Frederick turned his attention to produc
ing school bus bodies for which there was
a great demand.
In 1939, the company finally closed its
big wooden doors. Most believe that
Charles "Rich" Patterson would have been
saddened, but very proud to know that his
name on a product still meant the highest
standard of quality possible.
Later, when grandson Postell Patterson
was asked what happened to his
grandfather's company, he simply said,
"Well, I guess Detroit got to be just too
much for us."
(Note:) Reports that a Patterson-
Greenfield car is on display in the Pioneer
Auto Museum in Murdo, SD are not cor
rect. The car on display is a "Peterson"
which was made in Michigan. If you check
the body, you will see the difference. The
P-G has a rounded hood and smaller head
lights, etc.
(Special thanks to Katherine Wilson
Patterson, the late Postell Patterson and the
many towns people of Greenfield and
Gallipolis, OH).
Reginald Larrie, PhD., is a Detroit-based
automotive writer and historian.
Workers on the assembly line in the Patterson-
Greenfield plant.
Three generations
in the auto industry
By Sonja Stokes Gildon
Between 1916 and 1918, as World
War I raged across Europe, thousands
of U.S. blacks were making a trek of
their own.
More than 400,000 African Ameri
cans left the South for the cities of the
North during that period. They went
in search of opportunity and jobs, many
newly available because of labor short
ages caused by the war, as well as re
strictions on European immigration.
They headed for Chicago, New
York, Cincinnati, and Detroit, then ex
periencing the speedy rise of the auto
mobile industry.
Just a few years earlier, Henry Ford
had announced his plan to pay a $5-a-
day wage to satisfy Ford’s need for work
ers. The effect was startling. In a 20-year
period, between 1910 and 1930, Detroit’s
black population rose from 5,741 to over
120,000, according to Census records.
A leader in its field. Ford Motor Com
pany produced and sold over 9,000 cars in
1907. By 1913, the number had grown to
195,954. Between those years, the
company’s employees also grew from 700
to 14,366. By 1926, over half the cars sold
in the U.S. were made by Ford.
But the company was hampered by a
high turnover rate, some 400 percent a year
— almost twice that of other plants —
and finally turned to blacks to supplement
its workforce. From that point on, African
Americans would play a major role in au
tomobile history, including the unioniza
tion of the industry.
In those early days, however, black auto
The Gildons (clockwise): Minnie Fisher; Bernard and Edna
Gildon; Ola Hart, Bernard’s sister-in-law; and Finley, the
Gildons son.
workers were usually given the least desir
able jobs and at Ford most were concen
trated in the foundries at the Rouge Plant
in Dearborn, ML As far as employment
opportunities were concerned, however.
Ford was far ahead of General Motors,
which in 1937, employed only 2,500
blacks, again mostly in its foundries.
In the late 1930’s and early ‘40’s, black
workers also played pivotal roles in union
organizing. It was the participation of Af
rican-American auto workers in the well
known “Battle of the Overpass” in 1937
and the strike against Ford Motor Com
pany in 1941 that finally forced Henry Ford
to sign a contract with the United Auto
Workers in that year.
Until the 1970’s, most young Detroiters
could be assured of a job in the auto indus
try after high school, but downsizing and
the relocations of plants outside of Detroit
have significantly reduced opportunities for
African Americans.
For decades the industry helped
move blacks from poverty to prosper
ity. No one knows that better than the
Gildons, a Detroit family who left the
South in the 1930’s looking for a bet
ter life. They found one in the state of
Michigan.
Edna and Bernard Gildon left
Henning, TN, the boyhood home of
writer Alex Haley, along with their four
sons, in 1936 in search of work. In the
beginning, unable to find a job in any
Detroit auto plant, Bernard set up a
small tailoring shop. When his business
later failed, however, he turned again
to the automobile industry, securing a
position at Ford, after World War II,
which would last until he retired in the
mid-60’s.
His job at Ford not only provided a
middle-class lifestyle for his family, but
guaranteed benefits for them after his
death in 1966.
Later two of his sons, Weylin and
Hildred, carried on his legacy. Hildred
worked for Chrysler and recently re
tired, while Weylin worked briefly for
Ford before changing careers.
Now a third generation has joined the
industry. One grandson Duane currently
works for Chrysler, while another Derek
Gildon, was the first in the family to be
hired for a management program. He is
employed at Primus Automotive, a subsid
iary of Ford Motor Credit Company.
I'he automobile industry, specifically
Ford and Chrysler, has allowed the Gildon
family to be successful for nearly 50 years,
but its story is not unique. The industry,
more than any other, has provided a spe
cial lifestyle and opportunity for African
Americans and they, in turn, have shown
their gratitude by buying the cars it pro
duces.
Sonja Stokes Gildon is a Detroit-based labor
historian and is pursuing her PhD. in Com
munications at Wayne State University, De
troit, MI.
AFRICAN AMERICANS ON WHEELS 11