2006 Feature picture story - HM

Lisa DeJong

Fading Middle Class

The middle class was essentially born in Flint, Mich. when the union was formed after the historic Sit-Down Strike of 1936. Flint is ground zero. It started here, will it end here? With chronic threats of factory closings from the Delphi Corp and GM this year, the middle class watches as Flint marches towards economic Armageddon. These portraits are part of a project that asks middle-class union members in Flint to comment on their own extinction.