HOLY SMOKES!

I just realized tomorrow is my last day of normal classes. WHAT THE HECK!? Where has the time gone? While I am happy to have break, I am slightly overwhelmed with the amount of work I have to do this week. Oh well, I suppose that is how it works.

I would just like to send a sentimental shout out to this class. I had a lot of fun, and really have enjoyed getting to know the class (well, those of you who showed up). I am a little bummed that I won't have the full ten minutes to present, but it was definitely cool hearing what everyone else found in their research over the semester.

I have to finish my final paper, in all honesty, I haven't worked on it yet since getting it back. I am pretty confident though that I will be able to revise it effectively as long as I dedicate a few hours to it.

Hope you all had a good semester, and live through finals! :)

FIN!...I think.

I think I am done with  my powerpoint! I have been working on it for the past few hours, and I really like how it came together. I will have to come back to it with fresh eyes, and make the notes that I can print so I don't forget anything important that is not detailed on the slides, but other than that I don't think I have anything else to add.

I found some really cool art, quotes, propaganda, music, and a montage video that all fit perfectly with my topic, so I am pretty amped to share it with the class. Also, as I said in the previous post, I found a Detroit Headline's book from WWII, and a pictorial work. So hopefully I don't mess anything up presenting it, and I hope you guys all enjoy the stuff I have found, because I do! haha.

Now I guess I just need to focus on my final paper. Working tonight I found some good sources to use on the community portion of my rough draft that was lacking. I am going to have to take some liberties in assumption based on the facts that I have found on community activities, but they are all reasonable in the fact that they were going on, and it is likely that more than a few Detroit workers participated in the stuff that I did find.

See you guys on Tuesday!

More presentation things...

I went to the Library of Michigan on Wednesday and found some really cool books to just pass around the class, and possibly pull some information from. The one that I am really pumped about is a book that is comprised entirely of Detroit headlines from WWII, unfortunately, the print on the actual articles is pretty teeny tiny, but the headlines are clear and show how the press was relating the US war effort to the community of Detroit. The other is a pictorial work, that shows the war effort in Detroit armament plants. It's a clear way to visualize the new mix of workers as a result of the war, and see how the plants looked and operated.

I am planning on using Monday to work on my power point, and to hopefully find some good community sources in terms of art, sports and music. The Tigers were a good way for workers to bond, especially at the end of the war when the Tigers took the World Series in 1945, so I might try to find more info on that as well, I have mostly seen that in relation to the white male workers, and veterans returning from war, more so than the black migrants and the women.

So that's where I stand in terms of presentation stuff, it's definitely still in the works!

GO STATE! :)

Presentation Plans

So, today I have been looking for good sources online to use in my presentation. There are some sources at the Library of Michigan, that are picture chronicles of Detroit during WWII, and I think that will be a really good source. Also, as I have been thinking a lot about music. Detroit, while being the motor city, was also an area that jazz was developing during the 40's, and a hot spot for jazz music. While I have been trying to find ways that the newly migrated black community was outside of the workforce, I am wondering if I could find a link through jazz music. But so far, I have no decisive evidence that the two (workers and jazz) had common factor, other than that they were both going on in Detroit. So the hunt to find a reflection of the work force in the community continues...

Either way, I think during my presentation I am going to use a power point, and while I want to provide the class with information about the workforce and their unionism and fight for equal work and housing rights, I think it will be more interesting for the class to see representations of the changes in Detroit's community as the influence of black workers, and southern workers changed the citizenry and the face of the community.

So, fingers crossed that I can put together a presentation that is interesting, because I don't want you guys to fall asleep and be counting down the seconds until it is over. Luckily, Detroit has a history that is full of art, and music. And there were are a lot of pictorial histories of Detroit from what I have seen, so again, here's hoping I can put together an engaging presentation!

Diego Riviera Mural--The Arsenal of Democracy

Rough Draft Meeting

Okay, so I met with, Micalee today and am feeling pretty good about working on my final. Mostly just have to narrow things down, and provide more information as I can find it on the community. Because my topic is so ingrained into different historical events. I just have to edit some, and find some more information regarding life outside of the workplace, and interactions outside of work.

Tomorrow/this weekend I am going to write up my book report, I am thinking I am going to do it on Reo Joe, but I also really liked the Great Arizona Orphan abduction, which is fresh in my memory. So I guess I will just see what happens.

I am going to hit up the MSU library again this weekend in hopes that I can find more material that relates to community, I have had a hard time finding good information of things that were going on in Detroit with each community to bond them outside of the workplace, and outside of the common fight between each.

Overall, I am feeling pretty good about the course. Hopefully the final will turn out to meeting her expectations, and can be something that I can be proud of, since I have put so much time and effort into it)

Hope you all have productive feedback to work from with your final!

Ready, Set...Rough Draft.

So, I haven't blogged much this week because I have been working on the rough draft. I think my paper came together well, and it ended up taking a pretty different tone than I had even anticipated, but I am happy that my rough draft is complete. But a little scared to meet with Micalee! Hopefully this paper isn't rubbish? haha.

Anyway, I guess in the mean time, I need to get my book report written, and get crackin' on my presentation. I am hoping to find good sources for the presentation to make it interesting, I don't want it to be boring and have all of you guys counting down the minutes til' it is over!

See you all in class tomorrow!

PBS: RACE: The Power of Illlusion

http://www.pbs.org/race/000_About/002_03_i-godeeper.htm

I found this link to a PBS site that starts a time line from 1905, which outlines some citizenship issues for various races in the US. I don't have time right now to write more on it, because I am between classes, but I thought it was an interesting supplementary source to support today's discussion on legal and cultural citizenship.

Have a good one!

Christopher Walken, SNL Census skit...classic.

Census (Best of Christopher Walken SNL)

This skit was all I could think of during our census exercise in class today. It's one of my favorite skits ever! Definitely worth clicking the link, and laughing watching SNL on Hulu for a few minutes.

Hope you guys enjoy!

"Tanks and Industry" DATP, 1940-1997

I just watched a great, short, federally sponsored video on the Detroit Arsenal Tank Plant! I have had it for a while, checked out from the library, but I just now go around to watching it after finishing some reading from another primary source from the library.

I am glad I waited to watch it, especially because both sources I have just finished (the book, and the video) are biased from opposing perspectives.

The book I have been working through, is a primary source from the secretary of the NAACP, whose primary focus is the actions taken by the white community during housing shortages caused by the tank production industry in Detroit. The focus is not a patriotic, praising of the tank industry for its role in stopping Nazi Germany, but from the perspective of an African American male, whose community here in America was being bitterly ravaged by racial animosity.

On the other hand, this video I just watched, called "Tanks & Industry: The Detroit Arsenal Tank Plant, 1940-1997" was produced under contract with the US Army. Therefor, the main focus is how "flexibility and teamwork" between the industry, labor, and military" to combine their efforts to fight off the Nazi forces. And the focus is on the fact that there was an effective work force, which there was in terms of production. There is one interviewee, a labor historian from Oakland University, named Dr. John Barnard who comments on the volatility of the community at this time. He mentions the female workforce, child care issues, the separation of families as men are at war and women are working as well as running a home. This of course, is an important aspect of the community. However, he does mention the racial aspect which is far more relevant to my study, he states that the housing shortages, which resulted in federal funds pouring wholly into the industry, left fierce competition for housing, and resulting is the "fierce racial tensions", and that this was the biggest altercation during the war at home.

Comparing these two side by side, is making me really think I need to divide these two sections of writing. One, from the militant, and industry perspective of what was happening in Detroit during tank production in WWII, the clear recognition that there was a great success in the production of defense, and that Detroit Tank Production was truly making an impact on the war.

Then compare that separately to the reality behind the hard work. Yes, America was helping to win the war, but at what cost to its own community? Who was being affected by the shortage in housing? How were racial prejudices actually affecting the work force?

Lastly, I will try to clarify the results of these  issues that are happening behind the face of the Arsenal of Democracy. There is a whole different story that to this day, still is glossed over. The result was a deadly battle between white workers, and black workers. The result was striking, and militarization of the Detroit work force and community. And the notable event of course, was the Race Riot in 1943.


I still have a lot of work to do, and am feeling behind, and overwhelmed. As I stated before, a friend passed away unexpectedly this weekend, and since I have been spending a lot of time with his family, and have been grieving as well, my studies have fallen by the wayside, making the catch-up I now have to play seem very daunting.

Hope you guys are all coming along well in your drafts! See you all tomorrow in class!

Well, crap.

So, a friend of mine passed away unexpectedly on Thursday. Since then, I have literally not paid any attention to my homework. I am hoping that I will be able to focus tomorrow to finish up studying for a mid term in econ that I have on Thursday, a book report on Thursday, and interview by Wednesday, and finish using my resources for this course that are due back to the Library of MI by Wednesday.

Feeling pretty overwhelmed. Sorry I don't have anything productive to report tonight.

Papers... and Gillian Welch

Okay, so class yesterday helped a lot, actually. I haven't really been able to take the time yet to organize the structure of my paper, and was worried about it having a weird flow to it because it deals with more than one issue. But since we are able to do headings, it has made me feel a lot more organized. Now I am finding it is easier to break down the structure and organization of my paper, so that the reader will be able to clearly recognize how all of the factors of my topic play important roles, and how these factors effected each other.

I have planned that this Friday and next Wednesday are going to be good days to spend some serious time on writing. Unfortunately, I am in three other demanding history courses, all of which assign papers like it is nobody's business, so I am running into a bit of a time crunch in terms of writing book reports, essays, research papers, presentations, etc. Hopefully I will be able to make some time to play catch-up after I take my next econ exam on Tuesday. Exams really threw me off this semester, mostly because I am in some classes that I had to really buckle down and study for, which meant neglecting spending time on other classes. So I am still feeling a little unorganized.

So after I write a paper this Friday on Serfdom in Imperial Russia, my time will be on this paper! Then next Wednesday, I will be back to the Library of Michigan to re-check out some sources I am still working through, as well as spending some time working with one of my primary, and one of my secondary sources that are not in circulation, and must be read on site.

I am really looking forward to tomorrow's class, though. I think it will be cool to take a peek at the artsier side of history. On that topic, I also would recommend (to folk music fans), checking out a song called "Miner's Refrain" by Gillian Welch. She is amazing, and this song makes me think of our 201 class every time it pops up on my ipod!

See you guys in class!

UAW-CIO Cartoons

 "The United Automobile Workers-CIO commissioned this film to ease ethnic tensions at the union's integrated southern branches" -taken from youtube description.

1946 Brotherhood of Man cartoons!

I found these cartoons last night that were actually made by the UAW-CIO addressing the new "neighbors" that a white man could expect to have after the war! It's blatant stereotypes are really interesting to see as a cartoon, especially as it was critically acclaimed at the time it came out. This video is the first of a series. But shows the worries of white communities who were diversified after WWII.

Creeper at the Lib. of MI.--Ladies, please read!

Soooo....

Today I went to the Library of Michigan again to work on some reading that is out of circulation, so I have to read it at the library. And this guy sat behind me at a computer and had asked me a question about how to use the internet on it. Then wouldn't stop trying to talk to me while I was studying. Then before he left he says: "Ma'am, do you know how to get to the CATA station from here?" I said "Nope", but since I had my laptop in front of me I told him I could look it up. While I did this, he started talking about how he was on vacation, and moving but that he had lived in 44 of the 50 states. I said "Cool, I have only lived here and AZ." That's when he went into a story that went something like:
"I was in Tucson not that long ago, I got shot three times and stabbed right here...(points to his side)"
"Geez, that's crazy" -me
"Yeah, these guys were trying to steal some expensive stuff we had out in a park while we played football, I ended up stabbing the guy in the neck though. The homicide officer told me right away that charges wouldn't be pressed though....because it was clearly self defense"

Ummm, what!? lol. So I give him directions and send him on his way. About 45 minutes later, I go to walk out the front door, and notice that he is waiting outside. And I knew that he had heard me say on a phone call that I was leaving at about 4:30 for a meeting I had at 5. He had also said that he was walking back to the CATA, so I am not sure why he would still be outside of the doors almost an hour later. I told the lady at the desk to make sure he didn't kill me, and a nice older man offered to walk out at the same time.

Moral of the story: BE CAREFUL at the public library...especially if you are there as a single female, because there are some creepers. Just be sure to be aware of your surroundings! 

Super-duper creepy.

But I did get some reading done that is useful to my paper, so that is good! :o)

The Auto Industry: REO v. Detroit

So I am a little behind on the reading, I have about 30 pages of REO left, I am hoping to finish them on the CATA on the way to class in the morning!

Because my research centers around the auto industry as it was restructured for war time production in Detroit, REO is really great for finding similarities. Of course this comes in the form of the unions, the UAW-CIO, is also important in my research. Key also to both my research and REO is race and gender relations. The role of racism has turned to center of my research in the study of the "Detroit Arsenal of Democracy".

I think this reading is helpful for how to structure my research, because it is (in many ways) similar in terms of industry, unionization, and race and gender. I am excited to talk about REO in class and hear what other people thought of the reading since I wasn't in class last week!

See you guys tomorrow! :o)

Primary Sources, NAACP

Right now I have been working on reading through one of my primary sources for my research. It is a book that was published the same year as the race riots, and is from the perspective of the secretary for the NAACP. I am liking this source for the fact that it is giving me a lot of info on the UAW, and the fact that the race riots did not occur in any of the plants, but only outside of them. In my reading today, the author cites the lack of violence in the arsenal plants to a few reasons. The first being a "firm stance against discrimination and segregation of Negro workers by the UAW-CIO". Another factor was that since the military took over the plants in Detroit during wartime production, armed guards in the plants were under orders from the Army to "maintain order at all costs"

Also important to remember though for this source, is that it is an African American writer, directly after the riots, so there is bias that is coming into play because it is clearly an emotional issue. Walter White felt that the riots were an inneviatable result of "anti-Negro motivations of the Detroit Police Department", and white aggressors, specifically the Polish and Italian citizens in the area, and "white aggressors"

I still have a few headings to read under in this book, but it was definitely a good find in the Library, and one of the first primary sources I have really delved in to.


Well, I suppose that's it for now! See you guys in class!

Bronchitis & REO

So I am bummed, I missed class today thanks to having both bronchitis and a sinus infection. Bummer! I actually was out camping in the Manistee National Park over the weekend and while it was great, it definitely didn't help my being sick.

I am still working though my research. Currently I am reading a primary resource written by the secretary of the NAACP on the race relations in Detroit during WWII. I really like it so far, it has a lot of information, but is clearly biased. I think that this is a great source though!

I hope I didn't miss TOO much in discussion today, and I will also be missing Wednesday because I will be out of town. So I am hoping I can find a way to get an idea of what the discussion over REO Joe was about this week!

A personal note about REO:
It turns out my Great Grandpa who passed away before I was born was actually at Union Local President at at REO. He was also present at the MLK "I have a Dream" speech. So I am going to talk to my grandmother for some more insight about his role at REO. I actually realized this because my mom saw the book and asked if she could read it. When I asked her why she would want to read "REO Joe"? That's when she brought up my great grandpa, so I am pretty excited to have a resource that is so closely related to my family to use as a supplementary resource along with the reading.

I will be posting throughout the week/weekend, but I won't be in class until I get back into MI. So I will see you all in class next week!

Not in circulation!

I went to the Library of Michigan today, and I have to say it...I love the Library!

It's super dorky, but I really do love being sorrounded by books in a calm and quiet environment, Lord knows, I do not get peace and quiet enough! I found some PERFECT sources. Unfortunately the source that is both the longest and seemingly most useful is out of circulation! So I will have to go back to the Library a fair amount to read and take notes.

Also, I went into the archives! Again, I really liked it, the people were super duper helpful! I found decent resources, and tons of interesting things that probably won't make it into my paper, but were really great for context.

I am pretty sure my thesis will be changing, especially as I have learned that there was a mass effort to overturn the "No Strike Pledge" on the part of the UAW. The Archives mostly provided me with first hand military accounts of actions that were taken to "ease" or "handle" race issues in Detroit (both in 1942 concerning the Sojourner Housing Project, and the 1943 Race Riots)

I can't wait to see where the rest of my research takes me, I really am excited about my topic. I am a history major, and have recently started to brain storm what I want my focus to be when I have finished up my bachelors as I work toward my PhD, and continually aspects of military and war fascinate me. I am happy that I was able to find a topic that relates well to my person historical interests.

On a light note...look at this WWII propoganda I found! Baahahahahah!

On the STD note...I have to go to bed!

See you in class...AND remember: You can't beat the Axis if you get VD.

Whoa! Conflicting sources...

Oh geez!

So tonight I have really been digging through sources and information. I am going to the Library of Michigan tomorrow to check out some sources (mostly primary) that I found on the MSU library website. However, when it comes to the working climate in Detroit during WWII, I have new information popping up that is making it difficult to connect the dots. So I am really hoping that I can find more hard facts tomorrow in terms of what the strike situation truly looked like in Detroit. While I have found some sources (from the Detroit Archives) that say there was a No Strike Pledge, I have now found other sources that say there were wildcat strikes, picketting, sit down strikes, etc. protesting working with African Americans. While I knew that there was protesting outside of the workplace at housing developments for African American migrants.

The most interesting part of this study came tonight for me. I found a document that was written in hopes to stop "Anti-Negro Demonstrations". This wasn't necessarily because of worry over the safety of their workers, but more so over morale. The fact that the migrant workers were supporting US forces was necessary in presenting the US as a united front to the Axis. Hitler, specifically, believed that the US was divided, and would combust internally, bringing down the Allied front. The idea of dissention on the homefront in terms of racial tension in what was called "The Arsenal of Democracy" was in direct conflict to the needs of the American war effort.

I am liking where this study is taking me, however, I am worried that things may be changing in terms of a thesis on my part. As of right now, my thesis is officially up in the air! Yiiiikes! It's a scary thought, I am truly hoping that tomorrow I will find some magical source to solidify a solid thesis statement.

Good luck everyone! :o)

Confession...

I have yet to get to the library! Eeeeek!!!! I am shooting for Wednesday now. I am starting to freak out a little bit since we are supposed to have primary sources and supporting secondary sources for bibliography outline due this week! I really like a lot of the secondary sources I have found online, but I need to crack down on my primary sources.

Admittedly, this weekend was my 21st birthday, and my lack of accomplishing anything related to school this weekend is raising my stress level tonight, as I am feeling insanely unprepared for the week.

The other issue I am coming across is formulating a thesis that isn't generic and uninteresting. Hopefully the wheels will start turning over the next two days and my result won't be rubbish!  I know my focus for my study will be on the influx of African American workers to Detroit. As my study continues, I think I may add a small focus to the strikes that occurred after the war, as the No Strike Pledge became an issue.

See you guys in class tomorrow! :o)

Arsenal of Democracy: WWII Detroit

Awesome site fine! I found this exhibit that is directly related to my topic. Specifically about a "No Strike Pledge" that occurred during WWII! Score!

Detroit Lib of MI-Golden Jubilee Exhibit-Politics and Pressure

Home page:
Detroit Lib of MI-Golden Jubilee Exhibit-Homepage
-from Detroit Archives

*Labor had a "No Strike Pledge" during the war

After the war a series of strikes broke out:

"Late 1945 and early 1946 had brought a wave of strikes as vying Labor and industrialists strategically positioned themselves in a new post-war economy. Organized labor in Michigan, spearheaded by the United Auto Worker's Walter Reuther, organized a massive strike which shut down General Motors for 113 days beginning on November 21, 1945. Parallel strikes in steel and coal mining brought the number of striking workers to three million in the period from November 1945 to June 1946.

In a car-starved nation that sorely needed new vehicles, the industry was effectively shut down. On the day the Jubilee began, the Detroit Times reported on its front page that "All automotive companies in the Detroit area except General Motors and Kaiser-Frazier announced that they would shut down until Monday... because of the acute parts shortage and the coal [strike] situation."

Despite the triumph of Detroit's wartime production, the post-war era began with disarray and conflict."

I had been wondering about strikes at DATP, and was unable to find anything about striking during the way, now I know why! I think that the No Strike Pledge was a given, considering it was support for the Allies in the war. Pretty interesting! This find has me pretty amped about my research.

Just thought I would throw this out here tonight before I head off to bed! See you all in class tomorrow!