The International Brotherhood of Teamsters Labor History Research Center will host a hybrid book talk. Registrants will be able to view the talk over Zoom if they wish or join us in the Center itself. Anyone attending in person should go to the 7th floor of Gelman Library.

Please register here.

Dr. Ryan Pettengill will discuss his book Communists and Community: Activism in Detroit’s Labor Movement, 1941-1956. The book argues that Popular Front activism continued to flourish throughout the war years and into the postwar period. In Detroit, where there was a critical mass of heavy industry, Communist Party activists mobilized support for civil rights and affordable housing, brought attention to police brutality, sought protection for the foreign-born, and led a movement for world peace.

Communists and Community demonstrates that the Communist Party created a social space where activists became effective advocates for the socioeconomic betterment of a multiracial work force. Pettengill uses Detroit as a case study to examine how communist activists and their sympathizers maintained a community to enhance the quality of life for the city’s working class. He investigates the long-term effects of organized labor’s decision to force communists out of the unions and abandon community-based activism. Communists and Community recounts how leftists helped workers, people of color, and other under-represented groups who became part of the mainstream citizenry in America.

Ryan Pettengill earned a PhD from Michigan State University in 2009. The scope and focus of his research was labor and working-class history, specifically grounded in the mid-twentieth century. While the topics of Pettengill’s research and scholarship were and remain broad, they generally revolve around American radicalism, community activism, and the empowerment of the working class. These topics manifested themselves in the 2020 publication of his first book, Communists and Community: Activism in Detroit’s Labor Movement, 1941-1956. 

Pettengill continues to maintain a robust agenda with respect to research. His latest project involves the intersection of organized labor and the global movement for human rights. Pettengill is also a passionate teacher. For the past 13 years, he has taught at community colleges throughout North Texas. He predominantly teaches both halves of the American history survey but he has also taught courses focused on labor and working-class history, the history of sport in the United States, and the civil rights movement. Pettengill currently serves as the faculty sponsor for his local “history club” and is a member of the Organization of American Historian’s Committee on Community Colleges.

Those attending in person will have the opportunity to get their book signed by Dr. Pettengill.