Remembering Michigan’s Gossard Girls

Drawing on scores of interviews, this seminal history tells stories of single, married, and divorced women, piece rate factory workers in two undergarment Gossard Company factories in Ishpeming and Gwinn from 1920-1976. This book highlights the challenges and joys of mostly first- and second-generation immigrants. During the 1940’s, the women showed their political and economic strength, when they went on a four-month strike for a union shop in 1949.