Walter Reuther: Address before the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People

As head of the United Automobile Workers, Walter Reuther was one of the most important figures in the history of American labor. Not only did he win significant benefits for manufacturing workers, he also had a revolutionary vision for a society that would form a partnership between management, business, and workers in decision making. In his many public addresses, Reuther sought to depict the American laborer as part of the middle class, placing blue-collar and white-collar workers on the same level. Reuther was also active in civil rights. In 1957 he delivered an Address before the Annual Convention of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People highlighting the common ground between the labor and civil rights movements.