MOVEMENTS FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE

“It isn’t the rebels who cause the troubles of the world; it’s the troubles that cause the rebels.” – Carl Oglesby, Students for a Democratic Society

What This Course is About

This is a discussion course about American protest movements for social justice. In addition to class discussion and readings, there will be a weekly film series on Monday nights in Weingart Hall, Room 117 at 7 pm. I will lecture on occasion, but the success of the course will rely primarily on class discussions.

Throughout human history, powerless groups of people have organized social movements to try to improve their lives and the society in which they lived. Powerful groups and institutions have generally resisted these efforts in order to maintain their own privilege.

Although inequalities of power and privilege have always existed, and while protest activity is a constant part of our political history, some periods of history are more likely than others to spawn protest movements. In recent American history, we think of the 1930s and the 1960s in this way. It appears that the first decade of the 21^st century will another period of significant protest movements . It is too early to assess the magnitude or effectiveness of these events, but we can learn from history -- and from the concepts in this course -- how to examine (and perhaps contribute to) these movements.

This course will focus on American protest movements in the 20th century. During the first three weeks, we will look at some questions that pertain to all protest movements, such as leadership, mobilization, organization, strategy, and consciousness. Then, using these concepts, we will spend the rest of the course examining the major protest movements of this century. These include the Populist (farmers) revolt, the labor movement, the women's movement, the civil rights movement, the peace movement, the student movement, the environmental movement, the gay rights movement, and the consumer/neighborhood movement. What impact have these movements had on our society? How can you tell?

We will also try to learn some lessons from these movements that could apply to the current period -- and to the future. Some of the questions that we will deal with in this course include the following:

1. Social Conditions: What factors -- historical, social, economic, political -- promote the emergence of protest movements? Why do certain historical periods seem to feature large-scale protest and upheaval, while others do not? Does it make sense to think of some people or some groups as especially "ready" or "prone" to protest or join movements? What types of personal needs and motives may be satisfied by participation in social movements? What are the different kinds of social movements? Why do different movements attract different kinds of people? What factors lead people toward "apathy?"

2. Internal Dynamics: How are social and political movements organized to achieve their goals? What sources of power are available to disadvantaged people? What strategies and tactics do movements employ? How important are strikes, boycotts, demonstrations, sit-ins, music, the mass media? What is the relationship of protest movements to conventional (mainstream) politics -- elections, political parties, voting, lobbying, and so on? What is the role of "leaders," "activists," "organizers, "intellectuals" and others in social movements? How do social movement groups (particularly movements among poor people) find the resources to keep going -- to pay staff and rent, produce leaflets and newsletters, attend national meetings, find lawyers to file law suits, hire researchers to do studies, etc.? What happens when different organizations or groups within the same social movement disagree over strategy, tactics, or goals? How important is a movement's internal culture -- music, leaflets, speakers and other elements? How important is violence (destruction of life and property) as a tactic when the normal channels of political participation are unavailable or unsuccessful? How important is "reform" -- pressing for short-term gains (such as the Equal Rights Amendment or a shutdown of a nuclear power plant) -- in achieving longer-run changes. What dilemmas are involved when movements debate these issues?

3. Impact: What does "success" mean for a protest movement? For example, was the antiwar movement "successful" when the VietNam war ended, even though the degree of U.S. militarism did not significantly decline? Why are some movements successful and others not? How important are such factors as: the numbers of people; use of violent or non-violent tactics; the scope of goals (it is easier to win if you don't ask for much); the strength of the opposition? How do people's everyday lives and routines change as they participate in social movements? How do people's lives change when (and if) movements are successful? In other words, do social protest movements really make a difference in achieving more social justice?

Course Requirements

Students are expected to do the readings on time, attend the films, and participate in class discussion. Your grade will be based on the following:

1. One-third of your grade will be based on your journal. Each student will keep a journal that records what you have learned in the course in the way of specific new knowledge, new understanding, perplexing questions, and so on. This will be an ongoing record of your intellectual growth. I will collect, read them, and grade them twice -- at mid-term and at the end of the term. (Please type them). Your journal is not meant simply to be a summary of the readings and films, but rather your critical reactions to the course materials, general observations, or concerns that you formulate in response to the course. For each reading or film, your journal should include the following:

(a) Discuss each week's readings and film in your own words. What are the main issues and themes? How do the readings and films address these issues and themes? What questions do the readings and films raise for you about movements for social justice? If you can't summarize it in your own words -- for example, try explaining it to your roommate -- you probably don't understand it. You don't have to summarize each reading or film separately; instead, write about what you've learned from the materials for the entire week.

(b) Write down things you don't understand -- concepts, historical events, and so on. The odds are good that if you don't understand something, some other students don't either. Bring these up during class discussion.

© Write down things you disagree with. Again, if you disagree with one or more of the authors, or the film makers, the odds are that other students share your perspective. Bring these up in class discussion.

(d) Write down other observations and thoughts you have.

2. One-third of your grade will be based on your attendance and participation in class.

3. One-third of your final grade will be determined by a take-home final exam. This will be an essay-style exam. It will cover the entire course -- readings, films, discussions.

Extra Credit: Two Short Papers

You can improve your final grade by half a grade (for example, from a B to an B+) if you write an short paper (10 pages) based on your reading of the book Walking With the Wind: A Memoir of the Movement by John Lewis. Lewis was a leader of the 1960s civil rights movement and is now a member of Congress from Georgia.

You can improve your final grade by another half a grade if you write another a short paper (also 10 pages) based on your reading a biography or autobiography of an activist in the movements for social justice we are discussing in this course. This second book must be selected from the list of the books attached to this course outline. The paper should focus on the questions listed above -- in essence, what have you learned about social movements from the life of these the individual and the movement(s) in which this person was involved? I will ask you on Thursday, March 8 -- before spring break – to let me know if you intend to write one or two short papers and, if so, to give me the name of the second book you've selected. By that time you should have reviewed the list of books and figured out how to get a copy of the book you've chosen. (Not all are in the Oxy library). Please come and see me before then if you want to discuss your selection. The first paper (the Lewis book) is due on Thursday, March 29. The second paper is due on Thursday, May 3 -- the last day of class. If you want to show me an outline or rough draft beforehand, you can do so.

Readings and Films

The weekly required readings and films are identified in this course outline.

Required Books to Purchase:

You should purchase the following books:

o Zinn, A People’s History of the United States^{^[1]}

o Piven and Cloward, Poor People's Movements

o Morais and Boyer, Labor's Untold Story

o Burns, Social Movements of the 1960s

o Clawson, The Next Upsurge

On Reserve: Another required book -- Lader, Power on the Left -- is out-of-print. Thirteen copies of this book will be available on reserve in the Library. Don't hog them.

Web Readings: Most of the readings for this source will be found on the website for Politics 208. You can get there by going to the Oxy Library website and finding the course reserves. The course readings to be found on the website are marked with an asterisk (*). It is each student’s responsibility to get these readings from the website. I would prefer that you download them so you can mark them up as well as bring them to class. There are many separate articles from magazines, newspapers, journals and other sources, so it may take time to download them each week. Make sure you have sufficient time to do this.

Films: Attendance at the weekly films is required. Even if you've seen one or more of the films before, you will get a new perspective on the film and the movement it portrays. You can invite other students or friends to attend. Popcorn is optional.

Thoughts on Movements for Social Justice

Justice, justice shalt thou pursue.

Deuteronomy 16:20

Men make their own history, but they do not make it just as they please; they do not make it under circumstances chosen by themselves, but under circumstances directly encountered, given and transmitted from the past. The tradition of all the dead generations weighs like a nightmare on the brain of the living.

Karl Marx, 1852

The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte

Let me give you a word on the philosophy of reform. The whole history of the progress of human liberty shows that all concessions yet made to her august claims have been born of earnest struggle. The conflict has been exciting, agitating, all absorbing, and for the time being putting all other tumults to silence. It must do this or it does nothing. If there is no struggle there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom, and yet depreciate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground. They want rain without thunder and lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters. This struggle may be a moral one; or it may be a physical one; or it may be both moral and physical; but it must be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will. Find out just what people will submit to, and you have found the exact amount of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them; and these will continue until they are resisted with either words or blow, or with both. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress.

Frederick Douglass, 1849

Letter to an abolitionist friend

I can hire one half of the working class to kill the other half

Financier Jay Gould, 1886

During the Southwest railroad strike

What does labor want? We want more schoolhouses and less jails; more books and less arsenals; more learning and less vice; more leisure and less greed; more justice and less revenge; in fact, more of the opportunities to cultivate our better natures, to make manhood more noble, womanhood more beautiful, and childhood more happy and bright

Samuel Gompers, 1898

Don’t mourn for me. Organize.

Joe Hill, 1915

Pray for the dead, and fight like hell for the living.

Mother Jones

Your Honor, years ago I recognized my kinship with all living beings, and I made up my mind that I was not one bit better than the meanest on earth. I said then, and I say now, that while there is a lower class, I am in it, and while there is a criminal element I am of it, and while there is a soul in prison, I am not free.

Eugene Debs, 1918

Statement in Federal Court

You see things and you say, "why?" But I dream things that never were and I say, "Why not?"

George Bernard Shaw

Back to Methuselah, 1921

Freedom is never granted; it is won. Justice is never given; it is exacted.

A. Philip Randolph

In Germany they came first for the Communists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist. Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me, and by that time no one was left to speak up.

Rev. Martin Niemoller, 1945

Where, after all, do universal human rights begin? In small places, close to home so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any maps of the world. Yet they are the world of the individual person; the neighborhood he lives in; the school or college he attends; the factory, farm, or office where he works. Such are the places where every man, woman, and child seeks equal justice, equal opportunity, equal dignity without discrimination. Unless these rights have meaning there, they have little meaning anywhere. Without concerted citizen action to uphold them close to home, we shall look in vain for progress in the larger world.

Eleanor Roosevelt, 1958

Speech to the United Nations

The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.

Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. , 1967

If you want peace, work for justice.

Pope Paul VI

TOPICS AND READING ASSIGNMENTS

Part I: Key Concepts

1. Making History: When Is the Time “Ripe” for Change?

Film: "The Organizer" (126 min.) -- Monday, January 22

Conditions That Make Movements Possible (But Not Inevitable) (Tuesday, Jan. 23)

o Piven and Cloward, Poor People's Movements (Ch 1, "The Structuring of Protest")

*Warner and Low, "The Shoe Industry in Yankee City" (from The Social System of a Modern Factory, 1947)

*Dreier and Piven, "Anti-Corporate Insurgency Making Itself Seen, Felt" (Boston Globe, May 21, 2000)

*Benz, “Sisyphus and the State: On the Front Lines of Union Organizing” (Dissent, Fall 2004)

*Greenhouse, “Labor Presses for Measure to Ease Unionizing” (NY Times, Dec. 8, 2006)

*Vallely, “Couch Potato Democracy?” (American Prospect, March/April 1996)

Changing Consciousness (Thursday, Jan.. 25)

*Ferree and Hess, "Dilemmas of Growth: The Promise of Diversity" (from Controversy and Coalition: The New Feminist Movement, 1985.

*Ecroyd, "The Populist Spellbinders" (from Paul Boase, ed., The Rhetoric of Protest and Reform, 1980)

*Dreier and Flacks, “Patriotism’s Secret History” (The Nation, June 3, 2002)

*Cocke, “Been in the Storm So Long: Guy Carawan” (Occidental Magazine, Winter 2003)

*Greenhouse, "Labor and Clergy Reunite to Help Society's Underdogs" (NYT, August 18, 1996)

*Parenti, "`Liberal’ Media, Conservative Bias" (from Inventing Reality, 2nd ed., 1993).

*Tasini, "Labor and the Media" (Extra!, Summer 1990)

*Wiener, “Review of The Race Beat: The Press, the Civil Rights Struggle, and the Awakening of a Nation” (LA Times, Nov. 12, 2006)

Thursday, February 1 – “No Sweat”

a film about sweatshops followed by a discussion with director Amie Williams

Johnson 200 - 7 pm

2. Mobilization: Turning Anger and Frustration into Hope and Action

Film: "The Long Walk Home" (98 min.) --Monday, January 29

Participation: The Making of Activists (Tuesday, January 30)

*Loeb, “One Step at a Time” (Ch. 3, The Soul of a Citizen)

*Stella Nowicki, "Back of the Yards" (from Lynd and Lynd, Rank and File)

*Dreier, “Rosa Parks: Angry, Not Tired” (Dissent, Winter 2006)

*Zinn, "Young Ladies Who Can Picket" (from Zinn, You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train)

*McAdam, "The Biographical Roots of Activism" (from Freedom Summer)

*Wiltfang and McAdam, "The Costs and Risks of Social Activism: A Study of Sanctuary Movement Activists" (Social Forces, June 1991)

*Phillips-Fein, "A More Perfect Union-Buster" (Mother Jones, September/October 1998)

Leadership and Organization (Thursday, Feb. 1)

*Hong, “Reaping the Fruits of Radicals’ Tireless Labors” (LA Times, Oct. 10, 1998)

*Cesar Chavez, "The Organizer's Tale" (Ramparts, July 1966)

*Jarratt, "The Forgotten Heroes of the Montgomery Bus Boycott" (Chicago Tribune, l975)

*Payne, "Ella Baker and Models of Social Change" (Signs, 1989)

*Morris, "Movement Halfway Houses: Highlander Folk School" (from Morris, The Origins of the Civil Rights Movement, 1984)

*Freeman, "Origins of Women's Liberation" (American Journal of Sociology, 1973)

*Featherstone, “The Student Movement Comes of Age” (The Nation, Oct. 24, 2000)

3. Making Action Effective: Strategies and Tactics

Films: “Where Do You Stand?” (60 min) and “Wellstone” (80 min) -- Monday, Feb. 5

The Inside/Outside Dilemma (Tuesday, Feb. 6)

*Pinsky, “Life as a Progressive Legislator” (The Nation, October 1, 2001)

*Feit, "Seattle's Pragmatic Populist" (The Stranger.Com, January 25-31, 2001)

*Candaele and Dreier, "LA's Progressive Mosaic" (Nation, August 21/28, 2000)

*Hayden, “How to End the War in Iraq” (AlterNet, Nov. 23, 2004)

*Judis, “The Pressure Elite” (American Prospect, Spring 1992)

*Burton and Schwadel, "Greenpeace is Battling Slide in Contributions and Political Clout" (Wall Street Journal, March 3, 1993)

*Dolan, "Environmental Activists Adapt to Insider Role" (LAT, March 23, 1993)

The Uses and Limits of Protest (Thursday, Feb. 8)

*Martin Luther King, "Letter from Birmingham Jail" (April 16, 1963)

*"Radical Saul Alinsky: Prophet of Power" (Time, March 2, 1970)

*Lipsky, "Rent Strikes: Poor Man's Weapon" (Society, February 1969)

*Dreier, "The Landlords Stage A Rent Strike" (The Nation, June 23, 1997)

*Ybarra, "Janitors' Union Uses Pressure and Theatrics to Expands Its Ranks" (Wall Street Journal, March 21, 1994)

*Mathews, “A Plan for Very Civil Disobedience” (LA Times, Sept. 28, 2006) and “Labor Protest Targets Airport-Area Hotels” (LA Times, Sept. 29, 2006)

*Wilson, “The Art of Misbehavin’” (from Benjamin and Evans, eds., Stop the Next War Now, 2005)

*Dreier, “Lobbying for Peace” (The Nation, February 10, 2003)

Bill Moyers talk at Oxy

Monday, Feb. 12, 7 pm - Thorne Hall

Part II: The Rise of Monopoly Capitalism

4. Populism: The Farmers Revolt

Films: "Jeannette Rankin: The Woman Who Voted No" (29 min.) and "Northern Lights" (98 min.) -- Tuesday, Feb. 13 (note change of day).

Conditions Facing Farmers and the Origins of Populism (Tuesday, Feb. 13)

o Zinn, A People’s History of the United States (Chapter 11)

*”The Farmer Is the Man” (author unknown; date, circa 1870s)

*Goodwyn, "Introduction" and "The Alliance Develops a Movement Culture" (The Populist Moment, 1978)

*Killing Fields" (Graph) (Beck and Tolnay, "The Killing Fields of the Deep South: The Market for Cotton and the Lynching of Blacks, 1882-1930" (Amer.Sociological Review, August 1990)

Populism, Protest and Politics (Thursday, Feb. 15)

*Dreier, "Yellow Brick Road was Primrose Path" (Boston Globe, July 14, 1985)

*Ellsworth, "Organizing the Organized: The Origins of the Nonpartisan League" (The Organizer, Summer 1981)

5. Unionism: Workers Organize

Films: “Debs & the American Movement" (44 min) and "The Triangle Fire” (60 min.) -- Wednesday, Feb. 21

Can Workers Challenge Big Business? - Obstacles and Opportunities (Tuesday, Feb. 20)

o Morais and Boyer, Labor's Untold Story (Chapters 1-6)

o Zinn, A People’s History of the United States (Chapter 12)

*"Labor Landmarks" (LAT, Sept. 5, 1994)

*Beilke, "Workers' Playtime" (The Nation, April 13, 1998)

*Zwick, “Behind the Song: `Bread and Roses’” (Sing Out, Vol. 46, No. 4, Winter 2003)

*Mitelman, "Rose Schneiderman and the Triangle Fire" (Amer. History Illustrated, July 1981)

The Challenge of Racism (Thursday, Feb. 22)

*Tuttle, "Labor Conflict and Racial Violence: The Black Worker in Chicago, 1894-1919" (Labor History,1969)^{^[2]}

6. Socialism and Progressivism: Radicals and Reformers

Films: "Hull House: The House that Jane Built" (58 min.) and “One Woman, One Vote” (106 min.)-- Monday, Feb. 26

Democratizing Politics and the Economy (Tuesday, February 27)

o Morais and Boyer, Labor's Untold Story (Chapters 7-8)

o Zinn, A People's History of the United States, (Chapter 13)

* "The Socialist Party's Platform, 1912"

* Miller, "Casting a Wide Net: The Milwaukee Movement to 1920" (from Critchlow, ed., Socialism in the Heartland, 1986)

* DeMarco, "Water, Socialism and the Masses" (from A Short History of Los Angeles, 1988)

* Baer, “The Pledge of Allegiance: A Short History” (1992)

Feminism, Civil Rights, and Urban Reform in the Progressive Era (Thursday, March 1)

*Sklar, "Hull House in the 1890s: A Community of Women Reformers" (Signs, Vol. 10, No. 4, 1985)

*"Woman's Suffrage" (from Cooney and Michalowski, The Power of the People, 1977)

*Katz, "Socialist Women and Progressive Reform" (from Deverell and Sitton, California Progressivism Revisited, 1994)

*Dye, "Creating a Feminist Alliance: Sisterhood and Class Conflict in the New York Women's Trade Union League, 1903-1914 (Feminist Studies, Spring 1975)

*Giddings, "Ida B. Wells" (from Buhle, Buhle and Kaye, eds., The American Radical, 1994) *Westbrook, "Lewis Hine and the Two Faces of Progressive Photography" (from Tikkun, April/May 1987)

Part III. The Depression, the New Deal, and the Cold War

7. The CIO, the Left, and FDR

Films: "Sit Down and Fight" (58 min.) and "We Have a Plan" (60 min.) -- Monday, March 5

Struggles at Work,, at Home, and at the Ballot Box (Tuesday, March 6)

o Morais and Boyer, Labor's Untold Story (Chapters 9-10)

o Zinn, A People’s History of the United States (Chapter 15)

o Piven and Cloward, Poor People's Movements (Chapter 3)

*Blake and Newman, "Upton Sinclair's EPIC Campaign" (California History, Fall 1984)

*Laslett, “Gender, Class or Ethno-cultural Struggle: The Problematic Relationship Between Rose Pesotta and the LA ILGWU” (California History, Spring 1993)

*Wright, "Public Housing for the Worthy Poor" (from Building the Dream, 1981)

*”Brother, Can You Spare A Dime?” (by Harburg and Gorney, 1932; sung by Bing Crosby)

*”Ballad for Americans” (by Earl Robinson and John LaTouche, 1939; sung by Paul Robeson)

Movement Culture and Consciousness (Thursday, March 8)

*Clifford Odets, Waiting for Lefty (a play written in 1935)

Spring Break – March 12-16

8. Prosperity and Repression: The American Empire and the Red Scare

Films: "Red Nightmare" (30 min.) and "Hollywood on Trial" (90 min.) -- Monday, March 19

The Politics of the Cold War (Tuesday, March 20)

o Zinn, A People’s History of the United States (Chapter 16)

o Lader, Power on the Left (Chapters 1-9)

* Reuther, “Peace, Freedom, Social Justice -- Indivisible Values” (Speech to the Empire Club and the Canadian Club of Toronto, October 11, 1955)

The Culture of the Cold War (Thursday, March 22)

*Egerton, "A Liberating War" (from Egerton, Speak Now Against the Day, 1994)

*Margolick, “Strange Fruit” (Vanity Fair, September 1998) and “Strange Fruit (song written by Abel Meeropol and sung by Billie Holiday in 1939)

*Gitlin, "Cornucopia & its Discontents" and "Underground Channels" (The Sixties, 1987)

*Sayre, "Assaulting Hollywood" (World Policy Journal, Winter 1995/1996)

Part IV. Out of the Cold: Confronting the American Dream

9. The Civil Rights Struggle

Films: "Freedom on My Mind” (110 minutes)-- Monday, March 26

Dismantling Jim Crow (March 27)

o Zinn, A People’s History of the United States (Chapter 17)

o Burns, Social Movements of the 1960s (Preface and Chapter 1)

o Piven and Cloward, Poor People's Movements (Chapter 4)

Civil Rights and the Labor Movement (March 29)

*Dreier, “Why He Was in Memphis” (American Prospect, January 15, 2007)

*Korstad and Lichtenstein, “How Organized Black Workers Brought Civil Rights to the South” (Journal of American History, December 1988)

Film: "At the River I Stand” (57 min)

10. The Student New Left and the Anti-War Movement

Film: "Berkeley in the Sixties" (117 min.) -- Monday, April 2

The Contradictions of Affluence (April 3)

*Students for a Democratic Society, "The Port Huron Statement" (1960)

o Lader, Power on the Left (Chapter 13, “The New Left and the Berkeley Uprising”)

o Burns, Social Movements of the 1960s (Chapter 2)

The Empire Strikes Back (April 5)

o Zinn, A People’s History of the United States (Chapter 18)

*Martin Luther King, Jr., "Declaration of Independence from the War in Vietnam” (1967)

*Hayden, “A Time of Greatness and Wonder” (from Reunion, 1988)

11. Feminism and Gay Rights

Films: "The Times of Harvey Milk" (88 min) and "Willmar Eight" (50 min) -- Monday, April 9

Sisterhood is Powerful (April 10)

o Zinn, A People’s History of the United States (Chapter 19)

o Burns, Social Movements of the 1960s (Chapter 3-5)

*Winkler, "Relooking at the Roots of Feminism" (Chronicle of Higher Education, April 12, 1996).

*Gornick, "Who Says We Haven't Made a Revolution?" (NYT Magazine, April 15, 1990)

*Boxer, "One Casualty of the Women's Movement: Feminism" (NYT, Dec. 14, 1997)

*Ehrenreich, "Beyond Gender Equality" (Democratic Left, July\August 1993)

*Cobble, “Feminism Transforms Women Service Workers” (in Boris and Lichtenstein, eds., Major Problems in the History of the American Worker, 2003)

Out of the Closet (April 12)

*Truscott, “Gay Power Comes to Sheridan Square” (from Bloom and Breines, eds., Takin’ It To the Streets, 2003)

*Applebome, “Gays in the Military Prompts Mobilization of Conservatives” (NY Times, February 1, 1993)

*Gregory, “The Gay and Lesbian Movement in the United States” (in Moyer, Doing Democracy, 2001)

*Miller, “Thousands Rally in Washington for Gay Rights” (LA Times, May 1, 2000)

*Quittner and Graham, “Loud Opposition, Quiet Support” (The Advocate, April 27, 2004)

*Heil, “The Kingmakers” (The Advocate, January 31, 2006)

12. Farmworkers, Environmentalists and Urban Communities

Film: “Fight in the Fields: Cesar Chavez and the Farmworkers Struggle” (April 16)

Farmworkers and the Chicano Movement (April 16)

*Alicia Chavez, “ “Dolores Huerta and the United Farm Workers Union” ( in Ruiz and Korrol, eds., Latina Legacies, 2005)

*Jenkins, "The Transformation of a Constituency into a Movement" (from Freeman, Social Movements of the Sixties and Seventies, 1983)

*Cesar Chavez, “Address to the Commonwealth Club of California” (Nov. 9, 1984)

*Lopez, “Journalist’s Death Still Clouded by Questions” (LA Times, Aug. 26, 1995)

*Ortega, “The Legacy of Bert Corona” (The Progressive, August 2001)

Environmentalism and Community Organizing (April 18)

Zinn, A People’s History of the United States (Chapters 21 and 23)

*Bollier, ”Ralph Nader” (from Brobeck, ed., Encyclopedia of the Consumer Movement , 1997)

*Price, "The Emergence of the Anti-Nuclear Movement" (The Antinuclear Movement, 1990)

*Rosen, "Who Gets Polluted? The Movement for Environmental Justice" (Dissent, Spring 1994)

*Moberg, “Brothers and Sisters – Greens and Labor: It’s a Coalition that Gives Corporate Polluters Fits” (Sierra Club Magazine, January/February 1999)

*Easterbrook, "Here Comes the Sun" (New Yorker, April 10, 1995)

*Newfield, "Redline Fever" (Village Voice, 1978)

*Chuttum, "Lift Them Up" (City Limits, September 1993)

*Brownstein, "An Idea Grows in Brooklyn" (US News & World Report, July 27, 1998)

*Breidenbach, “LA Story” (Shelterforce, March/April 2002)

V. Where Are We Going?

13. Is America Moving Right, Left or Center?

Film: “With God On Our Side: George W. Bush and the Rise of the Religious Right” (100 minutes) – Monday, April 23

Corporate Power and the Religious Right (April 24)

o Zinn, A People’s History of the United States (Chapters 24 and 25)

*Hardisty, “The Resurgent Right: Why Now?” (Hardisty, Mobilizing Resentment, 1999)

*”Five Rights Women Could Lose” (MS, Summer 2005)

*Lake, “The Polls Speak: Americans Support Abortion” (MS., Summer 2005)

*Helvarg, "Anti-Enviros Are Getting Uglier" (The Nation, Nov. 28, 1994)

* Sen. Jim Webb, “Class Struggle” (Wall Street Journal, November 15, 2006)

The Battle over Globalization (April 26)

o Clawson, The Next Upsurge (Chapters 5 and 6)

*Roy, “People vs. Empire” (In These Times, Jan. 3, 2005)

*Olsson, "Up Against Wal-Mart" (Mother Jones, March/April 2003)

*Iritani, “Unions Go Abroad in Fight With Wal-Mart” (LA Times, Aug. 24, 2005)

14. The Next Upsurge?

Film: ”Bread and Roses” (105 minutes) – Monday, April 30

Read these who articles before watching the film:

Meyerson, “A Clean Sweep” (American Prospect June 19, 2000)

Greenhouse, “Invoking Legacy of Civil Rights Movement, Drive Seeks to Unionize Guards” (NY Times, July 26, 2006)

A Resurgence of Organizing (May 1)

o Dreier, “Community Organizing for What?” (in Orr, Transforming the City: Community Organizing and the Challenge of Political Change, 2007)

o Clawson, The Next Upsurge (Chapters 1-4)

What Next? (May 3)

o Clawson, The Next Upsurge (Chapter 7)

* Moyers, “For America’s Sake” (The Nation, January 22, 2007)

* Borosage, “Rejecting the Right” (American Prospect, January 2007)

* Vanden Heuvel, “Top 10 for a More Perfect Union” (The Nation, January 22, 2007)

* Moser, “Johnny Populist” (The Nation, January 22, 2007)

* Finnegan, “The Candidate: Barack Obama” (The New Yorker, May 31, 2004)

Biographies and Autobiographies

In addition to the required books and articles, each student will be expected to read one of the following books -- and write a paper based on the book. These books provide an "insider's" view of social movements. In reading them, keep in mind the same questions that were discussed above: How do social and economic conditions shape the possibility of social protest? Why do people become involved in social movements? How are social movements organized: What roles do "leaders", "intellectuals" and "organizers" play? Why are some movements successful while other fail? How do movements determine which strategies and tactics to use?

Try to read the book at the appropriate time. For example, if you choose to read Fannie Lou Hamer's biography, do so while the class is discussing the civil rights movement. Bring up your thoughts on these books during class discussion. Integrate them in your final exam essays or journals.

Most of these books are available in the library. If the Oxy library doesn’t have a book, it can get if for you from another library. In other words, every book on this list is available in some way. Some books are available at, or can be ordered by, the Occidental Bookstore. Many books are available in local bookstores, such as Vromans, Borders, Barnes & Noble, or Cliff's (a used bookstore) in Pasadena. Most of these books are available in paperback.

This list is in roughly chronological order:

Gorn, Mother Jones: The Most Dangerous Woman in America. Ever wonder where name of the magazine “Mother Jones” came from? Mother Jones lived between 1830-1930 and during that period was an active agitator and leader of the Labor movement of miners and others, including the Industrial Workers of the World, often called the "Wobblies.” This book corrects many of the myths about her found in her Autobiography of Mother Jones.

Lane, To Herland and Beyond: The Life and Work of Charlotte Perkins Gilman and

Hill, Charlotte Perkins Gilman: The Making of a Radical Feminist. Gilman was a leader of the early feminist movement. These two biographies describe the activities of the suffragists.