Publisher Description

While historical accounts of the United States typically focus on the nation's military past, a rich and vibrant counterpoint remains basically unknown to most Americans. This alternate story of the formation of our nation-and its character-is one in which courageous individuals and movements have wielded the weapons of nonviolence to resist policies and practices they considered to be unjust, unfair, and immoral. We the Resistance gives curious citizens and current resistors unfiltered access to the hearts and minds-the rational and passionate voices-of their activist predecessors. Beginning with the pre-Revolutionary era and continuing through the present day, readers will directly encounter the voices of protesters sharing instructive stories about their methods (from sit-ins to tree-sitting) and opponents (from Puritans to Wall Street bankers), as well as inspirational stories about their failures (from slave petitions to the fight for the ERA) and successes (from enfranchisement for women to today's reform of police practices). Instruction and inspiration run throughout this captivating reader, generously illustrated with historic graphics and photographs of nonviolent protests throughout U.S. history.

Author Biography

Michael G. Long is the author or editor of numerous books on civil rights, religion, and politics, includingWe the Resistance: Documenting A History of Nonviolent Protest in the United States;Race Man: Selected Works of Julian Bond;I Must Resist: Bayard Rustin's Life in Letters;Marshalling Justice: The Early Civil Rights Letters of Thurgood Marshall; andFirst Class Citizenship: The Civil Rights Letters of Jackie Robinson.Long has written for the Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune, ESPN's The Undefeated, and USA Today, and his work has been featured or reviewed in the New York Times, the Washington Post, Mother Jones, and many others. Long has spoken at Fenway Park, the Central Intelligence Agency, the Smithsonian, the Library of Congress, and the National Archives, and he has appeared on MSNBC, PBS, C-SPAN, and National Public Radio.

Table of Contents

DRAFT TOC We the Resistance:Documenting Our History of Nonviolent ProtestIntroduced and Editedby Michael G. LongIntroduction: Making America ResistantONEThe Roots of ResistanceReligious OppressionWe Cannot Condemn Quakers (1657) Edward HartRedeemed of Wars (1672) John Tilton and OthersI Felt a Scruple (1756) Joshua EvansUnjustly Taxed (1774) Isaac BackusSlavery Buy Slaves to Free Them (1693)George KeithI am but a poor SLave (1723)Anonymous SlaveIndian Removal and ExterminationI Have No King (1727) Loron SauguaarumNot One Single Inch (1752) AtiwanetoTaxation Without RepresentationThe People Are the Proper Judge (1750) Jonathan MayhewTea Overboard (1773) George HewesNo Money for the Revolutionary War (1776, 1797) Job ScottGrant Us Relief from Taxation (1780)John Cuffe and OthersTWOAbolishing SlaveryBlack ResistanceLike Sheep for Slaughter (1788)Elizabeth Freeman and Prince HallThey Do Not Consider Us as Men (1813)John FortrenAre We Men? (1829)David WalkerThe Fifth of July (1832)Peter OsbourneI Won't Obey It! (1850)Jermaine Wesley Loguen What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July? (1852)Frederick DouglassHe Took Hold of Me and I Took Hold of the Window Sash (1854)Elizabeth JenningsThe Next Thing to Hell (1856)Harriet TubmanWhite ResistanceWomen Overthrowing Slavery (1836)Angelina GrimkeEscape on the Pearl (1848)Donald DraytonResistance to Civil Government (1849)Henry David ThoreauWas John Brown Justified? (1859)William Lloyd GarrisonTHREEProtesting Early WarsThe War of 1812 and the Civil WarA Manifestly Unjust War (1812)Boston CommitteeThe Slavery of the Sword (1861)Alfred LoveIndian Removal and White Man's WarsThe Audacious Practices of Unprincipled Men (1836)Chief John RossKiss the Foot That Crushes Us? (1842)Colored People's PressThe Negro Will Be Exterminated Soon Enough (1898)Henry McNeal TurnerHypocrisy of the Most Sickening Kind (1899)Lewis H. DouglassFOURStriking Against IndustrialistsPetition for a Ten-Hour Workday (1845)Sarah BagleyPetition Against Terrorism (1871)Colored National Labor UnionWill You Organize? (1877)Albert ParsonsWe Have 4,000 Men (1891)Black Waterfront Workers of SavannahA Petition in Boots (1894)James CoxeyGeorge Pullman, Ulcer on the Body Politic (1894)Pullman WorkersThe Wail of the Children (1903)Mother JonesThe Uprising of the 20,000 (1909)Clara LemlichWage Slavery (1912)Textile Workers of Lawrence, MassachusettsFIVEThe Early Fight for Women's RightsThe Right to VoteAll Men and Women Are Created Equal (1848) Elizabeth Cady Stanton and OthersStrong as Any Man (1851)Sojourner TruthI Return My Tax Bill (1858)Lucy StoneAmend the Constitution (1866)Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, Lucy Stone, and OthersRobbed of Citizenship (1873)Susan B. AnthonyWhy Women Want to Vote (1913)Anna Howard ShawThe Paramount Political Issue (1915)Women's Voter ConventionThe Lucretia Mott Amendment (1923)Alice PaulThe Right to Sex and Love Protest of Marriage (1855)Lucy Stone and Henry B. BlackwellI Am a Free Lover (1871)Victoria C. WoodhullSexual Love Is Not Exclusive (1878)Ezra HeywoodA Rapture So Exquisite (1900)Ida C. CraddockMarriage and Love Have Nothing in Common (1910)Emma GoldmanWhat Every Woman Needs to Know (1922)Margaret SangerSIXWorld War I I Pledge Myself Against Enlistment (1915)Tracy Mygatt and the Anti-Enlistment LeagueI Denounce the Governing Class (1915)Kate Richards O'HareStrike Against War (1916)Helen KellerThe Darker Races and Avaricious Capitalists (1917) A.Philip Randolph and Chandler OwenA Deliberate Violator (1918) Roger N. BaldwinThe Children's Crusade for Amnesty (1922) Kate Richards O'Hare and Frank O'HareSEVENBattling the Great DepressionA Bolshevik Revolution in Lawrence? (1919)A.J. MusteThe Usual Policy of Terrorism (1919)William Z. FosterDon't Starve! Organize! (1932)Ford Hunger MarchersCamping for the Bonus Check (1932)Bonus Army VeteransWe Poor Peoples Need You (1935)Anonymous SharecropperDeath Watch (1935)League of the Physically HandicappedThe Flynt Sit-Down Strike (1937)United Auto WorkersCracking and Shelling and Striking (1938)Emma Zepeda Tenayuca and the Texas Pecan Shellers UnionEIGHTWorld War IIWar Shall Be Illegal (1926)Women's Peace UnionStudents Strike Against War (1935) Joseph P. LashJim Crow and National Defense (1941)A.Philip RandolphI Cannot Honorably Participate (1943)Robert LowellI Must Resist (1943) Bayard RustinThe Internment of Japanese Citizens (1944) Fred Korematsu and Frank MurphyA Racist Charge of Mutiny (1944)Thurgood MarshallAgainst Dropping Atomic Bombs on Japan (1945)Leo SzilardJudgment on Jubilation (1945) Dorothy Day NINEThe Civil Rights MovementPreparing the Way Human Holocaust Under the Stars and Stripes (1909)Ida B. Wells-BarnettWe March for the Butchered Dead (1917) Charles Martin and the Negro Silent Protest ParadeWe Return Fighting (1919)

E. B. DuBois

We Demand Complete Control (1920) Marcus Garvey Communists for the Scottsboro Boys (1933) Thomas StammJim Crow in the Armed Forces (1948)Bayard RustinAnother Historic Supreme Court Decision (1952)Thurgood Marshall and OthersThe Lynching of Emmett Till (1955)Paul RobesonDogs, Cats, and Colored People (1955) George GrantFrom Rosa Parks to the Poor People's CampaignDon't Ride the Bus (1955)Jo Ann Gibson RobinsonWe Shall Have to Lead Our People to You (1957)Southern Negro Leaders ConferenceThe Racist Policy of Apartheid (1957)George Houser and the American Committee on AfricaMore Than a Hamburger (1960)Ella BakerWe're Going to Keep Coming (1961)Jim ZwergA Living Petition (1963)Bayard RustinI Call Now for an Uprising (1963)Bayard RustinI Didn't Try to Register for You (1964)Fannie Lou HamerAlabama Negroes Are "Sick and Tired of Being Sick and Tired" (No Date)No NameThe Right to Throw Off Such Government (1966)Huey Newton and Bobby Seale Economic and Social Bill of Rights (1968) Bayard RustinTENAtomic Bombs and the Vietnam WarICBMs and the Cuban Missile Crisis Statement on Omaha Action (1955)Marjorie SwannAn Appeal by Government Scientists (1958)Linus PaulingOpenly Against Civil Defense (TBA)Women Strike for PeacePresident Kennedy, Be Careful (TBA)Women Strike for Peace Ring Around the Pentagon (1972) Women Strike for PeaceHell No, We Won't GoMarch on Washington to End the Vietnam War (1965)Students for a Democratic SocietyA Draft for the Freedom Fight in the US (1965)Student Nonviolent Coordinating CommitteeA Call to Resist Illegitimate Authority (1967)Marcus Raskin and Arthur WaskowOur Apologies, Good Friends (1968)Daniel Berrigan and the Catonsville NineStop Dow and Napalm (1969)University of Michigan StudentsFor the People (1970)National Chicano Moratorium CommitteeIf the Government Doesn't Stop the War, We Will Stop the Government (1971)Mayday Tribe ELEVENThe Expanding Civil Rights MovementRed PowerFish-Ins (1964)Janet McCloudThe Occupation of Alcatraz (1969)Indians of All TribesThe Occupation of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (1972)American Indian MovementThe Occupation of Wounded Knee (1973)Red Tide Students The Longest Walk (1978) American Indian MovementChicano PowerLa Huelga and La Causa Is Our Cry (1966)Dolores HuertaBLOWOUTS—BABY—BLOWOUTS!! (1968)Chicano Students in East Los AngelesEl Plan Espiritual de Aztlan (1969)First National Chicano Liberation Youth ConferenceTo Resist with Every Ounce (1969)Cesar ChavezHasta Le Victoria Siempre! (1970)Young LordsLe Marcha de la Reconquista (1971)Rosalio Munoz and the Chicano Moratorium CommitteeYellow PowerThe Yellow Power Movement (1969)Amy UyematsuThe Right to Assert Our Yellow Identity (1969)Asian American Political AllianceFrom Colonies to Communities (1969)Asian Community CenterGay PowerEjected from Dewey's (1965)Janus SocietyHomosexuals March on the White House (1965)Frank KamenyYoung Homos Picket Compton's (1966)VanguardChristopher Street Liberation Day (1970)Gay Liberation FrontWomen PowerUnderground Abortion (1969)JaneWe Call on All Our Sisters (1969)RedstockingsWomen Power (1970)Bella Abzug and the Third World AllianceWelfare Is a Women's Issue (1972)Johnnie TilmonSpeak-Out Against Sexual Harassment (1975)Working Women United and OthersDisability PowerSitting Against Nixon (1972)Judy HeumannThe Vegetables Are Rising (1977)Ed RobertsDeaf President Now (1988)Gallaudet Students TWELVEEnvironmental Justice and Animal LiberationSaving EarthEarth Day (1970)Gaylord NelsonI Can Find No Natural Balance with a Nuclear Plant (1975) Sam Lovejoy Oppose, Resist, Subvert (1981) Edward Abbey Occupy the Forest (1985) Earth FirstersNuclear Waste on Our Homeland (1995)Lower Colorado River TribesFreeing the AnimalsRescuing the Monkeys (1981) People for the Ethical Treatment of AnimalsA Necessary Fuss (1984) Animal Liberation Front Don't Call Avon (1989) People for the Ethical Treatment of AnimalsThe Hegins Pigeon Shoot (1996)Fund for AnimalsTHIRTEENThe Nuclear Arms Race, Central America, and the Gulf WarAnti-Nuclear CampaignsDeclaration of Nuclear Resistance (1976)Clamshell AllianceMaking the World Truly Safe (1979)Randall ForsbergUnity Statement (1980)Grace PaleyThe Wars in Central AmericaWe Join in Covenant to Provide Sanctuary (1982) Bay Area Sanctuary MovementAgainst the War in Central America (1983)David CortrightThe Illegal Invasion of Panama (1989)Matthew RothschildThe Gulf WarAn Attack Against People of Color (1990)Azania HowseI Will Resist (1990)Jeff PatersonUnjustifiable Destruction (1991) Ramsey ClarkFOURTEENThe Expanding Movement for Gay Rights and Women's RightsLesbian and Gay RightsI Am Proud to Raise My Voice Today (1979)Audre LordeThe Right to Lesbian and Gay Sex (1987) The March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay RightsWe Take That Fire and Make It Our Own (1993)The Lesbian AvengersThe AIDS CrisisYou Could Be Dead in Five Years (1987)ACT UPWhy We Fight (1988)Vito RussoSexual Harassment, Abortion, and Black WomenClarence Thomas, Sexual Harasser (1991)Anita HillMarch for Women's Lives (1992)Patricia Ireland and Faye WattletonThe Million Woman March (1997)Phile Chionesu and Asia ConeyFIFTEENDefending Labor and ImmigrantsYou Are Not Alone (1981) Lane KirklandBoycotting Shell (1986)United Mineworkers of AmericaGlobalization Without Representation (1999) People for Fair TradeNo Sweatshops (1999) SOLELatino March on Washington (1996) Coordinadora 96SIXTEENThe War on TerrorIsn't This Really About Oil? (2002) Medea Benjamin Calling All Americans to Resist War and Repression (2002) Not in Our Name Let the Virtual March Begin (2003) Win Without War Bring Our Troops Home (2005) Cindy Sheehan Shut Down Creech (2016) Anti-Drone ActivistsSEVENTEENMaking the New Century ResistantMining, Pipelines, and Climate WarmingEnd Mountaintop Removal (2010) Appalachia RisingThe Biggest Carbon Bomb in North America (2011) Tar Sands ActionTogether, We Rise (2017) Dave Archambault And So We Resist Climate Warming (2017) Bill McKibbenLGBT Rights to Serve and MarryChained to Serve Openly (2010) Get EQUALA Rogue Clerk and the Failed Defense of Marriage (2013)

Bruce Hanes and Anthony Kennedy

Shaking Booties for Mike Pence (2017) WERK for PeaceTargeting Transgender Troops (2017) Human Rights CampaignReasserting the Power of WomenEvery Feminist Is an Organizer (2004)Dolores HuertaOur Pussies Ain't for Grabbin' (2017)The Women's March and America FerreraFearless Girl (2017) Susan CoxOccupying Wall Street and WashingtonKilling Big Insurance (2009)Mobilization for Health Care for AllOccupy, I Love You (2011)Naomi KleinMoral Mondays (2013)William Barber IITime to Withdraw Big Money from Politics (2016)Democracy Spring and Democracy UprisingFreeing Slaves in Prison (2016) Support Prisoner ResistanceNot Our President (2017)John Lewis and OthersDying for Health Care (2017)ADAPTLegalizing Immigrants We Want a Legalization Process (2006) Luis Gutierrez, Gloria Romero, and Others DREAMers Stop Deportation Bus (2013) United We DreamProtect the Rights of Immigrants (2017) American Civil Liberties Union We Pledge to Resist for Immigrants (2017) Alison Harrington Trump Seems to Have Made Me an Alien (2017) Mo FarahBlack Lives MatterOur Son Is Your Son (2012)Tracy Martin and Sybrina FountainRiding to Ferguson (2014)Black Lives MatterMurder in Charlottesville (2017)TBAMarch on Washington for Racial Justice (2017) TBAConclusion: Where to Resist from Here?

Review

"We the Resistance: Documenting a History of Nonviolent Protest in the United States is an anthology of first-person accounts from individuals who had the courage to resist injustice through nonviolent means, from the pre-Revolutionary War era to modern times. From the Abolitionist movement, to strikes and other efforts to resist unjust labor practices, to the struggle for women's rights, LGBT rights, the anti-globalization movement, and more, these writings detail America's rich history of protest and fighting without weapons to make the nation a better place. Erudite and inspirational, We the Resistance is highly recommended, especially for personal, public, and college library American History collections."

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Long Description

While historical accounts of the United States typically focus on the nation's military past, a rich and vibrant counterpoint remains basically unknown to most Americans. This alternate story of the formation of our nation--and its character--is one in which courageous individuals and movements have wielded the weapons of nonviolence to resist policies and practices they considered to be unjust, unfair, and immoral. We the Resistance gives curious citizens and current resistors unfiltered access to the hearts and minds--the rational and passionate voices--of their activist predecessors. Beginning with the pre-Revolutionary era and continuing through the present day, readers will directly encounter the voices of protesters sharing instructive stories about their methods (from sit-ins to tree-sitting) and opponents (from Puritans to Wall Street bankers), as well as inspirational stories about their failures (from slave petitions to the fight for the ERA) and successes (from enfranchisement for women to today's reform of police practices). Instruction and inspiration run throughout this captivating reader, generously illustrated with historic graphics and photographs of nonviolent protests throughout U.S. history.

Review Quote

"We the Resistance: Documenting a History of Nonviolent Protest in the United States is an anthology of first-person accounts from individuals who had the courage to resist injustice through nonviolent means, from the pre-Revolutionary War era to modern times. From the Abolitionist movement, to strikes and other efforts to resist unjust labor practices, to the struggle for women's rights, LGBT rights, the anti-globalization movement, and more, these writings detail America's rich history of protest and fighting without weapons to make the nation a better place. Erudite and inspirational, We the Resistance is highly recommended, especially for personal, public, and college library American History collections."

Description for Sales People

Millions of people are attracted to this topic, especially in our political moment. A quick online search for the words "resist" and "resistance" leads to myriad sites that propose theories, rationales, and methods for concerned citizens who are seeking nonviolent ways to resist President Trump and his administration's policies and practices. We the Resistance will be the first book of its kind, and promises to be the "go-to" book on the topic. Book is instructive and inspirational. The approach of the book is historical, beginning with the pre-Revolutionary era and continuing through the present day. We the Resistance allows current resisters unfiltered access to the hearts and minds--the rational and passionate voices--of their activist predecessors. Accessible and illustrated.

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