Michigan Labor Legacy Project

A Celebration of Labor

Dedication Day was Wednesday, August 20, 2003

A Vision Rises

The dedication of the Michigan Labor Legacy Landmark brought to a finale more than two years of effort to create an enduring monument to honor workers.

You can be part of it

Have your Honoree (or your own) Name put on the Labor Legacy Wall of Honor.

Transcending (pdf - will open in new window)

How our vision came to the Detroit waterfront

In the late 1990s, as Detroit approached its 300th birthday, UAW Local 174 retiree Mike Kerwin and others began envisioning a gift of public art to our community from the labor movement.  The Michigan Labor History Society took hold of this vision and created a new organization, the Michigan Labor Legacy Project, to complete the project.

In 2001, the Detroit Cultural Affairs and Recreation Dept., Detroit 300, and Mayor's office designated a site for the project.  More than 120 artists and sculptors registered for a competition, and heard labor representatives challenge them to create art that would honor the working women and men who built our city, inform visitors about labor's heritage, and inspire all with labor's vision for the future.  In March, the artists walked the site, took photos, and went back to their drawing boards.

Fifty-five entries were received that spring.  Five jurors judged their work:  Graham Beal, director of the Detroit Institute of Arts; Camille Billops, co-director of New York City's Hatch-Billops Collection of Art; Bill Black, Teamsters community services director; Melba Boyd, head of Wayne State University's Africana Studies Dept., and Paul Krell, UAW Public Relations Director.  

The jury unanimously chose "Transcending," a collaboration of artists David Barr and Sergio De Giusti, as the winning design.  Although entries came from throughout the U.S. and were examined without the artists' names being visible, Barr and De Giusti both happen to be from Michigan.  Their work, though, is universal:  their art is represented throughout the U.S. and Europe.  Barr's arch, consisting of 30 tons of stainless steel, includes gears reminiscent of Detroit's industry.  The open top symbolizes labor's unfinished work, and the light at the top at night symbolizes the energy of workers.  De Giusti's bronze reliefs, set on Vermont granite boulders that have been split in half and polished, depict labor history, workers' occupations, and our vision for the future.

Since the unveiling of their model on August 28, 2001, hundreds of workers, their unions, and friends of labor have donated funds to build this project.  In the near future, the remaining bronze sculptures will be placed on the boulders and a third wall with text and illustrations about Detroit's labor movement will be erected.  Our landmark will tell this and future generations that labor has been, is, and will continue to be at the forefront of the struggle for economic and social justice here and throughout the world.

Read the Quotes & milestones found on the Labor Legacy landmark

(pdf - will open in new window)