Friday, August 30, 2019

John Conyers, Sr. - Forefather of the UAW - Detroit & GM

I remember when he told me of how his father was beaten and bloodied trying to form the union by GM in Detroit.

Since this his legacy has been omitted from the history books, I believe we shall have a few fun projects coming up.

John Conyers, Sr.

Published: January 4, 1986

Image may contain: 1 person, smiling, closeup
John Conyers, Sr.
Forefather of the UAW
DETROIT, Jan. 3— John Conyers Sr., a retired union official who was the father of Representative John Conyers Jr., Democrat of Michigan, died Wednesday at his Detroit home. He was 80 years old. Mr. Conyers had been an international representative for the United Automobile Workers.

In addition to his son John, Mr. Conyers is survived by his wife, Lucille, and another son, Nathan.

Black history, labor history intertwined in Detroit

March 1, 2010 11:58 AM CDT  BY JOHN RUMMEL

DETROIT – Between the two World Wars, the groundwork was laid in this city’s Black community that culminated in the 1941 organizing of the world’s most powerful corporation: the Ford Motor Company.

That piece of  Detroit’s rich labor and civil rights history was brought to life by professors Beth Bates and Quill Pettway in a Department of Africana Studies Black History Month celebration at Wayne State University here.

Bates’ research has focused on political, social, and economic developments within the 20th century African American community. Pettway is both a student and maker of history. He was helped organize the huge Ford Rouge plant and continued working there for 27 years before becoming a professor. Now almost 90, he continues to teach math at Wayne County Community College.

The two traced the origins of Detroit’s Black population. Escaping what for many was life as a Southern sharecropper, Black migration north took place at record levels in the early part of the last century. From 1916 to1917, Black migration to Detroit averaged 1,000 a month. “Simply put, they came looking for a better life, better education, security and to escape lynching” said Pettway.

By the early 1920s, 45 percent of Black men in Detroit worked at Ford.

Bates said those jobs at Ford gave hope to Blacks, but Henry Ford “extracted more than his pound of flesh in speed-ups.”  She quoted the late autoworker Dave Moore who said “there was nothing liberal in the bastard – Ford’s strategy was simply different than GM or Chrysler,” where cleaning rest rooms and mopping floors was the best Blacks could expect.

Interwoven in Ford’s strategy was a paternalistic philosophy. Bates said Ford imagined Blacks might be “the perfect workers for his open shop movement, what he called his American Plan.” However, Bates said, Blacks also had their own American Plan, one that grew more incompatible with Henry Ford as time went by. Contrary to what many scholars have written, it was Black workers who paved the way for unionization at Ford, she said.

Throughout the 1930s the old AFL autoworkers union missed opportunities to support the Black community in their fight for civil rights and against police brutality, and did not work to develop a broader-based union organizing drive.  “Black workers not initially signing union cards had less to do with allegiance to Ford than wanting to be treated as equals” by the union, said Bates.

She credited the role played by the Communist Party and other radicals in organizations like the unemployed councils and the International Labor Defense (which led the fight to save the Scottsboro Boys) because they facilitated a “cross-fertilization” and politicalization within the Black community, between workers at Ford and community members, on issues like racism, civil rights and jobs.

“By 1935, Black Detroiters considered Communists friends you could count on,” said Bates.

Unlike the old AFL union, the CIO’s United Auto Workers had a policy of racial equality that gave it an advantage, Pettway said.

He noted the role played by white Ford worker and lead union organizer Bill McKie. McKie’s job in Ford’s maintenance department allowed him to circulate amongst different workers. The fact that McKie was a known Communist did not hurt his ability to organize.  He was “second to none, highly respected by everyone. Elected as a trustee his first year,” said Pettway.

The CIO saw to it that a broad base of union support was built within the Black community and on three occasion organized rallies with Paul Robeson.

Pettway said the last rally, in Detroit’s downtown Cadillac Square, drew 60,000 people. “Regardless of race, creed or color, they came to hear Robeson, Walter Reuther, former City Council President Erma Henderson,” among others.

On May 21, 1941, Ford workers overwhelmingly voted for the union.

The vote shook the automotive industry and shaped it for decades to come.

During discussion, retired UAW activist General Baker pointed to the “high level of solidarity” still seen within UAW Ford Local 600. At its peak there were 17,000 Black workers and even today, most top UAW national leaders come out of Local 600 he said.

Pettway said “the unity needed to organize Ford was the same unity that elected Barack Obama.  This is what is necessary to move forward.”

Voting is beautiful, be beautiful ~ vote.©

Friday, August 9, 2019

Rufus Cormier Discusses the House Committee on the Judiciary Impeachment Inquiry

How come Rufus has no Wikipedia page?



Lawyer Rufus Cormier was born on March 2, 1948, in Beaumont, Texas to Rufus Cormier and Katie Cormier. Cormier attended Hebert High School, where he played football with Jerry LeVias. Both Cormier and LeVias received full athletic scholarships to play football at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, where Cormier was named outstanding lineman in the 1968 Bluebonnet Bowl. Cormier graduated with honors, earning his B.A. degree in anthropology in 1970. Cormier then received his J.D. degree from Yale University Law School in 1973.

Cormier began his legal career at the law firm of Paul Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton, & Garrison in New York. During his time there, Cormier was hired as a special assistant to John Doar, the lead counsel to the House Judiciary Committee for the Nixon Impeachment Inquiry. In 1974, he joined the law firm of Baker Botts LLP, becoming not only the first African American lawyer to be hired as a partner at a major Houston law firm, but also the first African American partner at a major corporate law firm in the State of Texas. After thirty-nine years with Baker Botts LLP, Cormier retired in 2013.

In addition to his law practice, Cormier served on numerous boards. He was appointed to Texas Southern University's Board of Regents in 1991. He also served on the board of directors for the Memorial Hermann Healthcare System, the board of visitors for the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, the board of directors of the Center For Houston’s Future, the executive board of SMU School of Law, and the board of directors for the Gulf Coast Legal Foundation, among others. Cormier was also honored for his professional and volunteer work. He received the Leon Jaworski award from the Houston Bar Association Auxiliary, the Anti-Defamation League’s Karen H. Susman Jurisprudence Award, and the Silver Anniversary Mustang Award from Southern Methodist University. He was also named one of The Best Lawyers in America, and a Super Lawyer by both Texas Monthly and Law and Politics magazines.

Cormier and his wife, Yvonne Clement Cormier, have three children: Michelle, Geoffrey, and Claire.

Rufus Cormier was interviewed by The HistoryMakers on November 30, 2016.

Voting is beautiful, be beautiful ~ vote.©