Michigan - U.S. Labor History Resources for K-12 School Children and Their Teachers: An Initial Reference List
The following is from a Michigan State University Professor's webpage and is an excellent resource for further research and study on the Labor movement!
Michigan and U. S.
Labor History Resources
for K-12 School Children and Their Teachers:
An Initial Reference List
by John L. Revitte,
Professor,
Work, Leisure and Labor Studies
Michigan State University
Labor Day 2002
<>
The following reference guide presents, first, a "basic resources" list for K-12 teachers, parents, and students regarding Michigan labor history topics, including some video resources for use in K-12 and college classrooms. It then lists books which could be assigned to K-12 students, and is hopefully presented in an ascending age/grade appropriateness order. [If someone has officially "rated" any of these resources by reading level, the author would appreciate receiving such information.] The guide then lists some "background references" for K-12 parents and teachers including curriculum guides, websites, and suggested texts for background reading on varied aspects of U.S. and Michigan history highlighting stories regarding work, industries, labor unions, political, urban and civil rights, and current employment relations events. And many of these items could also be of use by college students and their instructors.
Please feel free to contact Professor Revitte with suggestions of other resources including curricula and lesson plans about work and leisure, additional references regarding Michigan industries and labor history, such as new or favorite texts, records, and/or audio and video tapes. Also please let Revitte know of suggested reorganizations of this initial reference list, and/or of comments from children, or their parents, teachers or school administrators, concerning "age appropriateness" of any texts. Contact MSU Professor John L. Revitte, via 417 S. Kedzie Hall, SLIR/MSU, East Lansing, MI 48824-1032, or 517-355-5143, or revitte@msu.edu, or www.msu.edu/~revitte. Thanks; jr.
Basic Resources: for teachers, parents, and students regarding Michigan labor history topics, including some AV resources for use in K-12 classrooms, which should also be of use by college students and their professors:
"From Calumet to Kalamazoo: A History of Michigan Workers and their Unions from 1818" (31 min. video/1984) and A Discussion and Resource Guide for Teaching Michigan Labor History (82 pp.: 1985), Carol Haddad and John Revitte, East Lansing, MI: Michigan State University's IMC and MSU Press, Video: $25 (call to order: 517.3539229), Guide: free with purchase and/or extra copies by request.
The Unfinished Struggle: Turning Points in American Labor, 1877-Present, Steve Babson, Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield (1999), $10 paper.
Working Detroit, Steve Babson, with R. Alpern, D. Elsila and J. Revitte, New York: Adama Books (1984), reprinted several times by Wayne State University Press, Detroit, MI at approx. $20 paper. (And call Wayne State University's Walter Reuther Archives (313.5774024) regarding purchase or rental of Detroit Labor History Tours (DLHT) videos: "Labor Minutes" (ten 60-second public TV "labor day ads"); "Detroit: the Making of a Union Town, 1901-41" (22-min.); and "Rivera's Labor Legacy: The DIA Murals" (26 min.).
Regarding Diego Rivera's "DIA Murals" one should consult: Diego Rivera: Science and Creativity in the Detroit Murals, Dorothy McMeekin, East Lansing, MI: Michigan State University Press (1985), $9.95 cloth; and Diego Rivera: The Detroit Industry Murals, Linda Downs, Detroit Institute of Arts in association with Norton & Co., NY (1999), $49.95 cloth.
Michigan Labor: A Brief History from 1818 to the Present, Doris McLaughlin, Ann Arbor: ILIR Press (1970), still available from the University of Michigan's ILIR at approx. $5 paper.
Other videos one might use include:
Hoffa, with Nicholson and DeVito, Twentieth Century Fox (1992), R rating; at most video stores.
Sit-down and Fight: Walter Reuther and the Rise of the Auto Workers Union, which like From Calumet and Detroit above, is a documentary, approx. 1 hour in length, and may be more difficult to find.
Production and purchase details, as well as listings of many other high quality educational and general audience videos concerning unions and employment relations (such as labor studies' "classics" like American Dream; If You Don't Come in Sunday, Don't Come in Monday; The Inheritance; Miles of Smiles, Years of Struggle; Rosie the Riveter, and With Babies and Banners: the Story of the Women's Emergency Brigade) are described in Working Stiffs, Union Maids, Reds, & Riffraff: An Organized Guide to Films About Labor, Tom Zaniello, Ithaca: NY: Cornell University Press ( 1996), paper. Many excellent videos like the Grapes of Wrath, Human Resources, and Matewan are available at good general interest video stores, and some "harder to find" ones may be available for a rental fee from university collections or through unions, such as UAW regional and local union offices which may make copies available to local school and college teachers to borrow, rent and/or purchase.
Books for (K-12) Children: regarding work and leisure and labor history, not especially focused on Michigan:
The Factory. Philippe Dupasquier, New York: Grosset & Dunlap (1984), $3.95 cloth. (The Factory is part of the Busy Places series; see also the airport, the building site, the service station, the train station, and the harbor.)
What is a Union? Althea, Windermere, FL: Rourke Enterprises (1981), cloth.
A Train for Jane, Norma Klein, Old Westbury, NY: The Feminist Press (1974), $3.50 paper.
John Henry: An American Legend, Ezra Jack Keats, NY: Scholastic Books (1965), paper.
Trouble at the Mine, Doreen Rappaport, New York: Crowell (1987), cloth.
Work: A Story of Experience, Louisa May Alcott, New York: Schocken Books (reprint 1977), $13.95 paper.
Waiting for the Morning Train: An American Boyhood, Bruce Catton, Detroit: Wayne State University Press (1972), paper.
The Labor Movement in the United States, John Flagler, Minneapolis, MN: Lerner Publications (1990), $21.50 cloth.
Bread and Roses: The Struggle of American Labor, 1865-1915, Milton Meltzer, Vintage Sundial Books (1973; originally 1967), paper.
Working Men: The Story of Labor, Sidney Lens, NY: Putnam (1960), cloth.
Cesar Chavez, Norma Ruth Franchere, New York: Crowell (1970), cloth. (Cesar Chavez is part of the Crowell Biographies series; see also their books on Wilt Chamberlain and on Eleanor Roosevelt, among others.)
A Long Hard Journey: The Story of the Pullman Porter, Patricia and Fredrick McKissack, NY: Walker & Co. (1989), paper.
A. Philip Randolph: Integration in the Workplace, Sarah Wright, Englewood Cliffs, NY: Silver Burdett Press (1990), $ 7.95 paper. . (A. Philip Randolph is part of The History of the Civil Rights Movement series; see also Ella Baker: A Leader Behind the Scenes; Stokely Carmichael: The Story of Black Power; Fannie Lou Hamer: From Sharecropping to Politics; Jesse Jackson: Still Fighting for the Dream; Martin Luther King, Jr.: The Dream of Peaceful Revolution; Malcolm X: Another Side of the Movement; Thurgood Marshall: The Fight for Equal Justice; and Rosa Parks: The Movement Organizes.)
Eleanor Roosevelt: A Life of Discovery, Russell Freedman, NY: Clarion Books (1993), cloth.
Books for (older K-12) Children: regarding work, leisure and labor history, including cartoon and joke books, song lyrics and poetry, and current events in employment relations, not especially focused on Michigan:
Looking at Art: People at Work, Patrick Conner, NY: Margaret McElderry Books/Atheneum (1982), $11.95 cloth.
So Long Partner! Fred Wright, NY: United Electrical Workers of America (UE) (1975), paper.
Bye! American: the Labor Cartoons of Huck & Konopacki, Chicago: Charles Kerr Publishing (1987), paper.
Build a Better Life by Stealing Office Supplies: Dogbert's Big Book of Business, Scott Adams, Kansas City: Andrews and McMeel (1991), paper.
Labor's Joke Book, Paul Buhle (ed.), St. Louis, MO: WD Press (1985), $3.95 paper.
A Handbook of Great Labor Quotations, Peter Bollen, Lynnfield, MA: Hillside Books (1983), $5.75 paper.
Rhyme and Reason: Molders Poetry From Sylvis to the Great Depression, James Cebula and James Wolfe (eds.), Cincinnati, OH: Sylvis Society (1984), paper.
Sing a Song of Unsung Heroes and Heroines, text by Alice Hoffman, and accompanying audio tape by Tom Juravich, Dept. of Labor Studies, Pennsylvania State University (1986), paper and audio tape
Packinghouse Daughter: A Memoir, Cheri Register, NY: Perennial/HarperCollins Publishers (2000), $19.95 paper.
America Needs a Raise: Fighting for Economic Security and Social Justice, John Sweeney with David Kusnet, Boston: Houghton Mifflin (1996), $18.95 cloth.
What Workers Want, Richard Freeman & Joel Rogers, Ithaca, NY: Cornell Univ. Press (1999), $17.95 paper.
"Global Village or Global Pillage: Economic Reconstruction from the Bottom Up," Jeremy Brecher & Tim Costello, Cambridge, MA: South End Press (1994 & 8), $16 paper and video w/ same title available.
Ravenswood: The Steelworkers' Victory and the Revival of American Labor, Tom Juravich & Kate Bronfenbrenner, Ithaca, NY: ILR Press (1999), $15.95 paper (2000).
Three Strikes: Labor's Heartland Losses and What they Mean for Working Americans, NY: Guilford Press (2001), $23.95 cloth.
See also America @ Work, Dissent, Journal of Labor Research, Labor Notes, Labor Studies Journal, New Labor Forum, Perspectives on Work, and Working USA; and the American Educator, Solidarity and other union publications; as well as the Detroit News and Free Press,, The Economist, The Nation, the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, for articles and reviews of texts and AV resources on recent contemporary events of relevant union and employment relations topics, some of which are written at a reading level useable with advanced middle and high school, and/or college students. [A longer discussion on this occurs on the last page of this guide.]
Books for (older K-12) Children: regarding work and leisure, labor history, current events and related topics in employment relations, including song lyrics and poetry, with emphasis on Michigan people, places and events:
Big Annie of Calumet: A True Story of the Industrial Revolution, Jerry Stanley, NY: Crown (1996), $18 cloth.
Early Red Jacket and Calumet in Pictures, Clarence Monette, Lake Linden, MI: Welden Curtin (1988), paper.
Black Rock and Roses: A Play of Iron County, Debra Bernhardt (ed.), Iron River, MI: Iron County Historical Society (1975), $2.50 paper.
The Blue Collar Aristocracy, Leevi Etelamaki, Escanaba, MI: Richards' Printing (1996), paper.
From Frontier Folk to Factory Smoke: Michigan's First Century of Historical Fiction, Larry Massie, Au Train, MI: Avery Color Studios (1987), paper. (From Frontier Folk is one of a number of inexpensive paperbacks by Massie and/or Avery Studios; see also Larry Massie, Voyages Into Michigan's Past, 1988; Lewis Reimann, When Pine was King, 1981, and Between the Iron and the Pine, 1981,and the Michigan Ghost Towns volumes by Roy Dodge.)
Country Towns of Michigan, Doris Scharfenberg, Castine, ME: Country Roads Press (1994), $9.95 paper.
Maritime Labor Relations on the Great Lakes, Charles Larrowe, East Lansing, MI: Labor and Industrial Relations Center, Michigan State University (1959), paper.
Michigan Voices: Our State's History in the Words of the People Who Lived It, compiled and edited by Joe Grimm, Detroit, MI: Detroit Free Press and Wayne State University Press (1987), paper.
Yesterday's Michigan, (pictorial history), Frank Angelo, Miami, FL: Seemann (1975), cloth.
Yesterday's Detroit, (pictorial history), Frank Angelo, Miami, FL: Seemann (1974), $5.95 paper.
All Our Yesterdays: A Brief History of Detroit, Frank and Arthur Woodford, Detroit: Wayne State University (1969, reissued 2001), paper.
The UAW in Pictures, Warner Pflug, Detroit: Wayne State University Press (1971), paper.
American Odyssey, Robert Conot, NY: Bantam Books (19 ), paper.
The Many and the Few: A Chronicle of the Dynamic Auto Workers, Henry Kraus, Urbana: University of Illinois Press (2nd Ed., 1985, original copyright, 1947), paper; and Heroes of Unwritten History: The UAW, 1934-1939, Henry Kraus, Urbana: University of Illinois Press (1993), paper.
The Brothers Reuther and the Story of the UAW / A Memoir, Victor Reuther, Boston: Houghton Mifflin (1976), paper.
Reuther: A Daughter Strikes, Elizabeth Reuther Dickmeyer, Southfield, MI: Spelman Publishers (1989), $17 cloth.
Books for (older K-12) Children (Michigan themes continued):
Indignant Heart: A Black Worker's Journal, Charles Denby (Matthew Ward), Boston: South End Press (1978), $4.80 paper.
The Dollmaker (fiction), Harriette Arnow, NY: Avon (1972, original copyright 1954.), paper.
Myra: The Life and Times of Myra Wolfgang, Trade-Union Leader, Jean Pitrone, Wyandotte, MI: Calibre Books (1980), $10 cloth.
Hoffa, Arthur Sloan, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press ( 1991), $12.95 paper.
Coleman Young and Detroit Politics: From Social Activist to Power Broker, Wilbur Rich, Detroit: Wayne State University Press (1989), paper.
Devil's Night and Other True Tales of Detroit, Ze'ev Chafets. NY:Vintage Books (1990), $10paper.
The Factory Songs of Mr. Toad, Martin Glaberman, Detroit: Bewick Editions (1994), paper.
Punching Out, Jim Daniels, Detroit: Wayne State University Press (1990), paper.
The Middle West: Poems by Danny Rendleman, Roseville, MI: Ridgeway Press (1995), paper.
End of the Line: Autoworkers and the American Dream: An Oral History, Richard Feldman and Michael Betzold (eds.), NY: Weidenfeld & Nicolson (1988), $19.95 cloth.
Rivethead: Tales for the Assembly Line, Ben Hamper, NY: Warner Books (1986), paper.
Background references: Curriculum, Lesson Plans and Guides, Labor in Schools Programs, Websites regarding Unions and Employment Relations, and Michigan's University and College Labor Studies and Labor Education Programs:
From Calumet to Kalamazoo: A Discussion and Resource Guide for Teaching Michigan Labor History (82 pp.: 1985), Carol Haddad and John Revitte, East Lansing, MI: Michigan State Univ. Press; and contact MSU's Labor Education Program at 517.3555071 or www.ssc.msu.edu/~lir. (Similar programs exist at Northern Mich. Univ.--906.2272104 or www.nmu.edu; the University of Michigan--313.7640492 or www.ilir.mich.edu; and at Wayne State University--313.5772191 or www.laborstudies@wayne.edu.
For videos, records, audio tapes (including Voices of Labor, 9 thematic tapes by MSU Professor Emeritus Robert Repas) and simulations, see From Calumet (above); Labor EducationÂ… Curriculum (below); and Working Stiffs, Union Maids, Reds, & Riffraff: An Organized Guide to Films About Labor, Tom Zaniello, Ithaca: NY: Cornell University Press ( 1996), paper.
Labor Education for the K-12 Curriculum: Resource Guide for Teachers: Books, Videotapes, Software, Archives, Lesson Plans, Internet Resources, and moreÂ…, revised Jan. 2002, Oakland CA: California Federation of Teachers, 2002; and contact the CFT's Labor in the Schools Committee, and/or Fred Glass, cftoakland@lgc.org, regarding the Golden Lands, Working Hands video series and lesson plans and/or The Yummy Pizza Company lesson plans and materials at 510.8328812 or www.cft.org.
The Power in Our Hands: A Curriculum on the History of Work and Workers in the United States, William Bigelow and Norman Diamond (1988); available from NECA/Teaching for Change, 202.2380109 or www.teachingforchange.org; $18 paper.
Learning About Work, Washington, D.C.: Communication Workers of America, elementary and secondary teachers' kits, $10 each, 202.4341172; Labor in the Schools: How You Can Help Teach the Next Generation About Unions, Washington D.C.: International Brotherhood of Teamsters, 202.6246800; and other international unions have programs.
The Working Teenager, New York State AFL-CIO, New York State United Teachers, et al., $5 per volume; contact Dr. Stephen Schechter, Russell Sage College, 518.2442363.
Special Issue on Teaching Labor History, Organization of American Historians' Magazine of History, v. 11, n. 2 (Winter 1997); Labor's Heritage teacher guides and simulations based on journal articles (contact: George Meany Memorial Archives, Silver Springs, MD, 301.431.5451 or www.georgemeany.org; and note comment above: See such journals as Labor's Heritage, Labor History, Labor Studies Journal, Michigan Historical Review, Michigan History, The Nation and The New York Times Review of Books for numerous articles and book/video reviews of texts and AV resources on historical topics of relevance.
Websites of particularly good use for students and teachers include: AFL-CIO (www.aflcio.org); Amer. Fed. of Teachers (www.aft.org); American Labor History: An On-Line Study Guide (www.geocites.com/CollegePark/Quad/6460/AmLabHist); Bread and Roses (www.breadandroses.com); A Curriculum of United States Labor History for Teachers and the Illinois Labor History Society (www.kentlaw.edu); Czarnecki's United Assn. for Labor Education (UALE) Announcements can be obtained from czarlab@erols.com [& back issues via his Labor Education Newsletter]; Historical Society of Michigan (www.hsmichigan.org); Michigan State AFL-CIO (www.miaflcio.org); and the United Auto Workers Intern. Union (www.uaw.com). The UAW's guest speaker/schools project, works with some Michigan Education Assn. locals, centered in the Flint area, which can be contacted via 562.8011500.
An excellent, up-to-date listing of websites can be found at the MSU School of Labor and Industrial Relations "library hot links" (http://www.lir.msu.edu/hotlinks). It lists union websites, labor history and LIR archives and libraries, e.g. WSU's Reuther Archives and the State of Michigan Historical Center, and state and U.S. university and government sites, e.g., Bureau of Labor Statistics (www.bls.gov).
Background references: Selected U. S. labor history books and AV resources, as well as some references on current employment relations' trends:
The Origins and Evolution of the Field of Industrial Relations in the United States, Bruce Kaufman, Ithaca, NY: ILR Press (1993), $19.95 paper.
Industrial Democracy in America: The Ambiguous Promise, Nelson Lichtenstein and Howell Harris, New York: Cambridge University Press (1993), $17.95 paper.
Big Trouble: A Murder in a Small Western Town Sets off a Struggle for the Soul of America, J. Anthony Lukas, NY: Simon & Schuster (1997), $32.50 cloth.
Labor's Great War: The Struggle for Industrial Democracy and the Origins of Modern Labor Relations, 1912-1921, Joseph McCartin, Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press (1997), paper.
New Deals: Business, Labor, and Politics in America, 1920-1935, Colin Gordon, New York: Cambridge University Press (1994).
The Future of History: Interviews with David Barsamian, Howard Zinn, Monroe, Maine: Common Courage Press (1999), $13.95 paper.
Taking History to Heart: The Power of the Past in Building Social Movements, James Green, Amherst: Univ. of Massachusetts Press ( 2000).
The Future of Work, August 1983; The Changing Situation of Workers and Their Unions, Feb. 1985; & The New American Workplace: A Labor Perspective: Report(s) by the AFL-CIO Committee on the Evolution of Work, Feb. 1994, Washington D.C.: AFL-CIO, paper.
Guide to Public Sector Labor Relations Law in Michigan: Law and Procedure before the Michigan Employment Relations Commission, Shlomo Sperka (ed.), East Lansing, MI: MSU, School of Labor and Industrial Relations and the Michigan Employment Relations Commission (2002), paper.
Gig: Americans Talk About Their Jobs, John Bowe, et al., (eds.), New York: Three River Press (2000), $16 paper.
"Ethical Perspectives in E.R. and H.R.," John Revitte and Jerry Lazar, in E. E. Kossek & R. Block, Managing Human Resources in the 21st Century: From Core Concepts to Strategic Choice, Cincinnati, OH: South-Western (2000), paper; The Heart Aroused: Poetry & the Preservation of the Soul in Corporate America, David Whyte, NY: Currency Doubleday (1994), $22.50 cloth; and The Reinvention of Work: A New Vision of Livelihood for Our Time, Matthew Fox, San Francisco: Harper (1994), cloth.
Economic Development: A Union Guide to the High Road, Robert Baugh and M. Hilton, Washington D.C.: AFL-CIO Human Resources Development Institute (1998); and see "School-to-Work: On the High Road," [produced by an IBEW / Verizon Educational Partnership] (16 min. video), Washington D.C.: International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (2001); and see other labor-employer work force enhancement effort booklets and videos, most commonly found in the construction trades.
Robust Unionism: Innovations in the Labor Movement, Arthur Shostak, Ithaca, NY: ILR/Cornell University Press, (1991); and CyberUnion: Empowering Labor Through Computer Technology, Arthur Shostak, (2000), $24.95 paper.
See journals like Labor's Heritage, Labor History, Labor Studies Journal, Michigan Historical Review, Michigan History, The Nation and The New York Times Book Review for articles and book/video reviews of history resources of relevance, and see LIR Hot links for recent LIR/HR topics and resources.
Background references: Michigan general and non-auto industry and non-auto labor history:
A Short History of Michigan, John Kern, Lansing, MI: Michigan History Division, Michigan Dept. of State (1977), paper.
Michigan: The Early Years (1967) and A Pictorial History of Michigan: The Later Years (1969), George May, Grand Rapids, MI.: , cloth.
Michigan: A History of the Wolverine State, Original ed. by Willis Dunbar (1965). Revised by George May, Grand Rapids, MI: William Eerdmans Publishing (1980), cloth.
Michigan: Explorations in its Social History, Francis Blouin, Jr. and Maris Vinovskis, Ann Arbor, MI: Historical Society of Michigan (1987), $10 paper.
Michigan Folklife Reader, Kurt Dewhurst and Yvonne Lockwood (eds.), East Lansing, MI: Michigan State University Press (1987), paper.
Michigan Trivia, Compiled by Ernie & Jill Couch, Nashville, TN: Rutledge Hill Press (1989 & 95), $6.95 paper.
Michigan: Visions of Our Past, edited by Richard Hathaway, East Lansing, MI: Michigan State University Press (1989), paper.
The Changing Face of Inequality: Urbanization, Industrial Development, and Immigrants in Detroit, 1880-1920, Olivier Zunz, Chicago: University of Chicago (1982), $10.95 paper.
Solidarity and Fragmentation: Working People and Class Consciousness in Detroit, 1875-1900, Richard Oestreicher, Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press (1986), $24.95 cloth.
Once a Cigar Maker: Men, Women, and Work Culture in American Cigar Factories, 1900-1919, Patricia Cooper, Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press (1987), $16.95 paper.
Michigan's Lumbertowns: Lumbermen and Laborers in Saginaw, Bay City, and Muskegon, 1870-1905, Jeremy Kilar, Detroit: Wayne State University Press (1990), paper.
Rebels on the Range: The Michigan Copper Miners' Strike of 1913-1914, Arthur Thurner, Lake Linden, MI: John Foster Press (1984), cloth; and Strangers and Sojourners: A History of Michigan's Keweenaw Peninsula, Arthur Thurner, Detroit: Wayne State University Press (1994), paper.
Cradle to Grave: Life, Work, and Death at the Lake Superior Copper Mines, Larry Lankton, NY: Oxford University Press (1991), paper.
U-P People: Some Contributions from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan to the Nation and the World, Charles and Barbara Symon, Gladstone, MI: RonJon Press (1987), cloth.
We Can Do It!: A History of the CCC in Michigan, 1933-1942, Charles Symon, Escanaba, MI: Richards Printing (1983), paper.
Background references: Michigan automobile industry and labor history:
Love and Revolution: The first 101 years of the automobile, Richard Wright, Farmington, MI: Spelman Productions (1988), paper.
American Automobile Workers, 1900-33, Joyce Peterson, Albany, NY: SUNY Press (1987), paper.
Masters of Precision: Henry M. Leland, Ottlie Leland with Minnie Millbrook, Detroit: Wayne State University Press (1966, reissued 1996), paper.
The Fords: An American Epic, NY: Summit Press (1987), paper.
Ford: The Men and the Machine, Robert Lacy, NY: Ballantine Books (1986), paper.
The Five Dollar Day: Labor, Management and Social Control in the Ford Motor Company, 1908-1921, Stephen Meyer III, Albany, NY: SUNY Press (1981), paper.
Life in the Shadows of the Crystal Palace, 1910-1927: Ford Workers in the Model T Era, Clarence Hooker, Bowling Green OH: Bowling Green University Popular Press (1997), $19.95, paper.
The Flivver King: A Story of Ford-America, Upton Sinclair (1937), Chicago, IL: Charles Kerr Publishing (reissued 1984), $5.95 paper.
My Years with General Motors, Alfred Sloan, Jr., NY: Currency Doubleday (1963, reissued 1990), $14.95 paper.
Sit-Down: The General Motors Strike of 1936-1937, Sidney Fine, Ann Arbor, MI: The University of Michigan Press (1969), $12.50 cloth; The Automobile Under the Blue Eagle: Labor, Management, and the Automobile Manufacturing Code (1963); and Frank Murphy (3 volumesÂ…
State of War: Michigan in World War II, Alan Clive, Ann Arbor: U. of M. Press (1979), $15 cloth.
Wartime Strikes: The Struggle Against the No-Strike Pledge in the UAW During World War II, Martin Glaberman, Detroit: Bewick Editions (1980), $6 paper.
The Communist Party and the Auto Workers Unions, Roger Keeran, Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press (1980), $22 cloth.
Maurice Sugar: Law, Labor, and the Left in Detroit, 1912-1950, Christopher Johnson, Detroit: Wayne State University Press (1988), $16.95 paper.
Two Who Were There: A Biography of Stanley Nowak, Margaret Nowak, Detroit: Wayne State University Press (1989), cloth.
Not Automatic: Women and the Left in the Forging of the Auto Workers' Union, Sol Dollinger and Genora Johnson Dollinger, NY: Monthly Review Press (2000), $18 paper.
Infighting in the UAW: The 1946 Election and the Ascendancy of Walter Reuther, Bill Goode, Westport, CT: Greenwood Press (1994), $49.95 cloth.
Governing the UAW, Jack Stieber, NY: Wiley (1962), paper.
Walter Reuther, R.L. Tyler, Grand Rapids, MI: William Eerdmans (1973), paper.
Walter Reuther: The Most Dangerous Man in Detroit, Nelson Lichtenstein, Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press (1995), $19.95 paper.
Background references: Michigan political, urban and civil rights history:
Proceedings at the Laying of the Corner Stone of the New Capitol of Michigan… 2nd Day of October, 1873 (a facsimile reprint …), Ford Stevens Ceasar, Lansing, MI: Wellman Press (1979), paper.
Annual Reports, Michigan Bureau of Labor and Industrial Statistics, Lansing, MI, MBLIS and later MDOL (begins in 1884), cloth.
A Populist Assault: Sarah E. Van De Vort Emery on American Democracy, 1862-1895, Pauline Adams and Emma Thornton, Bowling Green, OH: Bowling Green State University (1982), paper.
Stewards of the State: The Governors of Michigan, George Weeks, Detroit: The Detroit News and the Historical Society of Michigan (1987 and 1991), paper.
The Iron Hunter. Chase S. Osborn, (Originally published: NY: Macmillan, 1919), Detroit: Wayne State University Press (2002), $24.95 paper.
The Union Inspiration in American Politics: The Autoworkers and the Making of a Liberal Industrial Order, Stephen Amberg, Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press (1994), cloth.
The Politics of Change in Michigan, Carolyn Stieber, East Lansing, MI: Michigan State University (1970), paper.
Win Some, Lose Some: G. Mennen Williams and the New Democrats, Helen Berthelot, Detroit: Wayne State University Press (1995), paper.
Out of the Smoke Filled Room: A History of Michigan Politics, Neil Staebler, Ann Arbor, MI: George Wahr Publishing (1991), paper.
Union Power and American Democracy: The UAW and the Democratic Party, 1935-72, and 1972-83, Ann Arbor, MI: The University of Michigan Press (1984), 2 volumes, cloth.
Class, Race, and Labor: Working-Class Consciousness in Detroit, John Leggett, NY: Oxford University Press (1968), paper.
Detroit: City of Race and Class Violence, B.J. Widick, Chicago: Quadrangle Books (1972), cloth.
Detroit: I Do Mind Dying, Dan Georgakas/Marvin Surkin, NY: St. Martin's Press (1975), paper.
Black Detroit and the Rise of the UAW, August Meier and Elliott Rudwick, NY: Oxford University Press (1979), cloth.
Detroit: Race and Uneven Development, Joe Darden, et al., Philadelphia: Temple University Press (1987), $16.95 cloth.
The Origins of the Urban Crisis: Race and Inequality in Postwar Detroit, Thomas Sugrue, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press (1996), $35 cloth.
"Expanding the Frontiers of Civil Rights": Michigan, 1948-1968, Sidney Fine, Detroit: Wayne State University Press (2000), cloth.
Class Conflict and Cultural Consensus: The Making of a Mass Consumer Society in Flint, Michigan, Ronald Edsforth, New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press (1987), $20 paper.
The Other Side of the River: A Story of Two Towns, A Death, and America's Dilemma, Alex Kotlowitz, NY: Anchor Books Doubleday (1998), $14.95 paper.
Background references: Michigan and the "global" (post-Vietnam war) automobile industry, and related manufacturing and employment relations stories:
Shifting Gears: Changing Labor Relations in the U.S. Automobile Industry, Harry Katz, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press (1987), paper.
New Deals: The Chrysler Revival and the American System, Robert Reich and John Donahue, NY: Times Books (1985), cloth.
Ford's Spectacular Comeback, Alton Doody and Ron Bingaman, New York: Harper and Row (1989), $8.95 paper.
Collison: GM, Toyota, Volkswagen and the Race to Own the 21st Century, Maryann Keller, NY: Currency Doubleday (1993), cloth.
Comeback: The Fall and Rise of the American Automobile Industry, Paul Ingrassia and Joseph White, Simon and Schuster (1994), paper.
Lean Work: Empowerment and Exploitation in the Global Auto Industry, Steve Babson (ed.), Detroit: Wayne State University Press (1995), paper.
After Lean Production: Evolving Employment Practices in the World Auto Industry, Thomas Kochan, et al., (eds.), Ithaca, NY: ILR Press/Cornell University Press (1997), paper.
Car: A Drama of the American Workplace, Mary Walton, NY: Norton & Co. (1997), cloth.
Also one should see professional journals in the employment relations and human resource management fields, as well as union newspapers, and often current events magazines, which highlight American politics, comment on unions and current labor relations events. Some of the most useful of these journals are: The American Prospect, Dissent, Industrial and Labor Relations Review, Industrial Relations, Journal of Labor Research, Labor Notes, Labor Studies Journal, New Labor Forum, Perspectives on Work, and Working USA. Most U.S.-based International unions, such as those in the building trades (e.g., Asbestos Workers, IBEW, Laborers, and Sheet Metal Workers), the largest U.S. unions including the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, the National Education Association, the Teamsters, and the United Food and Commercial Workers have both union newspapers and active websites which a teacher might well look at, or assign students to check out. Also, especially for those planning lesson plans concerning work and leisure and Michigan-oriented labor relations topics, one might look frequently at, from among many excellent union publications, the AFT's American Educator, the AFL-CIO's America @ Work, and the UAW's Solidarity. Also of use are articles on current events on Michigan industries, unions and employment relations in the daily press and especially useful, besides one's local paper, are the Detroit News and Free Press, The Economist, The Nation, the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal. Many of these newspapers, magazines and professional journals have articles of interest [some of which are written at a reading level useable with advanced middle and high school, and/or college students] and include reviews of new books and AV resources on contemporary labor union and employment relations topics. And as noted earlier, an excellent, up-to-date listing of websites can be found at the MSU School of Labor and Industrial Relations "library hot links" (http://www.lir.msu.edu/hotlinks).
Please feel free to provide assistance and suggestions regarding other readings, video and audio tapes, and/or potential reorganizations of this initial reference list, to Professor John L. Revitte, via 417 S. Kedzie Hall, School of Labor and Industrial Relations, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824-1032, or via 517-355-5143, or revitte@msu.edu, or www.msu.edu/~revitte. Thanks; jr.
john revitte, msu--8.1.02
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