In the late 1920s, Hayel Saeed A’nam was working as a sailor, before becoming a well-known merchant, a quarter of a century later. The founder of the largest commercial empire in Yemen began his first steps sailing between Marseille and Somalia.

At the same time, in the early 1930s, two thousand Yemeni workers were crossing the seas towards the American North to save the huge “Henry Ford” factories from bankruptcy.

The huge American car factories were exposed to danger, when American workers (of politicized European origin) carried out strikes inside the famous “Ford” automobile factories, and therefore their sales fell sharply, in light of the increase in the intensity of their competitors. With the growing protests of the labor movement in Detroit (the capital of the state of Michigan) and its suburb “Dearborn”, Henry Ford was forced to close some of his huge factories and reduce the salaries of some workers. However, on the contrary, these measures did not limit the aggravation and the escalation of the crisis.

Actually, the major manufacturers in the United States were facing a real challenge in all American factories and production facilities, and capitalism was exposed, at that time, to what became known as the “Great Depression”.

Competent Workers with Ford's Specifications and Requirements

The protests reached their climax when a crowd of angry workers attacked one of Ford's largest factories in the city of Dearborn and managed to break through the fence. This required the intervention of the police, who rushed to use weapons to disperse the people. Henry Ford, at that moment, asked his senior advisors to immediately search for workers with different qualities, characteristics, and psychologies and made them hear his new vision: a new system of restructuring the workforce, new policies in the control and management of work, and a new thought and psychology; which is what David Harvey commented on in his book "The Postmodern World": "A new type of rational, democratic, modern, and populist society."

According to the story of Yemeni expatriates in the state of Michigan, Ford also asked his assistants to "search for the most hardworking people around the world, who can bear the hardships of work and also have not yet become acquainted with the idea of union work and strikes.  A few days later, Ford received from his advisors a detailed report, in which they advised him to bring in workers from Yemen, as they meet the specifications and requirements of the Chairman of the Board (Ford), and from Lebanon as well. Indeed, whoever goes to Michigan will find that the Yemeni and Lebanese communities are the oldest and most numerous of all immigrants in the state.

Ford once met a Yemeni sailor working in the port and told him about the auto factory jobs that pay five dollars a day. From then on, the sailor spread the word, which led, later, to a series of migrations from Yemen and other parts of the Middle East.

According to the narrative circulating among Yemenis in America, there was a "sincere" Yemeni worker who was working with Ford, who referred to him that day to bring in Yemeni workers. This narrative acquires its value when we find it consistent with the recommendation of the group of experts, who advised Henry Ford to bring in and recruit workers from the Middle East, specifically from Yemen or Lebanon. Immediately, the man forwarded this recommendation for implementation. Thereafter, through the port of Aden, a large ship carrying 2,000 workers from Yemen sailed towards Michigan, the capital of the American automotive industry, for this historic mission.

Likewise, Michigan Radio covered this story in an article entitled "The untold history of Yemeni sailors on the Great Lakes," But not without the transcendence of wealthy industrial communities.

The Michigan Radio website reported how "the legend of Henry Ford caused a stir when Ford once met a Yemeni sailor working in the port and told him about the auto factory jobs that pay five dollars a day. From then on, the sailor spread the word; which led to a series of migrations from Yemen and other parts of the Middle East."

Similarly, the "Michigan History" website also published that Ford asked a Yemeni sailor to post an advertisement for vacancies in the auto factories, and then this sailor brought on his ship this number of Yemeni workers. " So, Was the captain a Yemeni—the captain of the ship that sailed from Aden with Yemeni workers in the early thirties? Maybe. That's what the American story says!

These two narratives support the truthfulness of the Yemeni story, which we recorded from the tongues of expatriate Yemeni workers in America; however, the narrative of "Michigan Radio" fragments the story from its objective context, as if this large number of workers had nothing to do with the capitalist crisis and the strikes that paralyzed the labor movement in the American auto factories. The established fact is what I, the writer of this report, heard in the state of Michigan, when I visited the United States of America in 2013, as I heard these details narrated, in conformity, by the tongues of the descendants of that great generation: the first generation of Yemeni immigrants to America.

At that time (in the early 1930s), the American press accused Ford of using a racist policy against the Jews, whom he accused of provoking protests and inciting white-skinned workers to strike at his factories. Ford was also accused of racism against "blacks", the citizens of Detroit, when he refused to accept them to work in his factories. On the other hand, the news of the ship's arrival from Aden was not long delayed. So, when it arrived, Ford saw the faces and eyes of the Yemeni workers, who had just come from Aden, sparkling with enthusiasm and innocence, and he said with a smile: "Good-bye to the strike." As he has already found what he was looking for.

Besides that, it was said that Ford was a friend of Adolf Hitler, the leader of Nazism in Germany (the National Socialist German Workers Party), and that he provided him with financial support, and that it was the money of the American auto manufacturers that funded Hitler's rise to power. The American journalist Annette Inton, who was sent to Germany by Detroit News to interview Adolf Hitler in the late 1920s, noticed a picture of Henry Ford on the table of the Nazi leader, who did not find anything embarrassing in the declaration: "I consider Henry Ford an inspirational figure for me.

It is known historically that Henry Ford had a strong hatred for the Jews. Further, he wrote a book in the twenties of the last century, entitled "The International Jew," in which he criticized the nature of the Jews and the behavior they perform. Several press reports reported how the contents of this book stirred up "Hitler's evil motives" towards the Jews in Germany. Thus, this book caused a huge stir and had repercussions in America and Europe. As a consequence, the American press accused Ford of being sympathetic to the Nazis, which is something that Ford has been denying and vehemently rejecting throughout his life! Moreover, the translator of the book "The International Jew" mentioned how it—the book—caused a great stir, then it was confiscated, and its copies were burned and disappeared from the market. The translator quoted Ford's relatives as saying that he had always refused to apologize for this book; however, due to pressure on him, he allowed one of his assistants to apologize on his behalf and even forged his signature on the apology.

The story of the book began as articles, throughout the twenties, that Ford was writing for the Dearborn newspaper he owned, and it is also said that other writers were writing them on commission from Ford himself, without their names. These articles were later collected into a book entitled "The International Jew," which caused reactions and indignation among Jewish groups around the world and among wide segments of American society, which accused Ford of anti-Semitism. Then, these reactions paved the way and led to successive waves of labor protests inside Ford factories, at the instigation and behest of the Jews. All of these events were associated in one way or another with historical, economic, and cultural contexts and led to the stage of the "Great Depression" and then to the recruitment of "primitive" workers from Yemen to save the major factories.

Furthermore, Henry Ford provided decent housing for the Yemenis in the suburb of Dearborn, allocated clubs for them, and built a large mosque in the area.

 “The new spirit of enthusiasm was the secret behind Henry Ford's fascination with the Yemeni workers, whom he referred to in his memoirs as one of the main pillars of his achievements.”

When Yemen's Workers Said to Ford, “We are at your disposal at any time”

Ford must have spoken to the Yemenis, who had just arrived from faraway lands, saying: "Enthusiasm is the basis of progress, and kept repeating this; which is one of Henry Ford's famous phrases, which his children and grandchildren kept after him as a "Will."

Henry Ford, who was the major American auto manufacturer, lived in the early thirties in difficult times. So, when he spoke to his new workers, he stressed to them the need to take Ford’s car to new heights and crush all its competitors. As Ford's car sales had fallen from its usual leading position backwards, in front of his competitors, especially in front of the "General Motors" company, due to the workers’ strikes.

Ford was feeling the bitterness of retreat. Nevertheless, he addressed the new workers, repeating the famous phrase of defiance: “I want to see his face at the moment of loss.” He means the face of one of his competitors.

One of the Yemenis, who is proud of the glories of his Yemeni ancestors and their exploits in Michigan, says that Ford was in great distress when he spoke to the first group of Yemenis with pain, "as he heard from the old workers". So, the Yemenis sympathized with him—as is the nature of the Yemeni—and perhaps they responded to him with strong enthusiasm: “We are at your disposal at any time”

Such mutual enthusiasm between Ford and his employees had never been encountered or seen before. Therefore, from that moment on, his sense of hope intensified. This new spirit was the secret behind Henry Ford's fascination with Yemeni workers, whom he referred to in his memoirs as one of the main pillars of his achievements.

Accordingly, Ford factories continued to bring in new groups of Yemenis to this day. The number of Yemenis residing in the state of Michigan has reached about 7,000, 78% of whom have obtained American citizenship. Whoever enters the Ford Museum in Dearborn and sees pictures of Yemeni workers working with utmost activity, will be assured of the extent of this Yemeni man’s excellence and loyalty and his ability to master the most difficult skills.

From that moment on, Ford treated his workers in a different way. He used to tell his assistants what had come to be considered one of the correct business rules in large industries: "If you ask someone to give his time and energy to the case, first make sure that he does not have financial difficulties".

Indeed, this type of worker was what he sought and desired. "When Henry Ford started offering his five dollars for eight hours of work as a fixed wage for the worker in an automated car assembly system," as David Harvey says, this contributed to saving capitalism just as much as the ideas and reforms of the British economist John Maynard Keynes.

A New Era of Industry

With these workers, Ford inaugurated a new era in the automotive industry. Through them, he introduced one of his greatest achievements: the creation of the "assembly manufacturing" mechanism. This method is represented in "making lines for manufacturing (on a moving assembly line), the aim of which is to assemble the body of the car step by step; so that one worker remains in his place and does one thing all the time. Therefore, in this method and mechanism, the work became faster, and the production also became more prolific." Later, this practical theory turned into a general method and mechanism in all automotive factories around the world—what became, later, universally known as "the car in Fordism".

On the other hand, the Yemeni workers trained to work and mastered manufacturing skills in record time, which made them enter the field of competition with others who worked in the evening shift, as the Yemenis preferred to work in the morning shift, and later they outperformed the workers who were in the evening shift. All these achievements prompted Ford to buy tens of kilometers of vast land around his factories in Dearborn and then pass it on to the workers to own. As a matter of fact, anyone who goes to the city of Dearborn will be amazed at how hundreds of Yemenis own luxurious homes in the heart of this distinguished city.

The car "Ford" is a source of pride for the American country. Therefore, the Ford Motor Company, without anyone else, won the privilege of manufacturing cars for American presidents. Further, when any president leaves his presidency in the White House, he officially hands over his car to the "Henry Ford" Museum in Dearborn, and then the new president receives a new car, which may have been formed by Yemeni hands.

“The work of Yemenis in Britain was not limited to the iron and steel industries; rather, some of them also worked as skilled and competent "sailors", whom Britain had to use in its naval battles against the Germans in World War II”

Yemenis Pave the First “Asphalt”

It is said that the first "asphalt" in the city of Dearborn was paved by Yemeni workers. According to more than one identical story that I heard from Yemenis there, this road extends from the Ford factory to his old house (the family home). Likewise, in his vast museum, pictures of Yemeni workers appear with their traditional work tools in their hands (hoes and shovels) as they spread and pave the hot "asphalt" layer. Actually, when you see the pictures, the "popular chants" that are said during collective work in Yemen come to mind. Besides, how the Yemenis could have been trampling the asphalt with their feet, the way they used to trample the clay before throwing it in the form of balls to build the roofs of their homes in Yemen.

After all, Ford died, as did the first generation of Yemenis who lived with him, and most of the workers of the second generation also died; only a few of them are still alive, but at the age of retirement. As for the third generation, it is still at the core of the industrial process, not only in most of the factories and offices of the huge "Ford" Motor Company around the world, but also in all automotive manufacturers inside America and abroad. In addition, it is noteworthy that the certificates of appreciation from the founding father Henry Ford, whom Americans call the father of the American car, are still hanging inside the homes of Yemenis there, in the cities of Michigan: Dearborn, Detroit, and Hamtramck.

In Britain.. Yemenis Worked in Iron and Steel Factories

Yemeni workers were not only present in the history of the beginnings of the American industry; but the history also says that the first group of Yemenis arrived in the United Kingdom (Britain) during the time of Queen Victoria. The history of the Yemeni workers there, is told by the history of iron and steel, the basins of the furnaces of molten iron blocks, and ships on the high seas.

The first batches of Yemenis who came to Britain, were working as sailors, and later they worked in the factories of the rich central and northern British cities, within the iron and steel factories, where this type of high-risk industry flourished due to their working hands. Moreover, the history of the iron industry in Britain tells stories of Yemeni workers: how they handled the iron, how they shaped it, and how they dealt with ultra-hot smelting furnaces. They worked with the utmost courage and risk, to the point that many of them lost their souls and melted in the iron furnaces due to a simple mistake they made, which were works that the English workers, in the early twenties, refused to work in because of their danger and hardship.

Yemeni Workers in World War II

The work of Yemenis in Britain was not limited to the iron and steel industries, but some of them also worked as skilled and competent "sailors", whom Britain had to use in its naval battles against the Germans in World War II. In the city of Liverpool, the history of the Royal Navy keeps hundreds of names of Yemeni heroes, who participated valiantly and courageously in the famous naval Battle of the Atlantic against the famous German submarine commander Karl Doenitz; which is the naval battle that is the longest, largest, and most difficult naval battle in history, in which the British sacrificed tens of thousands of their soldiers.

Along the list of the memorial to the martyrs of the Battle of the Atlantic in Liverpool, whose number is in the thousands, hundreds of Yemeni names stand out in this mighty epic. In which the British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, said that all he feared in the battles of World War II was: "that Britain would lose the Battle of the Atlantic."

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