Ford Hunger March
Encyclopedia
The Ford Hunger March was a demonstration of unemployed workers starting in Detroit and ending in Dearborn
, Michigan, that took place on March 7, 1932. The march resulted in four workers being shot to death by the Dearborn Police Department
and security guards employed by the Ford Motor Company
. The march was organized by groups controlled by the Communist Party USA
. Over 60 workers were injured, many by gunshot wounds. Three months later, a fifth worker died of his injuries. The Ford Hunger March was an important part of a chain of events that eventually led to the unionization of the U.S. auto industry.
area, because of the successes of the U.S. auto industry
in that decade. Concentrated in the Detroit area, the industry produced 5,337,000 vehicles in 1929, and the 1930 U. S. Census reported the U. S. population as 122,775,046 people. As a point of reference, the U. S. auto industry produced 8,681,000 vehicles in 2008, and the U. S. population was estimated at 304,375,000 that year. Therefore, the U.S. auto industry was producing 50% more vehicles per capita in 1929 than in recent years.
On Tuesday, October 29, 1929, the stock market crashed
, leading to the Great Depression
. U. S. vehicle production plummeted. In 1930, production declined to 3,363,000 vehicles. In 1931, production fell to 1,332,000 vehicles, only 25% of the production of two years before.
As a result, unemployment in Detroit skyrocketed, and the wages of those still working were slashed. In 1929, the average annual wage for auto workers was $1639. By 1931, it had fallen 54% to $757. By 1932, there were 400,000 unemployed in Michigan.
In 1927, there were 113 suicides in Detroit. That number increased to 568 in 1931. In that year, the welfare allowance was 15 cents per person per day, and there was no unemployment insurance or Social Security
. A wave of bank closures wiped out the life savings of many unemployed workers and retirees, as every neighborhood bank in Detroit went out of business. There was no Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
insurance on bank deposits then. By 1932, foreclosures, evictions, repossessions and bankruptcies were commonplace, and the unemployed felt despair.
. The auto workers union, founded in 1919, was weak and had no contracts.
The Communist Party USA was following a policy called the Third Period
at that time, as instructed by the Comintern
. This was a left wing policy that called on Communists to establish dual unions
controlled by Communist parties, rather than participating in mainstream trade unions. Denunciation of and non-cooperation with other groups on the political left was a part of this policy.
The mayor of Detroit was Frank Murphy
, a liberal who later became Governor of Michigan
and an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States
, appointed by Franklin D. Roosevelt
. The Murphy administration decided to allow the march to proceed, although no permit was granted.
On March 6, William Z. Foster
, secretary of the Communist labor federation known as the Trade Union Unity League
, gave a speech in Detroit in preparation for the march. There were 14 demands that the marchers intended to present to Henry Ford
. Among these were demands for rehiring of the unemployed, health care, an end to racial discrimination, winter fuel for the unemployed, abolishment of company spies and private police, and the right to organize unions.
March 7 was a bitterly cold day in Detroit, and a crowd estimated at between 3,000 and 5,000 gathered near the Dearborn city limits, about a mile from the Ford plant. The Detroit Times
called it "one of the coldest days of the winter, with a frigid gale whooping out of the northwest". Marchers carried banners reading "Give Us Work, "We Want Bread Not Crumbs", and "Tax the Rich and Feed the Poor". Communist leader Albert Goetz gave a speech, asking that the marchers avoid violence. The march proceeded peacefully along the streets of Detroit until it reached the Dearborn city limits. There, the Dearborn police attempted to stop the march by firing tear gas into the crowd, and began hitting marchers with clubs. One officer fired a gun at the marchers. The crowd scattered into a field covered with stones, and then began throwing stones at the police. The angry marchers regrouped and advanced nearly a mile toward the plant. There, two fire engines began spraying cold water onto the marchers from an overpass. The police were joined by Ford security guards, and began shooting into the crowd. Joe York, Coleman Leny and Joe DeBlasio were killed, and at least 22 others were wounded by gunfire.
The leaders decided to call off the march at that point, and began an orderly retreat. Harry Bennett
, head of Ford security, drove up in a car, opened a window, and fired a pistol into the crowd. Immediately, the car was pelted with rocks, and Bennett was injured. He then got out of the car, and continued firing at the retreating marchers. Dearborn police and Ford security men then opened fire on the retreating marchers with machine guns. Joe Bussel, 16 years old, was killed, and dozens more were wounded. Bennett was hospitalized.
According to Maurice Sugar
, attorney for their families, all four of those killed on March 7 were members of the Young Communist League, USA
.
About 25 Dearborn police officers were injured by thrown rocks and other debris, however, none were hit by gunfire.
organizations were raided in the Detroit area, and their leaders were arrested. There was a nationwide search for William Z. Foster, but he was not arrested. No law enforcement or Ford security officers were arrested, although all reliable reports showed that they were responsible for all of the gunfire. The New York Times reported that "Dearborn streets were stained with blood, streets were littered with broken glass and the wreckage of bullet-riddled automobiles, and nearly every window in the Ford plant's employment building had been broken".
Detroit newspapers published false and sensational accounts of the violence the following day. The Detroit Times
, for example, falsely claimed that Harry Bennett and four policemen had been shot. The Detroit Press claimed that "six shots fired by a communist hiding behind a parked car were cited by police Monday night as the match which touched off a riot at the Ford Motor Company plant." The Detroit Free Press
wrote that "These professional Communists alone are morally guilty of the assaults and killings which took place before the Ford plant." The Mirror ran a headline saying "Red Leaders Facing Murder Trials".
In the following days, the local newspapers reassigned blame. The Detroit Times
, for example, said that "Someone, it is now admitted, blundered in the handling of the throng of Hunger Marchers that sought to present petitions at the Ford plant in River Rouge." The newspaper continued that 'The killing of obscure workmen, innocent of crime" was "a blow directed at the very heart of American institutions." The Detroit News reported that "Insofar as the demonstration itself had leaders present in the march, they appear to have warned the participants against a fight."
The mainstream trade union movement spoke out against the killings. The Detroit Federation of Labor, affiliated with the American Federation of Labor
, issued a statement saying that "The outrageous murdering of workers at the Ford Motor Plant in Dearborn on Monday has cast a stain on this community that will remain a disgrace for many years."
On March 12, at least 25,000 and perhaps as many as 60,000 people participated in a funeral procession for the four dead marchers, who were buried side by side in Woodmere Cemetery in Detroit. The slogan of the funeral march was "Smash the Ford-Murphy Terror".
Detroit Mayor Frank Murphy said that "the chaining of patient prisoners to beds is a brutal practice that should find no encouragement in an enlightened hospital". Murphy came under criticism because of the possible involvement of Detroit police in the violence, although a later historian described their role as "peripheral". Murphy denounced Harry Bennett as an "inhuman brute" and called Henry Ford a "terrible man". He asked, "What is the difference between the official Dearborn police and Ford's guards?" His answer was, "A legalistic one." Despite Murphy's criticisms of what happened on March 7, the Third Period policy required that the Communists denounce him as well as Ford and Bennett.
Three months later, a fifth marcher, Curtis Williams, died from his injuries. Because Williams was an African-American, he couldn't be buried in segregated Woodmere Cemetery, so he was cremated and his ashes were scattered in the area.
William Z. Foster ran for President of the United States
on the Communist Party ticket later that year, losing to Franklin D. Roosevelt
. He suffered a heart attack during the campaign, and recuperated in the Soviet Union
until 1935.
Nine years later, on April 11, 1941, after a ten day sit down strike by 40,000 Ford workers, Henry Ford signed a collective bargaining agreement with the United Auto Workers
union.
to investigate the violence. At the end of June, they completed their investigation and issued their report. They said "After hearing many witnesses on both sides of the matter, this grand jury finds no legal grounds for indictments. However, we find that the conduct of the demonstrators was ill-considered and unlawful in their utter disregard for constituted authority. We find, further, that the conduct of the Dearborn City Police when they first met the demonstrators, though well intended, might have been more discreet, and better considered before they applied force in the form of tear gas. However, we believe that the said police discharged what they conscientiously considered to be their sworn duty as law enforcing officials, alike when they intercepted the rioters at the city's limit, using tear gas and in the critical and violent situation which ensued employing gunfire to protect life and property, which were then manifestly in danger."
One grand juror, a political ally of Frank Murphy
, dissented, calling the administration of the grand jury "the most biased, prejudiced and ignorant proceeding imaginable". This grand juror, Mrs. Jerry Houghton Bacon, said that she "witnessed the most glaring discrimination on the parts of the prosecutors in the treatment of witnesses brought before the grand jury. Marked prejudice was voiced by the prosecutors which, without regard to its intent, impressed and influenced the minds of the jurors."
Documentation of the march survives in a film by the Workers Film and Photo League
of Detroit.
Dearborn, Michigan
-Economy:Ford Motor Company has its world headquarters in Dearborn. In addition its Dearborn campus contains many research, testing, finance and some production facilities. Ford Land controls the numerous properties owned by Ford including sales and leasing to unrelated businesses such as the...
, Michigan, that took place on March 7, 1932. The march resulted in four workers being shot to death by the Dearborn Police Department
Dearborn, Michigan
-Economy:Ford Motor Company has its world headquarters in Dearborn. In addition its Dearborn campus contains many research, testing, finance and some production facilities. Ford Land controls the numerous properties owned by Ford including sales and leasing to unrelated businesses such as the...
and security guards employed by the Ford Motor Company
Ford Motor Company
Ford Motor Company is an American multinational automaker based in Dearborn, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. The automaker was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. In addition to the Ford and Lincoln brands, Ford also owns a small stake in Mazda in Japan and Aston Martin in the UK...
. The march was organized by groups controlled by the Communist Party USA
Communist Party USA
The Communist Party USA is a Marxist political party in the United States, established in 1919. It has a long, complex history that is closely related to the histories of similar communist parties worldwide and the U.S. labor movement....
. Over 60 workers were injured, many by gunshot wounds. Three months later, a fifth worker died of his injuries. The Ford Hunger March was an important part of a chain of events that eventually led to the unionization of the U.S. auto industry.
Background
In the 1920s, prosperity came to the DetroitDetroit, Michigan
Detroit is the major city among the primary cultural, financial, and transportation centers in the Metro Detroit area, a region of 5.2 million people. As the seat of Wayne County, the city of Detroit is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan and serves as a major port on the Detroit River...
area, because of the successes of the U.S. auto industry
Automotive industry in the United States
The American automobile industry began in the 1890s and rapidly evolved into the largest automotive producer in the world through the use of mass-production. The United States was the world's leader amongst motor vehicles main manufacturers many dozens years...
in that decade. Concentrated in the Detroit area, the industry produced 5,337,000 vehicles in 1929, and the 1930 U. S. Census reported the U. S. population as 122,775,046 people. As a point of reference, the U. S. auto industry produced 8,681,000 vehicles in 2008, and the U. S. population was estimated at 304,375,000 that year. Therefore, the U.S. auto industry was producing 50% more vehicles per capita in 1929 than in recent years.
On Tuesday, October 29, 1929, the stock market crashed
Wall Street Crash of 1929
The Wall Street Crash of 1929 , also known as the Great Crash, and the Stock Market Crash of 1929, was the most devastating stock market crash in the history of the United States, taking into consideration the full extent and duration of its fallout...
, leading to the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
. U. S. vehicle production plummeted. In 1930, production declined to 3,363,000 vehicles. In 1931, production fell to 1,332,000 vehicles, only 25% of the production of two years before.
As a result, unemployment in Detroit skyrocketed, and the wages of those still working were slashed. In 1929, the average annual wage for auto workers was $1639. By 1931, it had fallen 54% to $757. By 1932, there were 400,000 unemployed in Michigan.
In 1927, there were 113 suicides in Detroit. That number increased to 568 in 1931. In that year, the welfare allowance was 15 cents per person per day, and there was no unemployment insurance or Social Security
Social Security (United States)
In the United States, Social Security refers to the federal Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance program.The original Social Security Act and the current version of the Act, as amended encompass several social welfare and social insurance programs...
. A wave of bank closures wiped out the life savings of many unemployed workers and retirees, as every neighborhood bank in Detroit went out of business. There was no Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation is a United States government corporation created by the Glass–Steagall Act of 1933. It provides deposit insurance, which guarantees the safety of deposits in member banks, currently up to $250,000 per depositor per bank. , the FDIC insures deposits at...
insurance on bank deposits then. By 1932, foreclosures, evictions, repossessions and bankruptcies were commonplace, and the unemployed felt despair.
The Hunger March
The Detroit Unemployed Council and the Auto, Aircraft and Vehicle Workers of America called for a march on Monday, March 7, 1932, from Detroit to the Ford River Rouge Complex in Dearborn, the company's largest factory. Both of the sponsoring organizations were controlled by the Communist Party USACommunist Party USA
The Communist Party USA is a Marxist political party in the United States, established in 1919. It has a long, complex history that is closely related to the histories of similar communist parties worldwide and the U.S. labor movement....
. The auto workers union, founded in 1919, was weak and had no contracts.
The Communist Party USA was following a policy called the Third Period
Third Period
The Third Period is a ideological concept adopted by the Communist International at its 6th World Congress, held in Moscow in the summer of 1928....
at that time, as instructed by the Comintern
Comintern
The Communist International, abbreviated as Comintern, also known as the Third International, was an international communist organization initiated in Moscow during March 1919...
. This was a left wing policy that called on Communists to establish dual unions
Dual unionism
Dual unionism is the development of a union or political organization parallel to and within an existing labor union. In some cases, the term may refer to the situation where two unions claim the right to organize the same workers....
controlled by Communist parties, rather than participating in mainstream trade unions. Denunciation of and non-cooperation with other groups on the political left was a part of this policy.
The mayor of Detroit was Frank Murphy
Frank Murphy
William Francis Murphy was a politician and jurist from Michigan. He served as First Assistant U.S. District Attorney, Eastern Michigan District , Recorder's Court Judge, Detroit . Mayor of Detroit , the last Governor-General of the Philippines , U.S...
, a liberal who later became Governor of Michigan
Governor of Michigan
The Governor of Michigan is the chief executive of the U.S. State of Michigan. The current Governor is Rick Snyder, a member of the Republican Party.-Gubernatorial elections and term of office:...
and an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States
Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States
Associate Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States are the members of the Supreme Court of the United States other than the Chief Justice of the United States...
, appointed by Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...
. The Murphy administration decided to allow the march to proceed, although no permit was granted.
On March 6, William Z. Foster
William Z. Foster
William Foster was a radical American labor organizer and Marxist politician, whose career included a lengthy stint as General Secretary of the Communist Party USA...
, secretary of the Communist labor federation known as the Trade Union Unity League
Trade Union Unity League
The Trade Union Unity League was an industrial union umbrella organization of the Communist Party of the United States between 1929 and 1935...
, gave a speech in Detroit in preparation for the march. There were 14 demands that the marchers intended to present to Henry Ford
Henry Ford
Henry Ford was an American industrialist, the founder of the Ford Motor Company, and sponsor of the development of the assembly line technique of mass production. His introduction of the Model T automobile revolutionized transportation and American industry...
. Among these were demands for rehiring of the unemployed, health care, an end to racial discrimination, winter fuel for the unemployed, abolishment of company spies and private police, and the right to organize unions.
March 7 was a bitterly cold day in Detroit, and a crowd estimated at between 3,000 and 5,000 gathered near the Dearborn city limits, about a mile from the Ford plant. The Detroit Times
Detroit Times
- Overview :The first iteration of the Detroit Times was an antislavery bulletin only printed from May - November, 1842 by Warren Isham.The second iteration began in November 1854. Published by G.S. Conklin and E.T. Sherlock, with John N. Ingersoll as editor...
called it "one of the coldest days of the winter, with a frigid gale whooping out of the northwest". Marchers carried banners reading "Give Us Work, "We Want Bread Not Crumbs", and "Tax the Rich and Feed the Poor". Communist leader Albert Goetz gave a speech, asking that the marchers avoid violence. The march proceeded peacefully along the streets of Detroit until it reached the Dearborn city limits. There, the Dearborn police attempted to stop the march by firing tear gas into the crowd, and began hitting marchers with clubs. One officer fired a gun at the marchers. The crowd scattered into a field covered with stones, and then began throwing stones at the police. The angry marchers regrouped and advanced nearly a mile toward the plant. There, two fire engines began spraying cold water onto the marchers from an overpass. The police were joined by Ford security guards, and began shooting into the crowd. Joe York, Coleman Leny and Joe DeBlasio were killed, and at least 22 others were wounded by gunfire.
The leaders decided to call off the march at that point, and began an orderly retreat. Harry Bennett
Harry Bennett
Harry Bennett , a former boxer and ex-Navy sailor, was an executive at Ford Motor Company during the 1930s and 1940s. He was best known as the head of Ford’s Service Department, or Internal Security. While working for Ford, his union busting tactics, of which The Battle of the Overpass was a prime...
, head of Ford security, drove up in a car, opened a window, and fired a pistol into the crowd. Immediately, the car was pelted with rocks, and Bennett was injured. He then got out of the car, and continued firing at the retreating marchers. Dearborn police and Ford security men then opened fire on the retreating marchers with machine guns. Joe Bussel, 16 years old, was killed, and dozens more were wounded. Bennett was hospitalized.
According to Maurice Sugar
Maurice Sugar
Maurice Sugar was an American political activist and labor attorney. He is best remembered as the General Counsel of the United Auto Workers Union from 1937 to 1946.-Early years:...
, attorney for their families, all four of those killed on March 7 were members of the Young Communist League, USA
Young Communist League, USA
The Young Communist League USA is the fraternal youth organization of the Communist Party USA. Although the name of the group has changed a number of times over the years, it dates its lineage back to 1920, shortly after the establishment of the first communist parties in America.-Early years:The...
.
About 25 Dearborn police officers were injured by thrown rocks and other debris, however, none were hit by gunfire.
Aftermath
All of the seriously wounded marchers were arrested, and many were chained to their hospital beds. That night, the offices of many Communist and Communist frontCommunist front
A Communist front organization is an organization identified to be a front organization under the effective control of a Communist party, the Communist International or other Communist organizations. Lenin originated the idea in his manifesto of 1902, "What Is to Be Done?"...
organizations were raided in the Detroit area, and their leaders were arrested. There was a nationwide search for William Z. Foster, but he was not arrested. No law enforcement or Ford security officers were arrested, although all reliable reports showed that they were responsible for all of the gunfire. The New York Times reported that "Dearborn streets were stained with blood, streets were littered with broken glass and the wreckage of bullet-riddled automobiles, and nearly every window in the Ford plant's employment building had been broken".
Detroit newspapers published false and sensational accounts of the violence the following day. The Detroit Times
Detroit Times
- Overview :The first iteration of the Detroit Times was an antislavery bulletin only printed from May - November, 1842 by Warren Isham.The second iteration began in November 1854. Published by G.S. Conklin and E.T. Sherlock, with John N. Ingersoll as editor...
, for example, falsely claimed that Harry Bennett and four policemen had been shot. The Detroit Press claimed that "six shots fired by a communist hiding behind a parked car were cited by police Monday night as the match which touched off a riot at the Ford Motor Company plant." The Detroit Free Press
Detroit Free Press
The Detroit Free Press is the largest daily newspaper in Detroit, Michigan, USA. The Sunday edition is entitled the Sunday Free Press. It is sometimes informally referred to as the "Freep"...
wrote that "These professional Communists alone are morally guilty of the assaults and killings which took place before the Ford plant." The Mirror ran a headline saying "Red Leaders Facing Murder Trials".
In the following days, the local newspapers reassigned blame. The Detroit Times
Detroit Times
- Overview :The first iteration of the Detroit Times was an antislavery bulletin only printed from May - November, 1842 by Warren Isham.The second iteration began in November 1854. Published by G.S. Conklin and E.T. Sherlock, with John N. Ingersoll as editor...
, for example, said that "Someone, it is now admitted, blundered in the handling of the throng of Hunger Marchers that sought to present petitions at the Ford plant in River Rouge." The newspaper continued that 'The killing of obscure workmen, innocent of crime" was "a blow directed at the very heart of American institutions." The Detroit News reported that "Insofar as the demonstration itself had leaders present in the march, they appear to have warned the participants against a fight."
The mainstream trade union movement spoke out against the killings. The Detroit Federation of Labor, affiliated with the American Federation of Labor
American Federation of Labor
The American Federation of Labor was one of the first federations of labor unions in the United States. It was founded in 1886 by an alliance of craft unions disaffected from the Knights of Labor, a national labor association. Samuel Gompers was elected president of the Federation at its...
, issued a statement saying that "The outrageous murdering of workers at the Ford Motor Plant in Dearborn on Monday has cast a stain on this community that will remain a disgrace for many years."
On March 12, at least 25,000 and perhaps as many as 60,000 people participated in a funeral procession for the four dead marchers, who were buried side by side in Woodmere Cemetery in Detroit. The slogan of the funeral march was "Smash the Ford-Murphy Terror".
Detroit Mayor Frank Murphy said that "the chaining of patient prisoners to beds is a brutal practice that should find no encouragement in an enlightened hospital". Murphy came under criticism because of the possible involvement of Detroit police in the violence, although a later historian described their role as "peripheral". Murphy denounced Harry Bennett as an "inhuman brute" and called Henry Ford a "terrible man". He asked, "What is the difference between the official Dearborn police and Ford's guards?" His answer was, "A legalistic one." Despite Murphy's criticisms of what happened on March 7, the Third Period policy required that the Communists denounce him as well as Ford and Bennett.
Three months later, a fifth marcher, Curtis Williams, died from his injuries. Because Williams was an African-American, he couldn't be buried in segregated Woodmere Cemetery, so he was cremated and his ashes were scattered in the area.
William Z. Foster ran for President of the United States
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
on the Communist Party ticket later that year, losing to Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...
. He suffered a heart attack during the campaign, and recuperated in the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
until 1935.
Nine years later, on April 11, 1941, after a ten day sit down strike by 40,000 Ford workers, Henry Ford signed a collective bargaining agreement with the United Auto Workers
United Auto Workers
The International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America, better known as the United Auto Workers , is a labor union which represents workers in the United States and Puerto Rico, and formerly in Canada. Founded as part of the Congress of Industrial...
union.
Grand Jury report
Prosecutor Harry S. Toy convened a grand juryGrand jury
A grand jury is a type of jury that determines whether a criminal indictment will issue. Currently, only the United States retains grand juries, although some other common law jurisdictions formerly employed them, and most other jurisdictions employ some other type of preliminary hearing...
to investigate the violence. At the end of June, they completed their investigation and issued their report. They said "After hearing many witnesses on both sides of the matter, this grand jury finds no legal grounds for indictments. However, we find that the conduct of the demonstrators was ill-considered and unlawful in their utter disregard for constituted authority. We find, further, that the conduct of the Dearborn City Police when they first met the demonstrators, though well intended, might have been more discreet, and better considered before they applied force in the form of tear gas. However, we believe that the said police discharged what they conscientiously considered to be their sworn duty as law enforcing officials, alike when they intercepted the rioters at the city's limit, using tear gas and in the critical and violent situation which ensued employing gunfire to protect life and property, which were then manifestly in danger."
One grand juror, a political ally of Frank Murphy
Frank Murphy
William Francis Murphy was a politician and jurist from Michigan. He served as First Assistant U.S. District Attorney, Eastern Michigan District , Recorder's Court Judge, Detroit . Mayor of Detroit , the last Governor-General of the Philippines , U.S...
, dissented, calling the administration of the grand jury "the most biased, prejudiced and ignorant proceeding imaginable". This grand juror, Mrs. Jerry Houghton Bacon, said that she "witnessed the most glaring discrimination on the parts of the prosecutors in the treatment of witnesses brought before the grand jury. Marked prejudice was voiced by the prosecutors which, without regard to its intent, impressed and influenced the minds of the jurors."
Documentation
Photographic evidence of the march and the funerals that followed can be found at the website of the Walter P. Reuther Library, Wayne State University.Documentation of the march survives in a film by the Workers Film and Photo League
Workers Film and Photo League
The Workers Film and Photo League was an organization of filmmakers in the United States initially affiliated with the Workers International Relief...
of Detroit.