The Metro: Detroit park honoring hunger march is expanding
Friends of the Rouge and the Fort Rouge Gateway Partnership joined forces to construct the Fort Street Bridge Interpretive Park to celebrate those who fought for workers rights and commemorate that pivotal moment in labor history.
(From left to right) Herman Jenkins, program manager, trails Detroit City Councilwoman Gabriela Santiago-Romero Dr. Paul Draus, PhD, faculty director, University of Michigan Detroit Center JJ Vélez, director, public spaces, Gilbert Family Foundation
During the Great Depression, auto workers organized a march from Detroit to the Ford Rouge Factory in Dearborn. Thousands of people took to the streets to fight for jobs when nearly half of workers in Detroit were unemployed. The event is now known as the Ford Hunger March, and it was one of the most significant events leading to the creation of the United Auto Workers union.
Friends of the Rouge and the Fort Rouge Gateway Partnership joined forces to construct the Fort Street Bridge Interpretive Park to celebrate those who fought for workers rights and commemorate that pivotal moment in labor history.
The first phase of the park project was completed in 2020 and construction for the second phase of the project started in mid-September.
Paul Draus, a professor of sociology at the University of Michigan-Dearborn and a board member of the Friends of Rouge joined the show to discuss the importance of this park and the history it honors.
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