Scotty Kilpatrick fled, too-and made it to his car in just enough time to hide the glass-plate negatives from his Speed Graphic under the back seat. They chased one fleeing photographer for five miles, until he ducked into a police station for safety. Others went after the photographers, confiscating film and smashing cameras to the ground. Some of Bennett’s security men began to tear notebooks from reporters’ hands. But then there was the matter of witnesses-especially the journalists on the scene. The battle, such as it was, ended almost as suddenly as it had begun. The security men even roughed up some of the women. Then they would knock us down, stand us up, and knock us down again.” Another union leader was tossed off the overpass his fall 30 feet to the pavement below broke his back. “They bounced us down the concrete steps of an overpass we had climbed. “ It was the worst licking I’ve ever taken,” he later told reporters. Bennett’s men swarmed him, pulled his jacket over his head and beat him senseless. Frankensteen, a 30-year-old, hulking former football player, go it worse because he tried to fight back. Reuther was kicked, stomped, lifted into the air, thrown to the ground repeatedly, and tossed down two flights of stairs. Reporters accompanying them took notes on what they were seeing. Kilpatrick and the other photographers began snapping away. Kilpatrick called out a warning, but the security men pounced, beating the union leaders while reporters and clergy looked on. Forty of Bennett’s men charged the union organizers. Like that, what would become infamous as the Battle of the Overpass was on. James Kilpatrick, Detroit News, Wikimedia Commons “We’re not doing anything,” Reuther replied.įrankensteen (with his jacket pulled over his head) said members of the Ford Service Department gave him “the worst licking I’ve ever taken.” “You will have to get off here,” one of Bennett’s men told the unionists. Bennett, one of Henry Ford’s right-hand men, led the notorious Ford Service Department, a private police force composed of ex-convicts, ex-athletes, ex-cops and gang members. Then Harry Bennett showed up with his entourage.
At the direction of “Scotty” Kilpatrick, Reuther posed for photographs with UAW organizational director Richard Frankensteen and a few other organizers atop the overpass-public property-with the Ford Motor Company sign in the background. The woman wore green berets and carried leaflets reading, “Unionism, not Fordism,” which they intended to hand out to departing workers. that May 26, Reuther arrived at the Miller Road Overpass at Gate 4 with an entourage of clergymen, representatives from the Senate Committee on Civil Liberties and dozens of women from UAW Local 174, where Reuther was president. On the morning of May 26, 1937, Detroit News photographer James “Scotty” Kilpatrick was among a crowd waiting for the shift change at River Rouge, which employed 90,000 workers. But when Reuther and the UAW set their sights on the Ford Motor Company’s River Rouge complex in Dearborn, Michigan, Henry Ford made it clear that he’d never give in to the union.
For information, please email Beyond The Overpass Theatre Companyīeyond is a not-for-profit arts organization dedicated to the advancement of the arts and artists in rural Newfoundland & Labrador., Beyond focuses on providing artists at the early stages of their careers with unique and challenging performance and training opportunities.In 1937, Walter Reuther and his United Autoworkers Union had brought General Motors and Chrysler to their knees by staging massive sit-down strikes in pursuit of higher pay, shorter hours and other improvements in workers’ lives.
THE OVERPASS REGISTRATION
Registration for Fall 2022 classes has begun. Courses in performance, voice, piano, theatre production, technical theatre, and choral training provide young artists with a wealth of meaningful development opportunities. Throughout the year, Beyond is dedicated to providing the highest quality creative programming for young artists in the central region. Please check back for updates throughout the year.Īn important part of advancing the arts in Central involves the development of young artists. Gander Youth Arts Festival – The Extended Intermissionĭue to the difficulties associated with the pandemic, there will be no festival productions during the 2022 Summer season.
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