The award recognizes Ms. Gill for her career-long work of advocating for social and economic change,
Ever since Henry Ford declared he’d pay $5 a day to workers in his factories, African Americans have had a love affair with the automotive industry in the United States. “The Great Migration” of Blacks from the South to the North was largely due to the demand for factory labor. In 1910, fewer than 600 autoworkers were African American. By 1929, that number grew to more than 25,000. Unfortunately from then until now, the love we’ve had for the auto industry has gone largely unreturned. Making sure there is equity in our relationships with the auto industry drives my work