A large and historically powerful labor union, which played an essential role in the rise of the American middle-class in the 20th century by promoting the interests of car factory workers. Employees at the Ford Motor plants in Richmond and Milpitas, California were members of the UAW, which defended their rights and helped African American workers like Frank Stevenson keep their jobs after World War II. Crucially, the UAW also tried to build integrated housing so that African Americans could live near the Milpitas factory. This culminated in the construction of the Sunnyhills subdivision, but years of opposition from the government and white builder David Bohannon delayed the project and ultimately made Sunnyhills homes unaffordable for the black Ford workers they were intended to house.
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United Auto Workers (UAW) Term Timeline in The Color of Law
The timeline below shows where the term United Auto Workers (UAW) appears in The Color of Law. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 1: If San Francisco, Then Everywhere?
...Although Ford refused to hire nonwhite workers before World War II, the United Auto Workers (UAW) union ensured that black workers hired during the war, including Frank Stevenson, could retain their...
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Chapter 8: Local Tactics
...Metropolitan Life Insurance Company through a “Quaker connection.” With financing secured and help from the UAW, the AFSC next looked for a building site. When it found one, the local government...
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...tired of fighting and sold off their projects to “a new developer recruited by the UAW,” who combined the two projects into one and kept the name Sunnyhills.
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By the time the UAW’s builder found a workaround to get mortgages for its buyers, it was too late. First,...
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Chapter 10: Suppressed Incomes
...still subject to racist union laws that restricted African American people’s access to work. The UAW was initially resistant to letting African American people work at the Ford Motor plant in...
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