Labor / Civil rights & activism
Roy Reuther
1909–1968 · UAW organizer and political director
Middle Reuther brother, a leader of the 1936–1937 Flint sit-down strike and later the UAW's political action chief and civil rights ally.
- Born
Wheeling, West Virginia- Died
aged 58- Birth name
- Roy Louis Reuther
- Detroit years
- 1932–1968
- Field
- Labor, Civil rights & activism
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Roy Reuther joined his brothers Walter and Victor in Detroit in 1932 after losing his job in Wheeling. He took labor-education classes at the City College of Detroit, organized for the Socialist Party and taught workers for a federal relief program before being hired at Chevrolet's Gear and Axle plant in Detroit and joining the fledgling UAW. Sent to Flint, he became one of the leaders of the 1936–1937 sit-down strike that forced General Motors to recognize the union, the founding victory of the UAW. He later served as an assistant regional director in Pontiac and eventually as the union's political director, where he pushed hard for voter registration and turnout among working people. Deeply involved in the civil rights movement, he joined the 1963 Walk to Freedom in Detroit, the March on Washington and the march for voting rights in Selma. He died of a heart attack in January 1968; the Walter P. Reuther Library at Wayne State holds his papers. Among the eulogists was Judge Wade McCree.
Highlights
- A leader of the 1936–1937 Flint sit-down strike against GM
- Worked at Chevrolet's Gear and Axle plant in Detroit
- UAW political director, focused on voter registration
- Marched in Detroit's 1963 Walk to Freedom and in Selma