Title: Ernest C. Smith Collection Type: Papers Date: 1962-1977 (Predominantly, 1964-71) Size: 3 Boxes ID#: 906 OCLC: |
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HEFA.02.update
The papers of Ernest C. Smith were placed in the Archives of Labor and Urban Affairs in December of 1978 and April of 1979 and were opened for research in July of 1982.
Ernest C. Smith was born December 17, 1925 in Chicago Heights, Illinois. He earned a Bachelor’s degree in education at Northern Illinois University in 1949 and a Master’s degree in human relations at New York University in 1950. Mr. Smith taught social studies in Detroit public high schools and became a department head.
He was involved in the black civil rights movement and found neither major political party satisfactory as a vehicle for black aspirations. He therefore helped found the Michigan Freedom Now Party, an all-black party that ran candidates in the general election of November 1964. Mr. Smith was their candidate for U.S. senator and was Chairman of the Wayne County Freedom Now Party.
From 1969 to 1977 Mr. Smith and other Detroit teachers were involved in a long legal struggle over the agency shop clause in the Detroit Federation of Teachers contract with the Detroit Board of Education. He was instrumental in the formation and operation of the Detroit Teachers Opposed to Compulsory Unionism. He became active in the Michigan Citizens for Right to Work and other national right-to-work committees.
The papers of Mr. Smith reflect his interest in black political action, his efforts to resist compulsory unionism, and his position on various civil rights issues.
Agency shop
Agnostic rights
Albert C. Cleague
Black political action
Detroit Federation of Teachers (DFT)
Detroit Teachers Opposed to Compulsory Unionism (DTOCU)
Ernest C. Smith correspondence
Freedom Now Party (FNP)
Michigan Citizens for Right to Work (MCRTW)
National Right to Work Committee (NRTWC)
Right-to-work organizations
Copies of the Illustrated News and the Detroit Teacher have been placed in the Archives Library. Photographs, posters, buttons, and bumper stickers from the Freedom Now Party, the Cleague campaign, and other campaigns have been placed in the Archives Audio Visual Collections.
3 manuscript boxes
Series Statement
Series I, Freedom Now Party, 1964-69; Box 1:
The series contains: correspondence, minutes, publications and other papers relating to the Freedom Now Party and the campaign of Albert B. Cleague for election to the Detroit Common Council. To Series 1
Series II, Detroit Public Schools, 1969-77; Boxes 2-3:
The series contains: correspondence, legal records and other papers relating to the effort to prevent the establishment of an agency shop in the Detroit public schools and some papers relating to Smith’s charges against the Detroit public schools on civil rights issues. To Series 2
Freedom Now Party, 1964-69
Box 1
The box contains: correspondence, minutes, campaign literature, articles, and publications relating to Ernest C. Smith’s work for the Freedom Now Party, his candidacy for U.S. senator, and his involvement in the civil rights movement. There is also some information on the 1965 campaign of Albert B. Cleague for election to the Detroit Common Council. The files are arranged alphabetically by subject.
[Box 1]
Detroit Public Schools, 1967-77
Boxes 2-3
The boxes contain: correspondence, legal papers, press releases, publications, and clippings documenting Smith’s involvement in the effort to keep the Detroit Federation of Teachers from establishing an agency shop in the Detroit public school system; files from a number of right-to-work organizations which participated in this controversy; extensive files on the court challenges to the DFT agency shop; some papers relating to hearings of the Michigan Civil Rights Commission on his charge that his transfer to another school was racially motivated and his successful attempt to gain equal leave provisions for agnostics as for those with religious affiliations. The files are arranged alphabetically by subject.
[Box 2]
[Box 3]