VISUAL ACTIVITYWomen’s Emergency Brigade Supports Sit-Down Strikers General Motors cut wages and employment in half during the depression, causing a wave of strikes by autoworkers. During the famous sit-down strike in Flint, Michigan, in 1937, the wives of striking workers organized the Emergency Brigade, shown here, to support the strikers. The photo does not show the thousands of armed police and National Guardsmen who surrounded the plant.READING THE IMAGE: Why do you think the woman leading the Emergency Brigade carried an American flag? What kind of support did the Women’s Emergency Brigade appear to provide to the striking autoworkers, according to the photo?CONNECTIONS: In what ways did the New Deal support labor unions?

Bettmann/Corbis.