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This Week in People’s History, April 9–15, 2025

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President Trump making a televised presentation about the pandemic Peddling Snake Oil from the Oval Office (2020), Refugees from the Great Dust-Up (1935), Jonas Salk, Lifesaver (1955), Fighting Racism for the Long Haul (1775), Ireland’s Prelude to Freedom (1920), Getting Organized to Fight Jim Crow (1960)

This Week in People’s History, June 13 . . .

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Photo of attorney Michael Ratner denouncing torture of prisoners at Guantanamo A people's tribune's birthday. Opposing the Vietnam War in 1968. Opposing U.S. imperialism in 1898. Debs' 1918 sedition conviction. A win for abolitionists in 1833. Boycotting Jim Crow in 1953. Thousands say, 'Escalate the war on poverty!' in 1968.

This Week in People’s History, May 30 . . .

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In a non-union textile mill, a union organizer leads workers in a protest. Union organizer fired for insubordination. In 1779, no peace for Native Americans. Sojourner Truth takes her new name. Child labor on the rise. "No nukes" on Long Island. Boston says NO! to slave-catchers. Anti-slavery novel is a best-seller.

We Are Not Done With Abolition

Eric Foner The New York Times
The framers of the 13th Amendment did not intend to establish an empire of prison labor.

Black Abolitionists Believed in Taking Up Arms

Randal Maurice Jelks Boston Review
Long before the Civil War, black abolitionists shared the consensus that violence would be necessary to end slavery. Unlike their white peers, their arguments were about when and how to use political violence, not if.
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