| The National Institute for Restorative Justice "Educating for Advocacy" |
| Organizing A Movement Book Discussion Series |
| Social Justice Economic Justice Legal Justice |
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| "All our struggles must tie in together and support one another. . . We must remain on the alert and push the struggle farther with all our might." Charles Hamilton Houston |
| Join The Drum Majors For Justice! |
| A Three Book & Film Discussion Series April 10 - May 24, 2012 Tuesdays and Thursdays 6:00 - 8:30 PM |
| On Tuesday, April 10, 2012, The National Institute For Restorative Justice began exploring legacies, leadership and organizational strategies of four legendary Americans: Asa Philip Randolph, Charles Hamilton Houston, Thurgood Marshall and Ella Baker. Three biographies of these leaders serve as text for the seven-week series: A. Philip Randolph And The Struggle For Civil Rights by Conelius Bynum; Ella Baker & the Black Freedom Movement: A Radical Democratic Vision by Barbara Ransby; and Root And Branch: Charles Hamilton Houston, Thurgood Marshall and the Struggle To End Segregation by Rawn James, Jr. The text will be supplemented with film documentaries of the periods reflected. The series is free and open to the public. The text books are available for purchase. |
| www.restorativejusticeinstitute.org |
| 1464 East 105 Street Cleveland, Ohio 44106 216.721.6630 rjusticeinc@aol.com |
| Renewing Inalienable Rights, Rebuilding Communal Confidence, Re-energizing Sustainable Economy, Reviving Unbridled Spirit |
| Organizing A Movement, Struggling To Freedom The Legacies of Randolph, Houston, Marshall & Baker |
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
Series Orientation
Mittie Imani Jordan, Chair
The National Institute
For Restorative Justice Founder,
Restoration Source, Inc.&
Deuteronomy 8:3 Café Books & Music
AB, Smith College
Series Orientation
Mittie Imani Jordan, Chair
The National Institute
For Restorative Justice Founder,
Restoration Source, Inc.&
Deuteronomy 8:3 Café Books & Music
AB, Smith College
| ****** A PHILIP RANDOLPH And The Struggle for Civil Rights ***** By Cornelius L. Bynum April 10—24, 2012 |
| Thursday, April 12, 2012 Part 1. Building Black Identity at the Turn of the Century Reverend Dr. Joy R. Bostic MDiv, JD, PhD Assistant Professor, Case Western Reserve University Department of Religious Studies BA Indiana University JD/MA The Ohio State University MDiv Garrett Evangelical Theological Seminary PhD Union Theological Seminary |
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Part 2. Constructing Class
Consciousness In the Jazz Age
Dr. Gillian Johns, PhD
Associate Professor, Oberlin College
Department of English
BA Slippery Rock University
MA PhD Temple University
Part 2. Constructing Class
Consciousness In the Jazz Age
Dr. Gillian Johns, PhD
Associate Professor, Oberlin College
Department of English
BA Slippery Rock University
MA PhD Temple University
| Thursday, April 19, 2012 Part 3 The Rise of the New Crowd Negroes Dr. Dolores Person Lairet, PhD Board Member and Faculty Advisor, NIRJ BA Wheaton College MA Middlebury College PhD Case Western Reserve University |
Tuesday, April 24,2012
Part 4 Blending Race and Class
Dr. Cornelius Bynum, PhD
Assistant Professor, Purdue University
Department of History
BA, PhD University of Virginia
Part 4 Blending Race and Class
Dr. Cornelius Bynum, PhD
Assistant Professor, Purdue University
Department of History
BA, PhD University of Virginia
| Ella Baker & the Black Freedom Movement A Radical Democratic Vision By Barbara Ransby May 10 - 24 , 2012 |
| ROOT AND BRANCH Charles Hamilton Houston, Thurgood Marshall And The Struggle To End Segregation By Rawn James, Jr. April 26 - May 8, 2012 |
Thursday, April 26, 2012
Chapters 1 - 4
Reverend Dr. Zachery Williams, PhD
Board Member and Faculty Advisor, NIRJ
Associate Professor, University of Akron
Department of History
BA Clemson University
PhD Bowling Green State University
Chapters 1 - 4
Reverend Dr. Zachery Williams, PhD
Board Member and Faculty Advisor, NIRJ
Associate Professor, University of Akron
Department of History
BA Clemson University
PhD Bowling Green State University
| Tuesday, May 1, 2012 Chapters 5 - 9 The Honorable Solomon Oliver, Jr., JD Chief Judge, Northern Ohio District United States District Courts BA College of Wooster MA Case Western Reserve University JD New York University School of Law |
Thursday, May 3, 2012
Chapters 10 - 13
Reverend Dr. Leah C. K. Lewis,
MDiv, JD, Associate Minister
Olivet Institutional Baptist Church;
BS Bowling Green State University
JD Howard University Law School
MDiv Yale University Divinity School
Chapters 10 - 13
Reverend Dr. Leah C. K. Lewis,
MDiv, JD, Associate Minister
Olivet Institutional Baptist Church;
BS Bowling Green State University
JD Howard University Law School
MDiv Yale University Divinity School
| Tuesday, May 8, 2012 Chapters 14 - 18 Dr. Elizabeth Smith-Pryor JD, PhD Associate Professor, Undergraduate Coordinator |
Thursday, May 10, 2012
Chapters 1 - 2
Dr. Rhonda R. Williams, PhD
Associate Professor, Department of History
Director, Social Justice Institute
Case Western Reserve University
BA University of Maryland, College Park
PhD University of Pennsylvania
Chapters 1 - 2
Dr. Rhonda R. Williams, PhD
Associate Professor, Department of History
Director, Social Justice Institute
Case Western Reserve University
BA University of Maryland, College Park
PhD University of Pennsylvania
| Tuesday, May 15, 2012 Chapters 3 - 4 Dr. Alene Barnes, PhD Associate Professor, Kent State University Department of Pan African Studies BA, MA, PhD State University of New York At Buffalo |
Thursday, May 17, 2012
Chapters 5 - 6
The Honorable Sara J. Harper, JD
Retired Judge
Ohio Supreme Court
BA Western Reserve University
JD Western Reserve University
School of Law
Chapters 5 - 6
The Honorable Sara J. Harper, JD
Retired Judge
Ohio Supreme Court
BA Western Reserve University
JD Western Reserve University
School of Law
| Tuesday, May 22 2012 Chapters 7 - 8 Dr. Pam Brooks, PhD Associate Professor, Oberlin College Department of African American Studies BA New York University MA Univ Massachusetts Amherst PhD Northeastern University |
NIRJ At A Glance
About NIRJ
History
Purpose
People
Advocacy
Contact Us
About NIRJ
History
Purpose
People
Advocacy
Contact Us
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| Asa Philip Randolph Gentle Warrior 1889—1979 |
| He was called the most dangerous black in America. He led 250,000 people in the historic 1963 March on Washington. He spoke for all the dispossessed. |
| Asa Philip Randolph Gentle Warrior 1889—1979 |
"In the years between the end of
the First World War and the Supreme
Court’s 1954 Brown v. Board of
Education decision, Asa Philip
Randolph organized the nation’s first
all black trade union, forced the
American labor movement to take a
hard look at its racial policies and
practices, and secured two separate
executive orders—one banning
workplace discrimination in war
industry jobs and the other
desegregating the U.S. armed forces.
Over the course of Randolph’s
long career as a socialist, journal
editor, labor organizer, and civil rights
activist, the theories he formulated
became the primary basis of the civil
rights protest movement of the 1950s
and 1960s. His views on social
justice, race and class, racial
minorities and interest group politics,
and mass direct action largely grew
out of his overall life experiences.
This study endeavors to
understand how the forces that
shaped Randolph’s life also shaped
his conception of race, class and the
African Americans’ struggle for equal
justice.”
Cornelius L. Bynum
A. Philip Randolph And The Struggle
For Civil Rights
the First World War and the Supreme
Court’s 1954 Brown v. Board of
Education decision, Asa Philip
Randolph organized the nation’s first
all black trade union, forced the
American labor movement to take a
hard look at its racial policies and
practices, and secured two separate
executive orders—one banning
workplace discrimination in war
industry jobs and the other
desegregating the U.S. armed forces.
Over the course of Randolph’s
long career as a socialist, journal
editor, labor organizer, and civil rights
activist, the theories he formulated
became the primary basis of the civil
rights protest movement of the 1950s
and 1960s. His views on social
justice, race and class, racial
minorities and interest group politics,
and mass direct action largely grew
out of his overall life experiences.
This study endeavors to
understand how the forces that
shaped Randolph’s life also shaped
his conception of race, class and the
African Americans’ struggle for equal
justice.”
Cornelius L. Bynum
A. Philip Randolph And The Struggle
For Civil Rights
| Charles Hamilton Houston The Man Who Killed Jim Crow 1895—1950 |
Of the ten legal minds he mentored
for the framing and litigation of
Brown v Board: one would become a
college president; one a law school
dean; three professors of law; four
federal district court judges including
the first African American man and
woman; two, the first African
American man and woman to serve
as Chief Judges on federal district
court benches; four federal court of
appeals judges including the first
African American man; one official
Presidential Advisor and four others
as unofficial presidential advisors;
and the most notable one would
become the first African American
United States Solicitor General and,
subsequently, the first United States
Supreme Court Justice.
"Charles Hamilton Houston
dedicated his life to using law as a
tool to remedy consequences of
racial discrimination and break down
structures that produce racial
inequality. As vice-dean of Howard
Law School in the 1930s, Houston
not only won the traditionally black
school’s accreditation, but he brought
in the nation’s top black litigators
and teachers to Howard during a time
they likely would have been denied
professorships at white law schools.
Civil rights law was more or less
invented under Houston’s leadership
at Howard. The school trained nearly
a quarter of the nation's black law
students including many civil rights
luminaries...”
The Charles Hamilton Houston
Institute Harvard University
for the framing and litigation of
Brown v Board: one would become a
college president; one a law school
dean; three professors of law; four
federal district court judges including
the first African American man and
woman; two, the first African
American man and woman to serve
as Chief Judges on federal district
court benches; four federal court of
appeals judges including the first
African American man; one official
Presidential Advisor and four others
as unofficial presidential advisors;
and the most notable one would
become the first African American
United States Solicitor General and,
subsequently, the first United States
Supreme Court Justice.
"Charles Hamilton Houston
dedicated his life to using law as a
tool to remedy consequences of
racial discrimination and break down
structures that produce racial
inequality. As vice-dean of Howard
Law School in the 1930s, Houston
not only won the traditionally black
school’s accreditation, but he brought
in the nation’s top black litigators
and teachers to Howard during a time
they likely would have been denied
professorships at white law schools.
Civil rights law was more or less
invented under Houston’s leadership
at Howard. The school trained nearly
a quarter of the nation's black law
students including many civil rights
luminaries...”
The Charles Hamilton Houston
Institute Harvard University
| Kent State University Department of History AB Harvard University JD Stanford University PhD Rutgers Univerisity |
| Thurgood Marshall Supreme Justice 1908—1993 |
"Thurgood is one of our century’s
legal giants; one cannot take his full
measure within the compass of an
essay, and even a summary is
difficult. One can begin, of course,
by noting that in his twenty-four
terms on the Supreme Court,Justice
Marshall played a crucial role in
enforcing the constitutional
protections that distinguish our
democracy. Indeed, he leaves behind
an enviable record of opinions
supporting the rights of the less
powerful and less fortunate. Once
can then add that, for more than
twenty-five years before he joined
the judiciary, Thurgood Marshall was
probably the most important
advocate in America, one who used
his formidable legal skills to end the
evils of discrimination.
Thurgood would be the first to
remind us that he was supported by a
host of other talented lawyers,
beginning with his mentor, Charles
Houston. But it was Thurgood who
took the lead, and it was his
presentations, in case after case and
in court after court, that helped bring
about a society in which “equal
protection of the laws” could be a
reality and not merely a legal phrase.”
William J. Brennan, Jr.
Supreme Court Justice
legal giants; one cannot take his full
measure within the compass of an
essay, and even a summary is
difficult. One can begin, of course,
by noting that in his twenty-four
terms on the Supreme Court,Justice
Marshall played a crucial role in
enforcing the constitutional
protections that distinguish our
democracy. Indeed, he leaves behind
an enviable record of opinions
supporting the rights of the less
powerful and less fortunate. Once
can then add that, for more than
twenty-five years before he joined
the judiciary, Thurgood Marshall was
probably the most important
advocate in America, one who used
his formidable legal skills to end the
evils of discrimination.
Thurgood would be the first to
remind us that he was supported by a
host of other talented lawyers,
beginning with his mentor, Charles
Houston. But it was Thurgood who
took the lead, and it was his
presentations, in case after case and
in court after court, that helped bring
about a society in which “equal
protection of the laws” could be a
reality and not merely a legal phrase.”
William J. Brennan, Jr.
Supreme Court Justice
| Ella Josephine Baker Fundi: Passing The Torch 1903—1986 |
She was a behind-the-scenes activist,
whose career spanned over five decades.
She worked alongside some of the most
famous civil rights leaders of the 20th
century.
“ Ella Baker spent her entire life trying to
“change that system.” Somewhere along the
way she recognized that her goal was not a
single “end” but rather an ongoing “means,”
that is, a process. Radical change for Ella
Baker was about a persistent and protracted
process of discourse, debate, consensus,
reflection, and struggle. If larger and larger
numbers of communities were engaged in
such a process, she reasoned, day in and day
out, year after year, the revolution would be
well under way. Ella Baker understood that
laws, structures, and institutions had to
change in order to correct injustice and
oppression, but part of the process had to
involve oppressed people, ordinary people,
infusing new meanings into the concept of
democracy and finding their own individual
and collective power to determine their lives
and shape the direction of history.
These were the radical terms that Ella Baker
thought in and the radical ideas she fought
for with her mind and her body. ...Baker’s
theory of social change and political
organizing was inscribed in her practice.
Her ideas were written in her work: a
coherent body of lived text spanning nearly
sixty years.”
Barbara Ransby
whose career spanned over five decades.
She worked alongside some of the most
famous civil rights leaders of the 20th
century.
“ Ella Baker spent her entire life trying to
“change that system.” Somewhere along the
way she recognized that her goal was not a
single “end” but rather an ongoing “means,”
that is, a process. Radical change for Ella
Baker was about a persistent and protracted
process of discourse, debate, consensus,
reflection, and struggle. If larger and larger
numbers of communities were engaged in
such a process, she reasoned, day in and day
out, year after year, the revolution would be
well under way. Ella Baker understood that
laws, structures, and institutions had to
change in order to correct injustice and
oppression, but part of the process had to
involve oppressed people, ordinary people,
infusing new meanings into the concept of
democracy and finding their own individual
and collective power to determine their lives
and shape the direction of history.
These were the radical terms that Ella Baker
thought in and the radical ideas she fought
for with her mind and her body. ...Baker’s
theory of social change and political
organizing was inscribed in her practice.
Her ideas were written in her work: a
coherent body of lived text spanning nearly
sixty years.”
Barbara Ransby
| “We must not be delayed by people who say ‘the time is not ripe.’ nor should we proceed with caution for fear of destroying the ‘status quo.’ Persons who deny us our civil rights should be brought to justice now.” Thurgood Marshall |
| A. Philip Randolph Leading the 1963 March on Washington |
| Charles Hamilton Houston in court |
| Thurgood Marshall headed to Court |
| Ella Jo Baker |
