Forgotten: the Murder at the Ford Rouge Plant March 26, 2010

The jazz/blues opera 'Forgotten: The Murder at the Ford Rouge Plant' chronicles the unionization of the Ford Motor Company. The story centers on the questionable 1937 death of union organizer and Methodist minister Lewis Bradford, a distant relative of the opera's composer, Steve Jones. Set in the 1930's during the struggle to unionize the Ford Motor Company, 'Forgotten' is based on the life of Reverend Lewis Bradford. Bradford and his wife Ella arrived in Detroit in the 1930s, he worked at the Howard Street Mission on the west side of downtown. When the family needed funds for medical care for their daughter, little Ella, Bradford went to work at the Ford Motor Company River Rouge plant in Dearborn. There he tried to help workers by urging Henry Ford to treat his employees fairly. Shortly afterwards, in November 1937, Bradford was found unconscious in a remote part of the Rouge plant. He died three days later. Bradford's widow left Detroit after receiving threats, but Bradford's story continued to be remembered by his family.