The Woodlawn Organization (TWO) was born in 1960 out of squalor and neglect. Located on the southern outskirts of the University of Chicago: Hyde Park, the neighborhood of Woodlawn had been pulverized by the pervasive “racial discrimination, metropolitan residential segregation, and unequal schooling”—not to mention collapse of industrial employment—that defined the 1950s.
USA
How Black Milwaukeeans Won the Fight for Fair Housing
The proposed legislation, its author declared, was “doomed to a violent death the moment it was uttered… like so many other issues pertaining to racial discrimination that have been sent to the Mayor’s office.”
A Brief History of the Protest Song (in the USA)
Protest music has existed long before the creation of the United States, likely it has been around since the invention, or perhaps discovery of music itself. Music has the unique ability to give a voice to the oppressed and form a genuine organization of people that can stand up to their oppressors when all together.
Free Breakfast for Children: Nonviolent Legacies of the Black Panther Party
For many marginalized groups, nonviolence is but one of many tactics used against the powers oppressing them. The Black Panther Party’s nonviolent actions, particularly their community programs, were far more than a tactic though.
Why Civil Resistance Works: Award-Winning Author Dr. Maria J. Stephan Speaks at UW-Madison
At 7pm on November 15th, the UW Center for Interfaith Dialogue alongside the Interfaith Peace Working Group with help from the Nonviolence Project, hosted Dr. Maria J. Stephan for a talk on the efficacy of nonviolent campaigns.
James Farmer: Co-Founder of CORE
James Farmer was “one of the major leaders of the African American freedom struggle.”
State Street Starbucks: Employees Push for Action
The State & Lake Starbucks location has been a staple in Madison since the late 1990s, however this hub of student activity has become a beacon of unionization in the recent months as students have arrived back on campus.
Teaching History as an Act of Nonviolent Protest: SNCC’s Freedom Schools and History Curriculum
This article was written by Axell Boomer and was awarded the Civil Resistance Prize by the History Department in 2024. It was originally written for the Nonviolence Project: As systemic inequalities—which arrived from the institution of American slavery—manifested themselves into the classroom, Black students were left with less federal support than White students in the American South. Black students in Mississippi, despite comprising fifty-seven percent of “school-aged children,” received “only thirteen percent of state funds.”
Living in a 1000 Year Old Tree: Julia Butterfly Hill during California’s Redwood Timber Wars
On December 10, 1997, Julia ‘Butterfly’ Hill at 24 years old, climbed Luna, an over 1000-year-old, giant redwood tree, and would not touch ground for the next two years and eight days.
Toppling the Walls of Patriarchy and Militarism: The Women of Greenham Common
A fundamental tenet of civil disobedience, which entails deliberately violating the law as a means of exposing injustice, is encapsulated by the following phrase: “If you always do as you’re told, then you don’t ever change anything.” Roughly 30 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall—a physical representation of the regime that fell along with it—these words found their way into a documentary about a peace camp that played a critical role in ending the Cold War.