Great Depression and Oral History Essay

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Original transcripts from the Flint Sit-Down Strike were used to write this essay. The benefits of using transcripts from the Flint Sit-Down Strike are the pure honesty that the workers spoke with. Most of the interviews took place in the 1970s and 1980s, but the strike took place in 1936 and 1937. Hearing and reading about the strike worker's experiences in their own words was very interesting.

The drawbacks of using such transcripts are that they weren't always audible, so important information may have been missed during transcription. The transcripts are not edited, so the information is presented to the reader exactly how it was spoken, which can sometimes be difficult to follow (and understand what the speaker was trying to say).

Most of the history that's discussed by the men and women who worked at the GM plant are memories of personal experiences. There are a lot of negative experiences that are talked about, even though some workers admit to a lot of changes following the strike and that things got better. It seems no one can forget the abuse that occurred on a daily basis.

What was likely left out was the negative stuff that was still occurring even after the strike and everything was getting better. GM undoubtedly became a better place to work, but there were most likely still many individuals who were struggling with the changing work conditions and the better working conditions may not have been right for everyone.

Conclusion

Before the Flint Sit-Down Strike, the United Automobile Workers (UAW) were workers who were isolated and poorly mistreated. The strike turned UAW into a major union, which became the standard for the American automobile industry. Originally formed in 1935, the union decided to stop using piecemeal organizing campaigns in the smaller plants.

The strike made history, because it was the first of its kind and it changed many people's lives for the better. Previously, there had been strikes of a much smaller caliber, but nothing of this magnitude. In 1978, a politic science professor at the University of Michigan-Flint by the name of Neil Leighton attended an academic conference at Duke University.

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There, Leighton spoke to Professor Laurence Goodwyn, and the two talked about the Flint Sit-Down Strike in great detail and the impact the strike made on history.

Interviews of workers who had been at GM during the strike were conducted between 1978 and 1984. The strike had occurred between 1936 and 1937. By late spring of 2001, Michael Van Dyke and David Bailey of Matrix learned that tapes existed of the interviews from 1978 to 1984. Upon realizing that these interviews were important to American labor history, the tapes were brought to Michigan State University for the purpose of digitizing and transcribing the material.

Today, this material has been made available to study groups and websites for educational reasons. Individuals who are interested in learning about the details of the strike from the mouths of the people who were there can read through and listen to the interviews o the website.

Article Reference Points

1. James Spohn. "Flint Sit-Down Strike Transcript." Flint Sit-Down Strike. Michael Van Dyke. June 30, 1980. http://www.historicalvoices.org/flint/transcript_browser.html

2. Arthur Smith. "Flint Sit-Down Strike Transcript." Flint Sit-Down Strike. Michael Van Dyke. 2002. http://www.historicalvoices.org/flint/transcript_browser.html

3. Louis Ganscos. "Flint Sit-Down Strike Transcript." Flint Sit-Down Strike. Michael Van Dyke. May 30, 1980. http://www.historicalvoices.org/flint/transcript_browser.html

4. K. Gillian. "Flint Sit-Down Strike Transcript." Flint Sit-Down Strike. Michael Van Dyke. July 15, 1978. http://www.historicalvoices.org/flint/transcript_browser.html

5. Frank Funk. "Flint Sit-Down Strike Transcript." Flint Sit-Down Strike. Michael Van Dyke. June 21, 1979. http://www.historicalvoices.org/flint/transcript_browser.html

6. Leo Connelly. "Flint Sit-Down Strike Transcript." Flint Sit-Down Strike. Michael Van Dyke. June 30, 1980. http://www.historicalvoices.org/flint/transcript_browser.html

7. Louis Ganscos. "Flint Sit-Down Strike Transcript." Flint Sit-Down Strike. Michael Van Dyke. May 3, 1980. http://www.historicalvoices.org/flint/transcript_browser.html

8. Robert Gibbs. "Flint Sit-Down Strike Transcript." Flint Sit-Down Strike. Michael Van Dyke. May 29, 1980. http://www.historicalvoices.org/flint/transcript_browser.html.....

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