Did you know that sometimes photographs have the power to help change the course of a labor struggle?
That is what happened on this day in Labor History, the year was 1937.
Detroit News photographer James “Scotty” Kilpatrick came with his camera to the River Rouge Ford plant.
He was one of several reporters who joined a crowd that was gathering at the Miller Road Overpass at Gate Four.
In the crowd were clergymen along with Walter Reuther and men and women from UAW Local 174.
The women were carrying leaflets emblazoned with the message “Unionism, not Fordism.”
Their plan was to hand out the literature to workers departing the plant during a shift change.
As Kilpatrick set up to take photos, Harry Bennett arrived on the scene.
Bennett was the leader of a large group of men from the notorious Ford Service Department.
This hired company police force was tasked with crushing union activity.
They demanded the union supporters to disperse.
When Reuther refused, Bennett’s men charged at the union leaders, brutally beating them.
Realizing that the reporters were witnessing the violence, the Ford security men then began to snatch reporter’s notebooks and smash their cameras.
Kilpatrick was able to hide his negatives in his car.
Bennett claimed the union provoked the violence.
But Kilpatrick’s photos told a very different story.
They showed union members bloodied and bruised, including seven women.
The photos of what came to be known as “the Battle of the Overpass” helped sway public opinion in favor of the union.
A hearing before the National Labor Relations Board looked into the anti-union retaliation.
Faced with this public pressure, Ford had no choice but to negotiate with the UAW.
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Labor History in 2:00 brought to you by the Illinois Labor History Society and The Rick Smith Show