Geraldine DeFant Oral History Interview Transcript

Geraldine DeFant grew up in Chicago, Illinois, where she became a labor organizer during the Great Depression. She helped to organize the H.W. Gossard factory strike in Ishpeming in 1949, after which she moved to Marquette and married lawyer Michael DeFant. Later, she became involved in local Democratic Party politics and served as a Marquette County commissioner. In this interview, she discusses her childhood and how she became radicalized during the Depression and gives a detailed account of the Gossard strike. She also talks about her philosophical commitment to socialism, participatory democracy, and feminism.