Jo Freeman, Author at Public Seminar

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Crusader Without Violence 60 Years Later

The first biography of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is reissued

January 21, 2019 • by Jo Freeman

Lawrence D. Reddick was a history professor at Alabama State College — the state school for blacks — when the Montgomery Bus Boycott brought Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to national prominence in 1955-56. They had known each other casually in Atlanta; both had moved to Montgomery to accept jobs only recently. On ...

Crusader Without Violence 60 Years Later

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With the 116th Congress the Party Gap has Become a Party Chasm

The Democratic Party is doing something right by women

January 4, 2019 • by Jo Freeman

On January 3rd 132 women took the oath of office to be a Member of Congress. Included in this number are 25 Senators, 102 Representatives and 5 delegates. This is the largest number of women who have ever served in Congress at one time. While many have greatly lauded this great leap upward ...

With the 116th Congress the Party Gap has Become a Party Chasm

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Protect Mueller

Demonstrations in Washington show unwavering support for Special Counsel Robert Mueller

November 14, 2018 • by Jo Freeman

Progressive groups called for protests throughout the nation to demand that President Trump not interfere with the investigation of Special Counsel Robert Mueller into Russian attempts to affect US elections. The effort to SAVE MUELLER was prompted by the forced resignation of Attorney General Jeff Sessions on November 7, the day ...

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Kavanaugh Protests Continue to the End

‘Sexual Predators on the Court, Hell no, We Don’t Support’

October 10, 2018 • by Jo Freeman

Protests against the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh to become a Justice of the Supreme Court resumed on Thursday, October 4, and continued through Saturday, October 6 when he was officially sworn in. While the protesters were still mostly women, more younger women came than in September, dropping the average age of the protesters ...

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Protesting Kavanaugh

Hundreds of women, plus a few men, arrested protesting Kavanaugh confirmation

October 5, 2018 • by Jo Freeman

The confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh to be an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court stretched out for the month of September as the Hart Senate Office Building was repeatedly occupied by protesters. Led by the Center for Popular Democracy but mobilized by several different groups, the protesters were overwhelmingly female, ...

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Rise for the Climate

Shouting marchers took to lower Manhattan on 9/6 to protest Climate Change

September 15, 2018 • by Jo Freeman

Roughly a thousand people marched in lower Manhattan on Thursday, September 6 demanding that the world pay attention to climate change. This was the earliest in a series of climate marches around the globe to draw attention to a summit in San Francisco the following week. When people gathered in Battery ...

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Women’s Liberation Marches onto the Atlantic City Boardwalk

Photos of the 1969 Miss America Protest

September 8, 2018 • by Jo Freeman

In 1968 and 1969 women's liberation staged demonstrations at the annual Miss America Beauty pageant held in Atlantic City, NJ. The 1968 protest shocked the country, creating a lot of publicity, and some myths, about the new movement. The 1969 protest was smaller and was largely ignored. The 1968 protest originated with New ...

Women’s Liberation Marches onto the Atlantic City Boardwalk

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Unite the Right #2

Rally in DC doesn’t even unite the counter-protestors

August 18, 2018 • by Jo Freeman

When Unite the Right announced it would hold a rally across from the White House on the August 12 anniversary of its 2017 rally in Charlottesville VA, it caused a lot of consternation. Violence had permeated the 2017 event, resulting in the death of a counter protestor. Several organizations and coalitions ...

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Families Belong Together

2000 people gathered across from White House on June 30

July 22, 2018 • by Jo Freeman

On June 30, almost two thousand people gathered in Lafayette Park across from the White House to denounce President Trump’s "zero tolerance policy" for immigrants seeking to escape violence in Mexico and Central America. The policy led to children being taken away from their parents when families reached the border, ...

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Women March in DC to Protest Family Separation

A photo essay documenting the activism on June 28th

July 15, 2018 • by Jo Freeman

"We Care" "We Care" shouted a thousand women as they marched down Pennsylvania Avenue toward the Capital. Organized on very short notice by WomensMarch, which brought millions of women to Washington on January 21, 2017, the march started at Freedom Plaza and stopped for a rally at the Justice Department ...

Women March in DC to Protest Family Separation

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March for Our Lives

Rally in Washington D.C. on March 24

April 7, 2018 • by Jo Freeman

Millions of people marched at over 800 US cities in response to the mass shootings that have catalyzed support for gun regulation. The main march in DC was changed to a rally as the expected numbers grew. Instead of marching up Pennsylvania Ave., people packed all the spaces from 3rd to ...

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Free Speech or Free Riding?

Janus v AFSCME before the Supreme Court

March 10, 2018 • by Jo Freeman

A thousand people rallied outside the Supreme Court the morning of January 26 while the Justices heard oral argument on Janus v. AFSCME Council 31 inside. The decision in this case will have profound effects on public service unions. Currently 22 states require employees who do not choose to join a union ...