The Spirit of Detroit, photo by One Foot Over The Moon.
Continuing our run of photographers never before seen on Michigan in Pictures, here’s a photo from One Foot Over The Moon . It’s part of her This is Detroit set, which takes an interesting look at the Motor City. Check it out…
(much more about the Spirit of Detroit)
A movie produced by General Motors in 1936 called Master Hands that Christine Barry posted to her blog provided the impetus for today’s Labor Day holiday post. She dedicates it to her grandfather and it’s likely that many of us in Michigan have some relative who took some part (for or against) in the tumultuous labor struggles. Below are several links about Michigan’s most famous strike, the Flint Sitdown Strike of 1936-37 at GM’s Fisher Body #1 plant in Flint.
According to Remembering the Flint Sit-Down Strike at HistoricalVoices.org (an amazing web site that includes recordings of workers recalling the strike):
Working on the line at General Motors in Flint was a job many men needed desperately in the 1930’s, but it was also tremendously difficult. Terrible working conditions, combined with unfair and devious payroll practices, made the auto plants of Depression-era Flint into ripe locations for union organization.
The union was the United Auto Workers. The UAW pages on the 44-day strike that ended Feb. 11, 1937 say that it was the most pivitol event the early history of the UAW. The result was the first UAW contract with General Motors and the establishment of the UAW as the sole bargaining representative for GM workers. This account has a lot of details on the political events surrounding the strike.
A couple more excellent resources are Michigan Epic’s multimedia exploration of the Flint strike, The historic 1936-37 Flint auto plant strikes from the Detroit News, Wikipedia’s entry on the Flint Sit-Down Strike and this great slideshow of the monument commemorating the strike in Flint Sitdowners Memorial Park.
Note: The above photo is credited to the Walter P. Reuther Library of Wayne State University. The keen of eye will see that the striking workers are sitting on car seats.
Also check out The Reo Ramblers at the 1937 sit-down strike from Michigan in Pictures & the Archives of Michigan.
Bubble and Droplet., photo by G0Da.
A boy blowing bubbles in the fountain at Frankenmuth. Dan says it looks great in the larger sizes (he’s right – it’s very refreshing as wallpaper!)
This is just one of about 100 photos in a mash-up called Michigan Summertime (new window) that Absolute Michigan put together using photos from the Absolute Michigan pool and music from this weekend’s Dunegrass Festival (Aug 4-6, 2006)
Check it out, and if you’re a Flickrite with Michigan summer pics, add one or two to the show!
Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument, Detroit MI circa 1903 (LC-D4-16495)
According to the very cool site Panorama of Old Detroit by Jim Moran:
At the top of this 1871 monument to Civil War veterans is “a colossal personification of Michigan as a semi-civilized Indian queen menacingly brandishing a sword with her right hand and clutching a shield with the left.” (From an 1870’s Michigan History.) …
At the bottom of the granite monument roost four bronze eagles. On the next tier are four figures representing the miltary services: Infantry, Artillery, Cavalry, and Marine. Bronzed medallions of Lincoln, Grant, Sherman, and Farragut are spaced between. And, just below the figure of Michigan are four allegorical figures representing Victory, Union, Emancipation, and History.
The plaque on the monument reads Erected by the people of Michigan in honor of the martyrs who fell and the heroes who fought in defence of Liberty and Union. The monument was moved several hundred feet from its original location to Campus Martius Park and a rededication ceremony was held on April 9, 2005.
Wikipedia’s entry on the monument says that the monument was unveiled on April 9, 1872. Attending the dedication were Generals George Armstrong Custer, Philip H. Sheridan and Ambrose E. Burnside. The Detroit Historical Museum recovered the time capsule that was placed in the monument (only a few of the contents survived). A new time capsule was placed in the monument for the rededication and the page from the DHM has the contents and links to the lists of Michigan’s veterans and fallen soldiers.
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United Artists Theater Indian Maiden, photo by SNWEB.ORG Detroit.
He writes: Located in the outer lobby. Out of the 6 in the building this is the only one that remains, the other 5 have been smashed and/or stolen.
Much more information and TONS more photos of the United Artists Theater can be found at SNWEB.org (you can also buy photos right here)
Remorse, originally uploaded by jennifer buehrer.
Jennifer says: This was a grave site for a 6 year old boy… sometime in the late 1800s
To the above photo’s page, Erin Yvonne added:
Remorse is memory awake,
Her companies astir,—
A presence of departed acts
At window and at door…
Emily Dickinson (read more of The Complete Poems of Emily Dickenson)
I was going to save this for a day when I felt sad, then I thought “Why?”
The Spirit of Detroit, photo by Global Reactions.
One of Detroit’s most recognizeable landmarks is the Spirit of Detroit.
Lauren supplies the scripture behind the Spirit on one of her photos of the statue: “Now the Lord is that Spirit, and where the spirit of the Lord is, there is Liberty” II Corinthians 3:17
Fans of the Detroit Pistons, Detroit Red Wings and even the Tigers know that when their team plays for or wins a championship, the Spirit will don their uniform. Lions fans are as yet unsure if the tradition applies to them… The Spirit also wore a jersey to honor Super Bowl XL.
Marshall Fredericks, the sculptor who crafted the Spirit of Detroit and other public works in Detroit & Michigan. Fredericks was a man who felt his art was a civic duty and said this about it:
I want more than anything in the world to do sculpture which will have real meaning for other people, many people, and might in some way encourage, inspire or give them happiness.
UPDATE: I was in Detroit and got a few photos of the Spirit (including some decent detail shots and a shot of the plaque).
UPDATE 2: Check out this cool photo of the Spirit of Detroit from One Foot Over the Moon.
Michigan in Pictures 