Best of
Activism

1987

Assata: An Autobiography


Assata Shakur - 1987
    Long a target of J. Edgar Hoover's campaign to defame, infiltrate, and criminalize Black nationalist organizations and their leaders, Shakur was incarcerated for four years prior to her conviction on flimsy evidence in 1977 as an accomplice to murder.This intensely personal and political autobiography belies the fearsome image of JoAnne Chesimard long projected by the media and the state. With wit and candor, Assata Shakur recounts the experiences that led her to a life of activism and portrays the strengths, weaknesses, and eventual demise of Black and White revolutionary groups at the hand of government officials. The result is a signal contribution to the literature about growing up Black in America that has already taken its place alongside The Autobiography of Malcolm X and the works of Maya Angelou.Two years after her conviction, Assata Shakur escaped from prison. She was given political asylum by Cuba, where she now resides.

Disabled Village Children: A Guide for Community Health Workers, Rehabilitation Workers, and Families


David Werner - 1987
    The book contains a wealth of information crucial for therapists, professionals and community groups facing a variety of common childhood disabilities including polio, cerebral palsy, juvenile arthritis, blindness and deafness. The book provides clear, detailed information and easy-to-implement ideas for rehabilitation at the village level, development of skills, making low-cost aids and the prevention of disabilities.

Dead Serious: Breaking the Cycle of Teen Suicide


Jane Mersky Leder - 1987
    Teen suicide is preventable.

Rick Hansen: Man In Motion


Rick Hansen - 1987
    But after the truck he was riding in went out of control and crashed, Hansen was left a paraplegic. For some people that could have been the end. For Rick Hansen it was the beginning of a story that is at once sad and funny, heartbreaking and inspirational.Hansen takes you from the first painful days and frightening nights in hospital, through the gritty process of rehabilitation, to his return to competition as a world champion of wheelchair sports. It is the story of the Man in Motion Tour -- Rick Hansen's incredible 24,901.55-mile wheelchair journey through 34 countries around the world. It is also the love story of Hansen and his wife, Amanda, a physiotherapist whom Hansen calls his "lifeline." And it is a success story -- Rick Hansen has raised millions of dollars for spinal cord research, rehabilitation and wheelchair sports as well as raised awareness about the disabled.

Taking on General Motors: A Case Study of the Campaign to Keep Gm Van Nuys Open


Eric Mann - 1987
    

Duties, Pleasures, and Conflicts: Essays in Struggle


Michael Thelwell - 1987
    A long-time activist, Michael Thelwell was a member of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee [SNCC] and the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party in the early 1960s, a founder of the W.E.B. Du Bois Department of Afro-American Studies at the University of Massachusetts in 1970, author of the widely praised novel The Harder They Come published in 1980, and an organizer for Jesse Jackson's presidential campaign in 1984. Thelwell is a writer of rare grace, integrity, and strong political convictions.The collection begins with three stories. Set in the Mississippi Delta in the 1960s, the stories explore how individuals manage to preserve their dignity in a world of racism and violence. The next six essays, also written in the 1960s, are historical and journalistic. They discuss the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, the situation in the South as seen by SNCC workers, the political challenges in Mississippi, the articulation of the Black Power movement, the causes of the black student revolt at Cornell, and the need for Black Studies as the intellectual offensive in the struggle for black liberation.The section that follows is composed of literary pieces: two appreciative essays on James Baldwin, two critical reviews of William Styron and his treatment of Nat Turner, an excoriating assessment of V. S. Naipaul, a profile of Amos Tutuola, and a thoughtful analysis of the social responsibility of the black writer.The final essay examines the history of Jesse Jackson's presidential campaign and comments on the political climate of the 1980s.