People Power: History, Organizing, and Larry Goodwyn's Democratic Vision in the Twenty-First Century

by Wesley C. Hogan (Editor), Paul Ortiz (Editor)

Overview

Featuring contributions from leading scholar-activists, People Power demonstrates how the lessons of history can inform the building of new social justice movements today. This volume is inspired by the pathbreaking life and work of writer, activist, and historian Lawrence “Larry” Goodwyn.

As a radical Texas journalist and a political organizer, Goodwyn participated in historic changes ushered in by grassroots activism in the 1950s and ’60s. Professor and cofounder of the Oral History Program at Duke University, Goodwyn wrote about movements built by Latino farm workers, Polish trade unionists, civil rights activists, and others who challenged the status quo. The essays in this volume examine Goodwyn’s influence in political and social movements, his approaches to teaching and writing, and his insights into the long history behind contemporary activism.

People Power will generate deep discussions about the potential of democracy amid the multiple crises of our time. What motivates ordinary people to move from kitchen table conversations to civic engagement? What do the chronicles of past social movements tell us about how to confront the real blocks of racism and the idea that Americans are somehow “exceptional”? Contributors provide key experiential knowledge that will help today’s scholars and community organizers address these pressing questions.

Contributors:

Donnel Baird | Charles C. Bolton | William Chafe | Ernesto Cortés Jr. | Marsha J. Tyson Daring | Benj DeMott | Scott Ellsworth |Faulkner Fox | Elise Goldwasser | Wade Goodwyn | William Greider | Jim Hightower | Wesley C. Hogan | Wendy Jacobs | Thelma Kithcart | Max Krochmal | Connie L. Lester | Adam Lioz | Andrew Neather | Paul Ortiz | Gunther Peck | Timothy B. Tyson | G. C. Waldrep | Lane Windham | Peter H. Wood

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780813068473
Publisher:	University Press of Florida
Publication date:	07/20/2021
Pages:	296
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.67(d)

About the Author

Wesley C. Hogan is director of the Center for Documentary Studies as well as research professor at the John Hope Franklin Humanities Institute and Department of History at Duke University. She is the author of On the Freedom Side: How Five Decades of Youth Activists Have Remixed American History.

Paul Ortiz is director of the Samuel Proctor Oral History Program and professor of history at the University of Florida. He is the author of the PEN Award–winning An African American and Latinx History of the United States.

Table of Contents

Contents

Acknowledgments

In the Activists’ Kitchen: An Introduction

Wesley Hogan and Paul Ortiz

Part I. Making the Common Good the Common Will: Social Movements and Political Organizing

1. Goodwyn and the Democratic Coalition of Texas

Max Krochmal

2. Without Dissent There Can Be No Democracy

Ernesto Cortés Jr.

3. The Larry Way

Jim Hightower

4. Calm Up: Dr. Goodwyn’s Workshop

Donnel Baird

5. Goodwyn: Obama Volunteer

Faulkner Fox

6. Movement Culture in Durham, North Carolina

Gunther Peck

7. A Democrat for the Ages

Benj DeMott

8. Nell’s Kitchen, Larry’s War Room

Peter H. Wood

9. Goodwyn Taught Me How to Live in 2019 Two Decades Ago

Adam Lioz

Part II. “The Point of the Entire Thing”: Teaching Inside Democratic Relationships

10. Family Politics: Son of a Little D democrat

Wade Goodwyn

11. You Already Know Everything

Wendy Jacobs

12. ‘Can I Buy You a Beer?’ Goodwyn’s America

Andrew Neather

13. Mentoring as Community-Building

Thelma Kithcart

14. Why Is Your Voice So Small?

Elise Goldwasser

15. From the Bottom of the Mud Hole

Charles C. Bolton

16. Goodwyn 101

Scott Ellsworth

17. A History-Changing Partnership

William H. Chafe

18. Ask Unsanctioned Questions: Interviewing Activists

Wesley C. Hogan

Part III. Challenge the Smug Orthodoxy: Democratic Money and Writing History

19. To Break the Hold of the Money Class: The Sub-Treasury Plan

Connie L. Lester

20. Unfulfilled Thirst

William Grieder

21. How Lawrence Goodwyn Gave Me My Life

Tim Tyson

22. Collective Self-Confidence: African American Women’s Organizing in Tobacco Leaf Houses

Lane Windham

23. Imagination, Silence, and Movement Life

G. C. Waldrep

24. Reclaiming Democracy in the Twenty-First Century: A Challenge

Marsha J. Tyson Darling

Epilogue

Wesley Hogan and Paul Ortiz

List of Contributors

Index

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“Lawrence Goodwyn helped reframe our understanding of American history. This wonderful book, People Power, enlarges our understanding of Goodwyn’s contribution to his students, to organizing, and to the making of history. It is a treasure.”—Heather Booth, activist and organizer

“Historian, teacher, journalist, political organizer, provocateur, Texan—Larry Goodwyn has not yet been given his due. That is sure to change with this remarkable volume that reflects upon his profoundly democratic insights and ideals. It deserves a place on the bookshelf of every person interested in the difficult but necessary project of multiracial democratic renewal.”—David Brundage, author of Irish Nationalists in America: The Politics of Exile, 1798–1998

Editorial Reviews

"Provides an inspiring example to organizers, writers, educators, and others looking for ways to live that are consistent with their ideals."--Texas Observer

From the Publisher