Interview with Paul Blackman, June 25, 2015, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
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@ Wisconsin Historical Society
Blackman, Paul
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Jameel Russell interviews Paul Blackman on June 25, 2015. Blackman was the president of Smith Steelworkers from 1972 to 1993, a union whose members were employed by A.O. Smith. Blackman explains how he became president of Smith Steelworkers and what differences he strived to make within the company, particularly for blacks who worked for A.O. Smith. Blackman also talks about the increase of layoffs and what caused them.This interview is part of an oral history series done of Milwaukee residents on the effects of Milwaukee plant closings on the city's African-American community since 1970. The Wisconsin Historical Society, in collaboration with the Wisconsin Black Historical Society & Museum, sponsored an oral history project that ran June-August, 2015. Four Milwaukee high school and college students were trained in oral history techniques by UW-Milwaukee professors Michael Gordon and Rob Smith and then interviewed black residents who had first-hand knowledge of these events. In
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Wisconsin Historical SocietyRecord Harvested From
Recollection WisconsinKeywords
- African Americans
- Deindustrialization
- Labor Unions
- Milwaukee
- Oral Histories (Document Genre)
- Plant Shutdowns
- Wisconsin