Peter Dreier teaches politics at Occidental College.
The 1960s saw a stampede of lefty folk musicians, but none as politically engaged as Phil Ochs. A true activist-musician who thought of himself as a “singing journalist,” Ochs was as comfortable playing at a demonstration as at a concert hall.
As a movement builder, spokesperson, and candidate for the presidency, Jesse Jackson’s accomplishments were massive. He was one of the towering figures of American progressive politics in his era — or any era.
Donald Trump loves to pick “winners” and “losers.” And right now, in the eyes of the American people, Trump can sense that he is a loser and Zohran Mamdani is a winner.
Community organizer Fred Ross Sr was a key figure in progressive activism during the 20th century. He started in the 1930s farmworker camps that inspired John Steinbeck’s novels and went on to pioneer methodical tactics that transformed American organizing.
Assembling a successful electoral coalition is difficult, but forging a governing coalition to run the city is even harder. Longtime social movements scholar Peter Dreier offers some advice for the potential next mayor of New York City, Zohran Mamdani.
The Temecula Valley school board in Southern California wants to erase slain gay rights leader Harvey Milk from history, defaming him as a “pedophile” in the process. It’s precisely the type of ignorance and bigotry that Milk stood against in his lifetime.
Poet Langston Hughes was invited to speak at Occidental College on this day in 1948, then uninvited when red-baiters released a report calling him a “subversive.” His story shows how the postwar Red Scare targeted radicals, particularly black leftists.
The organizer of the March on Washington where Martin Luther King Jr delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech was also the leader of the first successful black labor union. For A. Philip Randolph, labor and civil rights were one and the same.
Arizona senator Kyrsten Sinema’s switch from the Democrats to independent isn’t about political principle — it’s a last-ditch attempt to save her reelection prospects against a progressive challenger.
Barbara Ehrenreich was driven by both her undying anger at the profound injustices of life under capitalism and a fervent hope that the world doesn’t have to be this way.
The new TV show A League of Their Own, about the true story of the WWII-era women’s baseball league, captures its racial segregation — with a central character based on trailblazing black women players who were forced to play in the male Negro Leagues instead.
Communists fighting the color line. Baseball players resisting owners. America’s pastime has a fascinating, untold history of radical struggles against racial injustice and labor exploitation.
Legendary civil rights champion Bob Moses died over the weekend at age eighty-six. He was a brilliant organizer who believed deeply in the capacity of ordinary people to change the world.
Pete Seeger would have turned 100 today. Few figures in American history have lived as influential and deeply radical lives as he did. Let’s celebrate him today.
Major league baseball has a long but little-known history of rebels, reformers, and radicals.
In 1949, the Boston People’s Artists wrote “MTA” for a left-wing candidate. The song became a hit — the man behind it disappeared.