Britney Johnson is among the thousands of Ford Motor Co. workers who went on strike to force the automaker to improve pay for all. But she carried more than a picket sign outside Ford's Wayne Assembly plant west of Detroit. Johnson carried a multigenerational legacy of well-paid union jobs, benefits and security that allowed her family to become part of the rising Black middle class. That meant home ownership, cars and vacations — all things that had been unattainable for many Blacks until they found work alongside whites in union factories in Detroit and other cities.
