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This Week in People’s History, Aug 5–11, 2026

Striking air-traffic controllers demonstrating in 1981 Reagan Shows the Union Who’s Boss (1981), On Vacation and Asleep at the Switch in Texas (2001), The Sniper Known as ‘Lady Death’ (1941), Police Brutality Gets an Official Work-Over (1931}, Taking a Baby Step Down the Slippery Slope (1961)

Do Civilian Review Boards Work?

Zina Hutton Governing
2020 made police reform “sexy” on a policy level, leading to a significant increase in civilian oversight boards around the country. However, in the years following, many of these boards are still trying to find their footing.

The Perfectionist Tradition

William P. Jones Dissent Magazine
The African American perfectionists offered “faith” instead of “hope”—emphasizing the struggle to realize a vision of justice rather than passive assurance that it would prevail.

Ivory Perry, the Forgotten Civil Rights Hell-Raiser

Devin Thomas O’Shea Jacobin
Activists are often held up as exemplars of personal morality — but in every social struggle, ordinary people with complex lives rise up as leaders. Ivory Perry was one of these who waged a relentless war for racial and economic justice.

This Week in People’s History, Jan 9 – 15

Portside
Page 1 of an early issue of La Follette's Weekly Magazine Fighting the Good Fight (in 1909), Teach Literacy, Go to Jail (1854), Deadly But Very Popular (1964), Pretending to Drain the Swamp (1984), Orgy of Police Brutality (1874), McCarthyism's Downfall (1964), Hitler's Friends in the House of Lords (1934)
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