About this episode

Louis Jones discusses his role as a Field Archivist and the significance of labor and civil rights archives in Detroit.

Louis Jones is a keeper— working as a Field Archivist at the Reuther Library at Wayne State University in Detroit, he cares for the largest labor archive in North America. Home to numerous union and labor collections from around the country, the Reuther Library also actively collects material documenting Detroit’s civil rights movement, women’s struggles in the workplace, the LGBTQ Archive of Detroit and more. Born in New York City, the grandson of a Pullman porter, Jones takes us through the archives with stories of the United Auto Workers, Cesar Chavez, Utah Phillips, A. Philip Randolph, the Civil Rights Movement, the 1967 Detroit uprising, and how archivists are examining and re-imagining their roles in the midst of Covid-19 and the Black Lives Matter movement. Special thanks to the Reuther Library at Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan; Nancy Beaumont and the Society of American Archivists (SAA); Paulina Hartono; The National Endowment for the Humanities; and supporters of The Kitchen Sisters Productions. Produced by The Kitchen Sisters (Nikki Silva & Davia Nelson) with Nathan Dalton and Brandi Howell. The Kitchen Sisters Present is part of Radiotopia from PRX.

People in this episode

Hosts: Nikki Silva, Davia Nelson

Guest: Louis Jones

Topics covered

• archiving
• labor history
• civil rights
• Detroit
• activism
• COVID-19
• LGBTQ history

Keywords

• Louis Jones
• Reuther Library
• labor archive
• civil rights
• Detroit
• activism
• COVID-19
• LGBTQ Archive

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Reuther Library, Wayne State University, United Auto Workers, Society of American Archivists, National Endowment for the Humanities

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