Dreamers:
the friendship of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Walter Reuther
by
Cheryl Brent Erickson
 |
| King and Reuther together before they
marched on Washington in 1963. |
UAW President
Walter Reuther saw civil rights as a moral issue important to
the continued success of American democracy and U.S. labor and
civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. believed the
support of labor unions would be an important factor in winning
the fight minorities faced. As a result, their philosophies
spawned a close friendship between the two.
Irv Bluestone,
Walter Reuther's top aide during the early '60s, and later a
UAW vice president said, "The UAW did everything possible
to support Dr. King and the civil rights movement. When King
began planning the Walk to Freedom March that took place in
July of 1963, he wanted as many unionists as possible marching
with him in Detroit
"To
help him, Reuther gave King the use of an office in Solidarity
house, UAW headquarters. His office was located on the fourth
floor, if I recall correctly," said Bluestone."King
used it while he was planning the march in Detroit and the March
on Washington that took place the next month."
 |
| The Walk To Freedom March in Detroit,
1968. |
Detroit's
march was mammoth, with 200,000 people marching down Woodward
Avenue led by King and Reuther. It ended at Cobo Hall in downtown
Detroit where King delivered his famous "I Have a Dream
Speech" for the first time.
According
to Dr. Steve Babson, labor historian, at Wayne State University
"King planned the march in Detroit to test the waters for
the upcoming march on Washington. They were hoping to get 250,000
to 300,000 people to march on Washington and wanted to see how
many would show up in Detroit before planning the bigger march.
They were surprised at the numbers they got. People came from
all over the country."
 |
| Reuther speaking
after the march. |
"My
favorite story about King and Reuther,"Bluestone said,
"happened after the march on Washington in '63. Reuther
was giving his speech at the foot of the Washington Monument;
he was the only white person who spoke that day. I was backstage
when I overheard a conversation between two black women who
were active in the movement. One said to the other, 'Who's that
white guy?' The other one said, "Don't you know who that
is? That's Walter Reuther. He's as good a man as Martin Luther
King."
Bluestone
said, "later at the hotel, when I told Reuther what I had
overheard, he was so overwhelmed he got a little teary eyed."
Reuther marched alongside King many times during the '60s, including
the march in Birmingham, Ala., where police used dogs, fire
hoses and other inhumane tactics before beating and arresting
many of the marchers. King was among the religious leaders arrested
that day. King's stay in the Birmingham jail sparked national
attention and brought him support from around the world. Yet,
it was his friend, Walter Reuther, who bailed King out of jail.
According
to Nathan Head of the UAW Civil Rights Department, "The
UAW donated thousands of dollars during the '60s in support
of the civil rights movement and some of that money was used
to bail civil rights activists out of jail. Of course, Head
said, "in those days they needed cash. They couldn't just
transfer funds. So people had to hand deliver the money. It
was Joe Rauh from the UAW's General Council and Horace Sheffield
Jr. who had been appointed by Reuther to act as liaison who
used to carry thousands of dollars south and bail people out
of jail."
In 1968,
after leading a march in Memphis, Tenn., in support of the city's
striking sanitation workers, an assassin shot and killed King
as he stood on a balcony at the Lorraine Hotel.
 |
| Reuther and his wife May at King's funeral. |
Reuther
always reacted to traumatic news with a flurry of activity.
After he heard the news of King's death, he rushed to Memphis
with the UAW's donation of $50,000 for the striking sanitation
workers. Later, he flew to Atlanta to attend King's funeral.
The battles
that were fought during the '60s laid the groundwork for the
long struggle that was just beginning. The rights and socioeconomic
status of minorities have improved greatly over the past 34
years, but clearly there's still a lot to be done.
Organized
labor continues to be a powerful force for social change. "I
don't think you can separate civil rights and the rights of
workers, for me it's one in the same," said Congressman
John Lewis, (D-Ga.).
The UAW
leadership reflects the makeup of its membership more than ever
before. "We have to reflect those people we work for,"
said UAW President Stephen P. Yokich. "Females, males,
African-Americans, Hispanics, Arabs, you name it. We're good
at the bargaining table, but we're also a social movement. We
make sure that people get elected that we can support and support
the programs of working people."
"History
is important. It's important for young workers, for young union
members to know that some of the things that they take for granted
today just didn't happen,"Lewis said."Somebody struggled
for it. Some union members died for it. People did more than
just sit around the table and bargain. People had to struggle,
they had to fight the same way we fought and struggled during
the height of the civil rights movement."
"I
don't know what this country would be like without the UAW,
without organized labor. That's how people have been planning,
pushing, pulling and making a way out of no way," Lewis
said.
For more information
about the life of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the history
of the civil rights movement we've put together a few good sites
we hope you will enjoy visiting.
Civil
Rights Timeline: The Seattle Times chronicles the civil
rights movement from Brown v. Board of Education in 1954 through
the Rodney King incident in 1992. This is a concise, illustrated
overview of important events affecting the civil rights movement.
National
Civil Rights Museum Virtual Tour: For more detailed information,
take the National Civil Rights Museum's tour from the 50's to
the present.
Martin
Luther King Jr. Tribute: Life magazine's tribute includes
pictures of Dr. King and excerpts from his writings.
Dr.
King Timeline: This site follows Dr. King's life from his
birth in 1929 through his assassination in 1968 with a collection
of drawings done by grade school children. Click on the small
drawing to see a larger drawing and accompanying information
about Dr. King's life.
Visit King's
Washington Speech Page to hear excerpts from some of his
most famous speeches.
The Most Dangerous
Man In Detroit, Walter Reuther and the Fate of American Labor,
Nelson Lightenstein
