Labor history was made when the UAW won recognition from General Motors on February 11, 1937, after the 44-day Sitdown Strike during Flint’s bitterly cold winter. Recognition did not come easily: at one point heat was turned off in the plants and food delivery was stopped, and men and women in the strike endured extreme hardships. A core group of wives and sweethearts, joined by hundreds of women, rallied in support and formed two groups, the Women’s Auxiliary, whose mission was passive, and the Women’s Emergency Brigade, whose mission was more militant; both were imperative to the strike’s success. In addition to marching in support, these women carried food to the Sitdowners and brought children to see their fathers through the plant windows, and they were involved in several confrontations with police. On January 11, 1937, during the Battle of Bull’s Run at Fisher Plant 2, Flint police fired teargas, and at one time bullets, toward picketers and strikers. Twenty-three-year-old Genora Johnson, whose husband Kermit worked in Chevrolet Plant 4, got into the union sound car with Victor Reuther, asked to use the microphone, and urged women observing the violence to break through police lines and make human shields of themselves to protect the strikers; they immediately answered her call, and the shooting stopped. On February 1, 1937, the union planned a diversionary strike at Chevrolet Plant 9 in order to take Chevrolet Plant 4, the engine plant. Most union support, including the Women’s Emergency Brigade, went to Plant 9 to draw attention from the designated target. During the diversion, police filled Plant 9 with teargas, and the brigade charged the police line, broke through, and began to smash windows, extending the time Plant 4 strikers had to complete their task. During the melee, a group of five women led by Genora Johnson slipped away and dashed to the primary target. At Plant 9 the women were told to hold the gates, and linking arms, they did so until reinforcements arrived. These actions were part of the great contributions women made to the UAW and to the labor and social movement.