Joseph Billups was one of the earliest black members of UAW Ford Local 600. In this interview Billups discusses pre-UAW auto unionism, black and left-wing activities, and Detroit during the Depression. Also included are discussions on the Ford Hunger March, the Ford Organizing Drive, and Nat Turner clubs.
Interview conducted by the Minnesota Historical Society recounting Ellis’s involvement with the IWW and Packinghouse Workers in Minnesota in the early part of the twentieth century. Also includes a release.
Topics include his grandparents coming from Norway; moving first to Hancock and then to Calumet, Mich.; different ethnic groups; the 1913 strike; the Italian Hall disaster; the YMCA; Fourth of July; sports; Prohibition; gambling; the board of trade in Houghton, Mich.; Finns, Italians, Mexicans, and Germans in Copper Country; his restaurant and bar business (1920s-1940s); the Depression;...
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