Strikes; Book Cadillac Hotel; Detroit

View Item Record

Description:

Line of uniformed police officers, holding night sticks, stands in front of the Book Cadillac Hotel in Detroit, Michigan during sit-down strike. "To prevent further sitdowns, the Hotel Association countered by announcing at 4 a.m., the following morning, a "lock-out" of all employees in the downtown's major hotels, but before the buildings could be cleared the Waiters and Waitresses Union led a bold invasion of the Book Cadillac Hotel, led by organizer Floyd Loew, 60 union activists approached the hotel just before dawn, only to find the street entrances blocked by police, only two patrolmen guarded the employees' entrance on the alley, "so we hollered, Let's go" as Loew recollected the event, "and rushed in and filled the alley so quick the other policemen couldn't get to what was happening," pushing the patrolmen aside and entering the building, the union contingent, joined by waitresses and other employees still on duty, barricaded themselves inside the Esquire Room," from Working Detroit: The Making of a Union Town, by Steve Babson.

Notes:

Collection located at the Walter P. Reuther Library, Archives of Labor and Urban Affairs, Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan. To schedule an appointment to view the original image, order high resolution copies, or seek permission to use an image, contact the Walter P. Reuther Library Audiovisual Department at reutherreference@wayne.edu., Walter P. Reuther Library, Archives of Labor and Urban Affairs, Wayne State University, and This metadata was created by Wayne State University Library system based on original description by the Walter P. Reuther Library

Date Issued:

1937-04-01T00:00:00Z

Data Provider:

Wayne State University. Libraries and Walter P. Reuther Library

Collection:

Virtual Motor City

Place:

Michigan, Detroit, Michigan, Detroit, Michigan, and Detroit

Subject Topic:

Strikes and lockouts, Hotels, Sit-down strikes, and Police

Subject Name:

Book-Cadillac Hotel (Detroit, Michigan)

Format:

photographs

Rights:

Copyright Walter P. Reuther Library, Archives of Labor and Urban Affairs, Wayne State University

URL:

http://digital.library.wayne.edu/item/wayne:vmc30010_1