Browse Items (175 total)

A letter from Milton Kemnitz, Executive Secretary of the National Federation for Constitutional Liberties to Jack Raskin, Executive Secretary of the Civil Rights Federation, regarding the national significance of developments at the Sojourner Truth…

Despite DRUM’s upstart status, its militant stance on race in the auto factories and criticisms of union leadership quickly caught the attention of Walter Reuther and the UAW. DRUM claimed the UAW did not care about the plight of its Black members,…

DRUM flyer for wildcat strike and rally. 1969. The wildcat strike, a strike undertaken by union workers without union authorization, became DRUM’s tool for addressing the grievances Black workers faced in Detroit’s factories. Source: Kenneth V. and…

Union election materials for UAW local race. Flyer lists candidates approved by DRUM, stating “VOTE THE DRUM SLATE – DAMN the others.” Marxist and revolutionary roots meant DRUM did not hold back in their desire to transform the UAW to its core.…

List of demands by DRUM. 1969. Source: Kenneth V. and Sheila M. Cockrel Collection, Box 6, folder 26.

Booklet of articles from the publication Leviathan, it chronicles the historical origins and political philosophies of DRUM and the League of Revolutionary Black Workers, an umbrella organization formed out of DRUM that networked all the recently…

In 1968, John Watson was selected as editor of Wayne State University’s Daily Collegian, which he changed to the, “South End,” in recognition of Wayne State’s location south of General Motors. He turned the newspaper into a resource for radical…

Pamphlet explaining the new Fair Housing Ordinance that had been passed by Detroit’s Common Council in late 1967. Before this law, nothing in Detroit legally prevented sellers, landlords, and real estate agents from denying housing to someone due to…

“Fair Housing for All” bumper sticker, 1968. Source: Fair Housing Campaign in Birmingham, Michigan Records.

Telegram message sent to Councilman Mel Ravitz from various business, political, and cultural leaders supporting the Fair Housing Ordinance. November 20, 1967. Source: Mel Ravitz Papers. Box 15, folder 1.

Letter concerning Fair Housing Ordinance enforcement to the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulation, September 30, 1970. Source: Detroit Commission on Community Relations/Human Rights Department Collection, Box 34, folder 16.

Campaign flyer from Birmingham, MI for candidates for Commissioners, running on an anti-open housing platform. That same election, Birmingham passed its own fair housing law. This document shows how opponents to anti-discriminatory housing measures…