle of the Overpass”. The men were beaten for distributing United Auto Workers leaflets outside of the Ford Rouge Plant, Dearborn, Michigan.

(11530) UAW, UFW, Grape Boycott, Long Beach, California

eclemens — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 08:20:28 -0500

Members of the United Auto Workers (UAW) and the United Farm Workers Organizing Committee (UFWOC) march against S&W Foods during the Grape Boycott, Long Beach California. UAW members were in the area to attend the 1966 conference.

Left to right: Roy Reuther, Larry Itliong, Cesar Chavez.

(11545) Reuther, Woodcock, Stevenson, 1952

eclemens — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 11:26:19 -0500

UAW Vice President Leonard Woodcock (left), and Director of the UAW Citizenship Department Roy Reuther (center) meet with Adlai Stevenson during his 1952 presidential campaign.

(24832) Roy Reuther and Frank Simington

jruss — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 16:47:19 -0400

AFSCME Staff Representative Frank Simington (right) presents the Tubman-Douglas Award to Committee on Public Education Director Roy Reuther at AFSCME Council 34 in Illinois. Reuther accepted on behalf of his brother Walter, president of the UAW. The award was given by the Negro American Labor Council, of which Simington was a leader.

(25586) Civil Rights Act, 1964

eclemens — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 07:18:33 -0400

President Lyndon B. Johnson hands pens to Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy during the signing of the Civil Rights Act. Immediately to Kennedy’s left is Roy Reuther.

(30371) Reuther brothers

jruss — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 14:38:38 -0400

Reuther brothers from left: Roy, Walter, Victor. New York, NY. circa 1950s.

(30372) Sasha Reuther and Joe Gabriel

jruss — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 15:02:34 -0400

Director Sasha Reuther (right) and cinematographer Joe Gabriel (in hat) shoot footage in Washington, D.C., for Brothers On The Line, a documentary about Sasha's grandfather, Victor Reuther, and great-uncles, Roy and Walter, and their creation of the United Auto Workers.

Podcast: "Democracy is Sweeping Over the World:" Brookwood Labor College at the Nexus of Transnational Radicalism in the Jazz Age

teller — Tue, 11 Dec 2018 16:24:51 -0500

While the 1920s are often described as "lean years" of progressive action, Andreas Meyris explains how the Brookwood Labor College in Katonah, New York served as a conduit for transnational radicalism in the 1920s while also training labor journalists and up-and-coming labor leaders like Walter Reuther and Rose Pesotta, setting the stage for the explosion of industrial unionism during the 1930s. read more »