Roy Reuther and the UAW:
Fighting for Workers and Civil Rights
In Roy Reuther and the UAW, Alan Reuther tells the compelling story of his father’s tumultuous life. In the process, we witness triumphs and tragedies in the labor and civil rights movements that still resonate today.
A brother of famed labor leader Walter Reuther, Roy was a key figure in the historic Flint sit-down strike that gave birth to the United Auto Workers (UAW). He became the political director of the UAW, and was deeply involved in struggles to pass civil rights legislation, to make it easier to register and vote in elections, and to help downtrodden farmworkers.
Many of the battles described in Legacy of Struggle are still continuing in America today.
Accordingly, this book provides important context for the current efforts by workers to organize, for the Black Lives Matter movement, and for efforts to reform the filibuster rule and stop voter suppression measures. It shows how dedicated individuals can overcome enormous odds to win great victories for social justice, and emphasizes the potential linkage between the labor and civil rights movements. But it also provides a cautionary tale about the dangers that activists may face as they confront entrenched powers in society, and how changes in society sometimes have unintended consequences.
Roy Reuther and the UAW is available for preorder from Barnes and Noble, BookPeople, BooksAMillion, Lost City Bookstore and Amazon.
“Roy Reuther and the UAW is a masterful portrait of the long and violent struggles for civil and voting rights told through the eyes of Roy Reuther, political director of the powerful United Auto Workers union, and brother of famed labor leader Walter Reuther, the book provides a mesmerizing account of Roy's participation in the historic marches in Detroit, Washington, D.C., Selma and Jackson. lt shows Roy's involvement in battles to limit filibusters and to expand voter participation, and his presence at the funerals for martyrs of the movement. Showing the important linkages between the labor and civil rights movements, this book is a must read for today's activists who are still engaged in battles over many of these same issues.”
-Andrew Young, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations
"Roy Reuther and the UAW is the gripping story of Roy Reuther, one of the famed Reuther brothers, who played a huge and historic role in building America's labor movement and lifting millions of workers, creating the middle class. This book, written by Roy Reuther's son, Alan, fills an important gap by detailing the life and achievements of Roy, the least known of the Reuther brothers. Walter Reuther, the UAW's long-time president, was more famous while Roy played a big but largely unsung role in some of labor's proudest episodes: the Flint sit-down strike and getting unions to back the civil rights movement as well as Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers."
-Steven Greenhouse, author of Beaten Down, Worked Up: The Past, Present, and Future of American Labor
“Roy Reuther devoted his life to the fight for social justice. ln this intimate memoir, his son Alan vividly recreates the battles he waged, the victories he won, and the costs his activism imposed on those who loved him most.”
-Kevin Boyle, author of Arc of Justice: A Saga of Race, Civil Rights and Justice in the Jazz Age and The Shattering: America in the 1960s
