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Dollinger, Genora (Johnson) (audio interview #1 of 8)
INTERVIEW DESCRIPTION - This is the first of eight interviews conducted with Genora Dollinger in the sunny den of her home. Dollinger was at first very reserved and grilled me before agreeing to proceed. Bitter about what she views as the undue credit given to members of the CP, she needed to be reassured that I was not partisan on the subject of the Flint strike. Because of her role as founder of the Women's Emergency Brigade, Dollinger had been interviewed on several other occasions. As a result, at times, there was an almost programmed quality to the discussion of her background. Gentle prodding, however, usually helped to get past this highly practiced narrative. 5/21/1976
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- SUBJECT BIO - Genora Johnson Dollinger is best known for her role in forming the Women's Emergency Brigade (of the UAW) during the Flint strike, 1936-7. Born to a relatively prominent and affluent family in Flint, Dollinger developed a heightened sense of women's subjugation as a result of her father's treatment of both his wife and daughters. She became interested in socialism through discussions with Carl Johnson, the father of her future husband, auto worker Kermit Johnson. She married Kermit Johnson over her parents objections, and they had two sons, both of whom were later killed in a car accident. Together with her husband and father-in-law, Dolliinger helped to build the Socialist Party (SP) in Flint, which became one of the organizing avenues for the 1936 strike. After the strike began, frustrated with the traditional roles to which she was initially relegated, Dollinger formed the Women's Emergency Brigade, a militant group of women popularized in the documentary, With Babies and Banners. Dollinger remained active in the UAW following the strike. Later, during the war, and after her marriage to Sol Dollinger, she went to work in Detroit at Briggs Manufacturing. She was badly beaten later, in the postwar years, during the vicious anti-union campaign organized by the manufacturers. While still in Michigan, she became active in the Socialist Workers Party (SWP), worked for the ACLU, and continued to be involved in the UAW. The Dollingers moved to Los Angeles in 1967, when her third son was fourteen years old. Despite her growing health problems, she remained active in a host of liberal and progressive causes and heaped to form the Community Advisory Councils of the LA Unified School District. In 1977, on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the Flint strike, Dollinger returned to Michigan and, despite her health problems, led a protest against the slighting of women's role in the strike. After her death in 1995, Sol Dollinger published their jointly authored book, Not Automatic: Women and the Left in the Forging of the Auto Workers Union (Monthly Review Press, 2000), which includes an oral history of Genora by Susan Rosenthal. TOPICS - family background and history; mother's cultural interests, and musical talents; family relationships; gender ideology in family; family life; domestic abuse; family's standing in the community; siblings; population of Flint; housing; menstruation; dating; schooling; religion; holiday celebrations; career aspirations; and relationship with maternal grandmother;family history; family's political beliefs and social values; maternal grandfather; male role models; family life; tomboyism; parental expectations; schooling; friends; female role models; meeting Kermit Johnson and his father, Carl; introduction to socialism; eloping; father's reaction to her marriage; consummating marriage; growing class consciousness; living arrangements; socialist discussion group; and organization of SP in Flint;socialist study group; starting SP branch; sexism; Carl Johnson; childbirth; views on abortion and birth control; health problems and hospitalization for tuberculosis; marital relationship; separation; brief hospitalizations in Denver and Ann Arbor; family life; Pengelly building; SLP; Proletarian Party and Marxist lectures; Workers Education Program and Roy Reuther; carpenters union; and ethnic composition of Flint;
- *** File: lhgdollinger1.mp3 Audio Segments and Topics: (0:04-2:57)... Dollinger's paternal grandparents settled in Flint, Michigan in the 1800s where her grandfather (Jarvis Elbrow) was a farmer, county supervisor, and a school teacher. A captain during the Civil War, he was fondly referred to as the "Silver tongued Captain Jarv." Although he was not a licensed attorney, he was a powerful orator and successfully represented people in court. He died before Dollinger was born, but he was a legend in her family. (2:57-3:53)... Dollinger's father was not an orator or a thinker like his father, but rather was a money maker. He supported himself through real estate and land investments, as well as a photography business. He opened a quick service photography service very early in this field and photographed clients using a flash cabinet and powder. (3:53-8:03)... Dollinger describes her mother was the "cultured person in the family." She graduated from the Chicago Conservatory of Music, and was an accomplished singer who also taught piano. When she returned to her hometown after graduating from the conservatory, she felt pressure to marry. She went to work at the AC Spark Plug factory perhaps before she married. Dollinger claims that it was not unusual for a woman of her mother's background to go to work in the factory because it was an exciting time in Flint, "a small, sleepy farm town and suddenly one of the world's greatest inventions blossomed forth in the city." (8:03-10:50)... Her mother was not involved in the women's rights movement of the late 1800s. Dollinger believe that she inherited her own activist spirit from her maternal grandmother instead, who she describes as an aggressive matriarch in contrast to her mother who was sweet and docile. Dollinger talks about her father's abusive behavior, particularly when he was drinking, and comments that domestic abuse was not unusual among upper-middle-class families, just concealed better. (10:50-12:56)... Dollinger's grandmother had very little education, but was a versatile person. She had nine children, three of whom died from disease during an epidemic. She was the first woman in town to bob her hair, and although this did not result in much negative reaction from others, Dollinger's mother feared that the church would frown on this behavior. She was never as independent as her own mother. (12:56-15:28)... At a very early age, Dollinger developed a deep resentment towards her father because of the way he treated her mother. He was not reluctant to express his desires for a boy and thought men were superior to women, which angered Dollinger. When she was a young girl, she decided that she was not going to "take second place" to a man. Even after her brother was born, she continued to be the more aggressive and intelligent child while her brother was easily intimidated by their father. (15:28-18:16)... Dollinger was the oldest of four children, and although there only a year and a half between her and her younger brother, she was eight and twelve years older than her two sisters. Her relationship with her brother was "strange" because her mother spoiled him and gave him more latitude than Dollinger. Although their was sibling rivalry between them, he came to admire and respect Dollinger when she recruited him to socialism and encouraged him to participate in the labor movement. (18:16-20:33)... After Dollinger's parents married, they moved into a house behind her paternal grandmother's. When she was one or two years old, her father purchased a three-story building and converted it into three separate living spaces. They resided in a spacious, three-bedroom home on the ground floor and her father rented the other apartments to professionals. The third floor was a small attic apartment where she resided later during a labor strike. Their home was located in an affluent neighborhood comprised of both private residences and professional offices. (20:33-22:20)... Most of the families in Dollinger's neighborhood were wealthy and maintained a staff of servants. In contrast, her father did not want any strangers in his home and believed that it was a woman's place to keep her home in order. It was not difficult for her mother to care for her own home because she came from a poor family and was unaccustomed to an affluent lifestyle. She was a frugal and practical woman who believed in refashioning her clothes into new outfits and passing them down her daughters. This did not set Dollinger apart from the other girls in school because she was a leader among her friends. (22:20-27:21)... The first time Dollinger realized the status of her family carried in the community was when she called the police after her father struck her mother. When the police realized whose house they were at, they apologized to her father and left. Her mother always excused her father's physical abuse to authorities in order to protect his reputation in the community. Dollinger describes an incident that made her father leery of becoming violent around her, fearful that she would expose him to the public. He was usually physically abusive while he was drinking, but he believed that it was a man's right to beat his wife and children "to lay down the law." Dollinger's mother had no social life outside couple-oriented friends, among whom she was admired for her musical talents. Her father would not allow her mother to play that "classical junk" when he was home. (27:21-31:55)... Dollinger was born in Kalamazoo, Michigan in the home of her maternal grandmother, who was a midwife. Although Dollinger's grandmother told her stories about delivering babies, neither she nor her mother talked to her about menstruation. When she started her period at the age of thirteen or fourteen, her mother took her into the bathroom, pulled down the shade and began telling her about menstruation "as though it was the most disgraceful thing in the whole world." Dollinger describes herself as a late bloomer, who viewed boys as "pals" even when all of her girlfriends were interested in boys. She began going to the movies with boys while she was in elementary school. Her father set a strict curfew when she began dating in her teens. If she did not come home on time, he tracked her down and caused a scene. (31:55-35:38)... Dollinger attended grade school with children from established families in the community. She recalls when a Black girl (Vera) started attending her school and that the teacher seated Vera in the back of the room and reprimanded her for not having school supplies. That evening, Dollinger asked her mother for money so that she could purchase supplies for Vera. Initially, the other children were wary about socializing with Vera, but Dollinger befriended her right away and since she was the leader in her circle of friends, they became friendly with Vera also. (35:38-39:34)... Dollinger's paternal grandfather was one of the builders of the First Methodist Church in Flint, and she was baptized there and placed on the "cradle roll." Even though her father drank and abused his family on Saturdays, he attended church every Sunday. He was so strict about upholding a holy and clean image that he made the children bathe on Saturday evenings and drink Epson salt so that they were clean inside and out for church. Dollinger began teaching Sunday school when she was fifteen years old and attended bible class during the week. Her most fervent prayer was that her father would change and treat her mother better. (39:34-43:42)... When she was a young girl, she wanted to be a musician and took lessons at a music conservatory as well as ballet lessons. She became frustrated because she could not measure up to her mother's musical talents, and began taking acting lessons instead. She was jealous of her brother's vocal talents. Holidays were in her family, and they usually spent them with her mother's side of the family. Her father's family was cold and unaffectionate compared to her mother's and they did not socialize with them often. (43:42-45:02)... Dollinger's grandmother was an influential figure in her life. She was an affectionate and giving woman and Dollinger admired her independence. Her grandfather also took an active role in caring for his children and grandchildren. End of tape. *** File: lhgdollinger2.mp3 (0:00-4:08)... Dollinger describes her paternal grandfather as a political maverick, but because of his standing in the community, people did not question his political views. He supported the Democratic Party as well as Greenback Party and was influential during the campaign of a socialist mayoral candidate. She describes her father, on the other hand, as a conservative, a racist and a male chauvinist. For instance, when he took the family for drives on Sunday afternoons, he warned the children to hide while driving through "nigger town." In private, her mother advised her children not to believe their father's racist and cynical views. (4:08-6:08)... Dollinger's maternal grandfather was a caring and loving man who doted on children. He and one of her uncles who enjoyed taking care of children, became Dollinger's ideal of what a man should be: "kind, warm, and affectionate and never macho." Her father called them sissies and said they "were poor excuses for men." Dollinger notes that she encountered more men like her father throughout her life, noting that her grandfather and her uncle were anomalies in society. (6:08-7:18)... Except for a couple of vacations, her parents did not take the children on too many family outings when she was a young girl. Her father was resentful of the attention her mother showered on their children and he preferred taking her places without them. Her relationship with her mother centered around the home. (7:18-12:19)... Note: there is an interruption in this segment while Dollinger answers the telephone. Dollinger was a good student and always made the honor roll. Her mother encouraged her to pursue both cultural and academic interests and expected Dollinger to go to college. By contrast, her father expected her to pursue ladylike interests, such as sewing and embroidery. She became a tomboy to prove to her father that she was capable of doing the same things as boys, but when she got home from school, her mother made her change into black bloomers so that her father would not notice that she got dirty playing outside. When Dollinger was about ten years old, school officials forbade her from taking auto or wood shop as an elective because girls were supposed to take sewing or cooking. She persuaded four of her girlfriends to protest and the next day, they showed up at school wearing pants and shirts , with the names of boys affixed on the their backs. The principle called a conference with the girls' families, warning her parents to "watch her," implying that she may be a lesbian. (12:19-14:21)... Except for one friend, Clara Johnson, all of her schoolmates were from upper-middle-class backgrounds. Dollinger enjoyed spending time with Johnson and her family, but her father thought the Johnsons were beneath them in status and complained about Dollinger spending time in their home. She was exposed to more people from different social classes and ethnic backgrounds once she started junior high and high school. (14:21-16:57)... The principle of Dollinger's school had been one of her father's teachers. When she met with her parents to discuss the incident of Dollinger coming to school wearing pants, she reminded Dollinger's father of his rebellious behavior and told him that his "sins" were coming back to haunt him. Although the incident of her wearing to pants to school was "looked at as something queer," she was not disciplined harshly because she was a top honor student and liked by all of her teachers. (16:57-20:39)... Dollinger admired and respected her history teacher because she was not interested in men; her art teacher also was an influential figure and encouraged her to pursue her artistic talents. When Dollinger transferred to a new high school and had to give up art class for typing, this teacher reprimanded Dollinger's father for not persuading Dollinger to stay at her old high school and continue her art studies. Dollinger notes that he never made decisions in her best interests. Dollinger recounts other instances of her father's controlling behavior and her determination not to let any man dominate her. (20:39-23:40)... Although Dollinger began meeting people from different social classes once she started high school, she continued to socialize with the friends with whom she grew up. She was encouraged to join a sorority, but felt that these types of groups discriminated against the students who were not eligible. Fraternity boys frequently asked her out in an attempt to persuade her to join a sorority, but she rejected their offers. Other than church groups, she was not involved in any youth or community groups outside high school. She joined the Spanish Club and the History Club in high school. When she was in high school, Dollinger became acquainted with Kermit Johnson and his sister. Eventually, she met their father, Carl, while visiting their home. (23:40-28:09)... Although she occasionally went to a movie or a game with a boy, Dollinger did not seriously date before meeting Kermit Johnson. When she first met Kermit's father, Carl, he wanted to get to know her and was especially interested in her religious beliefs, believing that you had to get religion out of a person's head in order to get a better society. When she obtained a copy of the socialist American Guardian, Dollinger brought it to Carl and their discussions "took a different turn." She comments that her relationship with Carl strained her relationship with Kermit's mother, and that the intellectual conversations she had with Carl occasionally bored Kermit. Although the date/chronology is not clear, Dollinger helped organize a socialist discussion group. (28:09-29:00)... Dollinger though that Kermit Johnson's mother, with her spiritualist practices, was a strange woman and couldn't understand how people could believe in practices like seances, which she once attended with Kermit's mother. Because Dollinger didn't respond to Kermit's mother's prosletizing they didn't have a good relationship. She describes Carl Johnson as being "henpecked" by his wife; his release was sitting on the porch discussing his ideas. (29:00-30:12)... Although Carl Johnson was an auto worker and a member of the AFL, he rarely discussed unionism with Dollinger during their meetings. She recalls his telling her that Europeans "brought the ideas of unionism and cooperatives" with them to the US. (30:12-31:59)... When they dated, Dollinger noticed that Kermit Johnson was not particularly interested in political or intellectual ideas. He was pulled in two different directions by his parents, but he could never understand his mother's spiritualist ideas, and was drawn more to his father's ideas. Nevertheless, he was very close with his mother and she was dedicated to him. Dollinger did not socialize with Kermit's friends because they lived on the other side of town. She was not allowed to go out during the week and on the weekend she had a strict curfew. Initially, her parents did not react negatively when she began dating someone from the working-class. After they married, however, her father would not accept Kermit and his family because they were foreigners. (31:59-32:56)... As Dollinger got older, the instability at home got worse and her father's abuse was intolerable at times. When she married and left home, she encouraged her sisters to stand up to him and protect their mother. (32:56-37:21)... Dollinger might not have been so easily persuaded to marry Kermit Johnson had the conditions at home been better. They were married by a justice of the peace in Bowling Green, Ohio. When she got home, she did not tell her parents that she was married. Kermit's parents found he was married when he reprimanded his mother for insulting his new wife, at which point she, in turn, informed Dollinger's parents. Dollinger's father locked her in her bedroom and made arrangements with an attorney to get an annulment because they had not consummated their marriage. He also threatened to have Kermit arrested for violating the Mann Act. She crawled out of her bedroom window and she and Kermit rented a hotel room to consummate the marriage. (37:21-38:44)... Before getting married, Dollinger had planned to go to the University of Michigan. She talks about Kermit's difficulties with his studies and that she wrote a paper for him so that he could graduate from high school. After he graduated, his father told him that he had to get a job. (38:44-40:03)... When Dollinger's father settled down after the shock of finding out Dollinger had married Kermit Johnson, he placed a photograph and a marriage announcement in the society column of the local newspaper. Dollinger continued to live at home during the first few months of her marriage. Talking about Kermit's appeal, she notes that it was such a "different kind of life;" that his father was an intellectual and that Kermit became more interesting. The absence of domination also appealed to her. In fact, she assumed the dominant role in their marriage, and Kermit depended on her to make all the decisions. (40:03-41:25)... After she graduated from high school, Dollinger moved with Kermit to a nearby city where he went to work as a general laborer. His paycheck was barely enough to pay the rent and purchase groceries for the week. Frustrated by his poor wages, she told him to complain to his boss. Although she had read about working-class conditions in Jacob Riis's How the Other Half Lives, she had not real comprehension of working class life. She wrote home to her mother and complained about their situation, at which time her mother wrote back, "My dear, that's the system." Unbeknownst to her father, Dollinger's mother sent her some money to help them get by. (41:25-42:03)... Although Dollinger's father-in-law would have liked his son to wait a little longer before he got married, he was happy that he married Dollinger because he was fond of her. He was much more "philosophical" about their marriage than her mother-in-law. (42:03-46:34)... When they returned to Flint, Dollinger and Kermit Johnson moved into a small apartment. The automobile industry was doing poorly and there were several layoffs. She was pregnant at the time and they decided to move into the attic apartment on the third floor of her parents' home. She hoped that by living near her parents she would be able to ease her sisters' troubles at home. Dollinger got involved in a socialist discussion group with her father-in-law and several autoworkers in the community. They eventually opened an office and organized the Socialist Party of America. Even though she was only about twenty years old, the other members accepted her because she was mature. They also knew about her family background and understood that she was participating in the movement out of choice. End of tape. *** File: lhgdollinger3.mp3 (0:05-1:01)... Initially, Dollinger and her father-in-law, Carl Johnson, started a socialist study group in the Pengelly Building and later applied to become their own SP branch. She continued to read the American Guardian and other socialist literature under the tutelage of her father-in-law. (1:01-4:38)... Dollinger gave birth to her son at home with the assistance of a doctor. Although the community was equipped with both a county hospital and a private women's hospital, it still was customary for women to give birth at home. She became pregnant during her last year of high school and had to drop out. She would have opted for an abortion had she known anything about it. Neither her father-in-law nor his network of radical friends knew anything about abortion. Her father-in-law was an exception to most of the men in the SP who were chauvinists and felt that the movement should be run by men. Although they were not opposed to an intellectual woman joining the movement to help recruit other women, women's main role in the party was to organize social affairs and make things comfortable for the men to do their recruiting work. (4:38-6:58)... When Dollinger and her father-in-law started a socialist study group, the membership was unstable because not very many people looked forward to spending their evenings having serious, intellectual discussions. Once the membership reached about fifteen or twenty people, they began organizing social events on Saturday evenings. Although her husband was not a bookworm, he enjoyed discussing and debating and he had a knack for using the ideas he collected from other people in his speeches. (6:58-7:47)... During the period that her husband and her father-in-law worked in an automobile factory, the company went through several layoffs leading up to the strike. Dollinger and her family managed to survive without financial assistance from her family. During the strike, however, her mother sent her baked goods and food to ensure that she and her children were eating well. (7:47-13:38)... After her first child was born, Dollinger became very weak and began having difficulty caring for her home and her baby. She was diagnosed with several maladies, including a tipped uterus, and was given medication for anemia and for her nerves. Her mother-in-law used this as an opportunity to persuade Kermit to leave her. They were not separated for very long before she convinced him he was wrong to leave her and their baby in her condition. She was diagnosed with tuberculosis after she coughed up a substantial amount of blood and was admitted to the county hospital where she was treated under horrible conditions. (13:38-19:12)... After Dollinger was diagnosed with tuberculosis - referred to at the time as "galloping consumption" - her friends and relatives distanced themselves. In those days, people with tb were pitied and treated like lepers. Her first hospitalization lasted for three months and for the next several years, she spent the short intervals in two or three different facilities. Thinking that the climate would help her conditions, her husband took her to Denver, but because of the poor job market there they returned to Michigan two months later. Knowing nothing about birth control, she became pregnant with her second child in Denver. (19:12-24:51)... Prior to giving birth to her second child, Dollinger was admitted to the Ann Arbor Sanitarium at the University of Michigan, where conditions were much better. While in the sanitarium, she did a great deal of reading. She discusses her treatment regime and the Austrian doctor who cared for her, who she discovered was also a socialist. Although she advised to remain in the hospital, after three months, she convinced him to release her. (24:51-26:55)... While she was being treated at the University of Michigan facility, she told the other women in her ward that she was a socialist. They did not react negatively, but they were not interested in her socialist ideas. Dollinger recounts that earlier, when she was t the county hospital in Flint, she became acquainted with a Navy man with whom she discussed socialism. She later learned that he became a militant leader in the Local representing auto workers at Chevrolet. At the time of the interview, they still maintained contact. (26:55-27:49)... While she was in and out of hospitals receiving treatment for tuberculosis, Dollinger continued to participate in the socialist study group that she organized with her father-in-law. She was consumed with raising her children and taking care of her home. Her husband was not the type of person who concerned himself with making family decisions, which meant that she took on this responsibility entirely on her own. (27:49-34:18)... In addition to the SP, other organizations had offices in the Pengelly Building, including AFL craft unions, the SLP, and the Proletarian Party. Although she never met a lead representative from an AFL craft union, she heard that they looked down on their members. The carpenters were conservative and were threatened by the idea of organizing production workers, who they viewed as uneducated and untrained. Typically, workers gathered at the beer gardens, and Dollinger and her colleagues in the SP frequently talked to workers there. There also was a beer garden on the ground floor of the Pengelly Building. Some of the craft unions were reluctant to visit the SP office because radicals were viewed with suspicion in a GM town. Although both her husband and her father-in-law were members of the AFL Council, very little recruiting to the SP took place in that environment. The Proletarian Party organized several lectures on Marxism that SP members attended. A Workers Education Program also occupied space in the building and Roy Reuther was the main educator for that program. (34:18-36:32)... Dollinger did not organize unemployed workers on behalf of the SP. She recalls that anything of that nature took place among Buick employees who resided on the north end of Flint and were of foreign descent. All of her activities were concentrated in the central part of Flint. The members in her SP group were primarily American-born workers. The foreign-speaking workers in Flint were mainly Russians, Poles, and Hungarians, but they occupied a small minority of the population. End of tape.
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