She Dodged Bullets for the UAW — and Her Legacy Still Haunts the Auto Industry

In 1937, a 23-year-old Flint woman stood between General Motors security, Flint police gunfire, and the workers fighting for their lives inside Fisher Body.
Her name was Genora Johnson Dollinger — and she did more than rally the Women’s Emergency Brigade.
She dodged bullets for the UAW and helped spark a labor uprising that reshaped the American middle class.

This episode begins with a cinematic reenactment of the Flint Sit-Down Strike and Genora’s electrifying moment on the picket line. From her kitchen-table organizing to the chaos outside the plants, Genora’s bravery becomes the doorway into a deeper story about labor, power, and the long shadow cast over America’s auto industry.

🔍 What This Episode Explores
• The Real Genora Johnson Dollinger

A young mother who stepped into leadership during a crisis — and became one of the most important (and overlooked) women in American labor history.

• The Strike That Built the Middle Class

The 1937 Sit-Down wasn’t just a labor dispute.
It changed wages, dignity, and economic mobility for millions of American families.

• The Debate That Still Divides Michigan

Did the UAW negotiate such generous contracts that GM was forced to flee Michigan for low-wage states, Mexico, and China?
—or—
Did GM’s executives practice financial engineering, enriching themselves while starving plants of investment and innovation?

• How Genora’s Legacy Still Haunts the Auto Industry

The decisions made in Flint in 1937 — by workers and by corporate leaders — still shape:

labor costs

global outsourcing

the collapse of industrial cities

the rise of the non-union South

today’s EV-era labor battles

Genora’s courage is a lens for understanding how the middle class was built — and how it unraveled.

🎶 Ending with a Flint Ballad: “1937 When Fires Burn”

The episode concludes with the hauntingly beautiful song “1937 When Fires Burn,” written by Flint musicians Dan Hall and David Norris for the Flint Labor Museum.
Told from the perspective of a striking worker, the song vividly captures:

cold nights inside the occupied plants

tension with police

the grit of Flint’s working class

the fire of a movement rising

It is the perfect emotional arc to close this story.

🇺🇸 Why Genora Johnson Still Matters

Her voice remains a reminder that the fight for economic justice — and the decisions that shape American industry — always begin with ordinary people willing to stand in extraordinary mo

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