Child of the Sit-Downs_ The Revolutionary Life of Genora Dollinger - Carlton Jackson [0]
Child of the
Sit-Downs
The Revolutionary Life of
Genora Dollinger
Carlton Jackson
Kent State University Press Kent, Ohio
© 2008 by The Kent State University Press, Kent, Ohio 44242
All rights reserved
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 2008001510
ISBN 978-0-87338-944-0
Manufactured in the United States of America
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Jackson, Carlton.
Child of the sit-downs : the revolutionary life of Genora Dollinger / Carlton Jackson.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-87338-944-0 (hardcover : alk. paper) ∞
1. Dollinger, Genora Johnson. 2. Women labor union members—United States—Biography. 3. Automobile industry workers—Labor unions—United States—History. 4. Automobile industry workers—United States—Biography. 5. Labor unions—United States—Biography. 6. Women’s Emergency Brigade. I. Title.
HD6509.D65J33 2008
331.88'1292092—dc22
[B]
2008001510
British Library Cataloging-in-Publication data are available.
12 11 10 09 08 5 4 3 2 1
Contents
Acknowledgments
Preface
Genora and Luther
An Introduction
One
Genesis of a Revolutionary
Two
Genora and Friends—Standing By Their Men
Three
The Lure of Trotskyism
Four
Genora’s Wars
Five
Trials and Tragedies
Six
California Girl
Seven
“It Makes My Heart Sing”
Eight
“Tuxedo Unionism”
Nine
An Assessment
Appendix
A Chronology of Genora Dollinger’s Life
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Acknowledgments
Many people helped me to research and write this biography of Genora Dollinger, and I must express my appreciation to them. First, at the Archives of Labor and Urban Affairs, Reuther Library at Wayne State University in Detroit, Walter Lefevre, Patrice Merritt, Margaret Raucher, and Mary J. Wallace were helpful. Paul Gifford of the University of Michigan, Flint; William Glenn, Stony Brook University; Julie Harrada, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor; and David Kessler of the University of California-Berkeley found some much-needed materials, for which I am grateful. Thank you.
At Western Kentucky University I received considerable help from research grants and summer fellowships. I thank each member of that university’s committees for their help. My graduate assistants proved so indispensable that I can truthfully say that this manuscript could not have been completed without them. John Paul Hill, Jennifer Kretzer, Melinda Jayne Squires, Evan Lambeth, Christopher George, Mary Bokkin, Jonathan Chilcote, and Phil Shaw provided unstinting help, cooperation, and encouragement. I thank also the former and present chairs of the WKU history department, Richard Troutman and Richard Weigel, for their support of this project. Nancy Marshall of the WKU library was extremely efficient in acquiring much-needed materials, as were Debra Day and Selena Langford of WKU’s interlibrary department. WKU librarians Alan Logsdon and Olivia Fruit helped in the research, and I thank them. Professor Lowell Harrison of WKU’s history department read the entire manuscript and gave useful advice. My friend and colleague Lou-Ann Crouther of the WKU English department gave the manuscript an extremely close reading and helped immensely with grammar, punctuation, and organization. I am most grateful for her assistance.
I would be remiss if I did not mention the assistance that came to me from Sol Dollinger, Genora’s husband of fifty-one years. (Sadly, Sol died on September 12, 2001.) At my invitation, Sol read the entire manuscript. Although he corrected me on some factual matters, and while we did have some differences of opinion, at no time did he ever tell me how to write this biography (I cannot say the same about some of Genora’s critics). When I interviewed Sol in 1997, I asked him what kind of biography he would like to see of Genora Dollinger. His answer was, “An honest one.” This, to the best of my abilities, I have done.
Many other individuals besides Sol Dollinger supplied me with information. Their names appear in the text