III. The Black Worker
Archival Interlude
“The Black Worker” is a cultural and political cartography inspired by Kevin Jerome Everson’s touchstones of Richard Pryor and working-class Black life in the Midwest. Film stills, posters, and flyers bring together Blue Collar (1978)—a story of unions and auto workers set in Detroit and starring Pryor—and the militant labor struggle, political organizing, and sophisticated media strategy of the League of Revolutionary Black Workers (LRBW) and the Dodge Revolutionary Union Movement (DRUM).
This visual assemblage is dedicated to James Boggs, the Marxist auto worker, organizer, and organic intellectual.
Read next: “Black Geographies: Material in Motion,” inside “Clocking Time: A Dossier on Kevin Jerome Everson”
Back to “Clocking Time: A Dossier on Kevin Jerome Everson” table of contents
Fig. 1–13, Blue Collar, Paul Schrader, 114 min, 35mm, 1978, © Universal Studios.
Fig. 14, “The Drum Slate” (signed by General Baker), 1968, courtesy Kazembe Balagun.
Fig. 15, “DRUM Rally for Black Workers: The Role of the Black Worker in the Black Liberation Movement,” 1968, Detroit Revolutionary Movements Records, 1968–1976, Series 1: Dodge Revolutionary Union Movement (DRUM), Archives of Labor and Urban Affairs, Walter P. Reuther Library, Wayne State University.
Fig. 16, “Hear a DRUM Spokesman and Participant at Friday Night Socialist Forum,” 1968, Detroit. Revolutionary Movements Records, 1968–1976, Series 1: Dodge Revolutionary Union Movement (DRUM), Archives of Labor and Urban Affairs, Walter P. Reuther Library, Wayne State University.
Fig. 17, “Strike Your Blow against Racism / Do Your Part / No Work Today Black Workers Strike” (Wildcat Strike and Rally), 1969, Kenneth V. and Sheila M. Cockrel Collection, Archives of Labor and Urban Affairs, Walter P. Reuther Library, Wayne State University.
Fig. 18, “DRUM / Dodge Revolutionary Union Movement: A Union for Black Workers for Self Determination Welcome Leaflet,” 1968, Detroit Revolutionary Movements Records, 1968–1976, Series 1: Dodge Revolutionary Union Movement (DRUM), Archives of Labor and Urban Affairs, Walter P. Reuther Library, Wayne State University.
Fig. 19, “Our Thing Is DRUM” aka “Anthem of the Dodge Revolutionary Union Movement,” 1968, Detroit Revolutionary Movements Records, 1968–1976, Series 1: Dodge Revolutionary Union Movement (DRUM), Archives of Labor and Urban Affairs, Walter P. Reuther Library, Wayne State University.
Fig. 14, “The Drum Slate” (signed by General Baker), 1968, courtesy Kazembe Balagun.
Fig. 15, “DRUM Rally for Black Workers: The Role of the Black Worker in the Black Liberation Movement,” 1968, Detroit Revolutionary Movements Records, 1968–1976, Series 1: Dodge Revolutionary Union Movement (DRUM), Archives of Labor and Urban Affairs, Walter P. Reuther Library, Wayne State University.
Fig. 16, “Hear a DRUM Spokesman and Participant at Friday Night Socialist Forum,” 1968, Detroit. Revolutionary Movements Records, 1968–1976, Series 1: Dodge Revolutionary Union Movement (DRUM), Archives of Labor and Urban Affairs, Walter P. Reuther Library, Wayne State University.
Fig. 17, “Strike Your Blow against Racism / Do Your Part / No Work Today Black Workers Strike” (Wildcat Strike and Rally), 1969, Kenneth V. and Sheila M. Cockrel Collection, Archives of Labor and Urban Affairs, Walter P. Reuther Library, Wayne State University.
Fig. 18, “DRUM / Dodge Revolutionary Union Movement: A Union for Black Workers for Self Determination Welcome Leaflet,” 1968, Detroit Revolutionary Movements Records, 1968–1976, Series 1: Dodge Revolutionary Union Movement (DRUM), Archives of Labor and Urban Affairs, Walter P. Reuther Library, Wayne State University.
Fig. 19, “Our Thing Is DRUM” aka “Anthem of the Dodge Revolutionary Union Movement,” 1968, Detroit Revolutionary Movements Records, 1968–1976, Series 1: Dodge Revolutionary Union Movement (DRUM), Archives of Labor and Urban Affairs, Walter P. Reuther Library, Wayne State University.