Tyran Steward

This talk explores the fraught relationship between African Americans in Detroit who pushed for economic inclusion and racial equality and Willis Ward, a former racial pioneer in sport, during his controversial tenure directing hiring practices at the Ford Motor Company in the late 1930s and early 1940s. Specifically, it scrutinizes Ward's brand of conformist politics to reveal a long history in which pioneering black athletes struggled to reconcile their burgeoning sense of individuality and success with their membership in a subordinated group, thereby slowing the very push for racial equality that their perceived activism within the athletic arena purportedly secured. The talk also demonstrates how his marshalling of the FMC's discriminatory practices, especially his efforts to rebuff black women seeking wartime employment, became a crucial turning point in shaping labor-civil rights unionism inside Detroit.

This talk is part of the History Speaker Series and is co-sponsored by the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity's King-Chávez-Parks Visiting Professor Program. For more information please contact Dr. Ashley Johnson Bavery at abavery@emich.edu.