One thing we hear from workers who are organizing at places like Amazon and Starbucks is how much they wish they’d learned about the history of unions and organizing when they were in school. We were delighted that Linda Christensen, an extraordinary teacher and writer and one of the editors at Rethinking Schools, wrote this about our book: “A must read for anyone serious about working for change in the world and for anyone who loves a great story. It will be a wonderful addition to the curriculum for teachers in high school and college classes.”
And now Rethinking Schools has chosen Standing Up as one of the social justice resources they recommend for teachers – in an issue titled “Teaching for Joy.” Here’s what they said:
As our students enter the post-high school world, they need stories of how to live lives of love, of laughter, of courage, of struggle for justice — stories that feel real, achievable. Ellen Bravo and Larry Miller have drawn on their many decades together to craft a book that is simultaneously a love story but also an account of how we can bring our values of social justice to life in the workplace. The book offers lyrical snapshots of resistance and solidarity — in hospitals, banks, factories, schools. These stories are told with warmth and humility and offer real-world examples of how we can fight racism, sexism, and homophobia, at the jobsite, but also at home. So often, portraits of radical activism focus on the heroes whose lives are celebrated in biographies, in songs, in films, on posters. But the most useful stories for our students will be those …more everyday, stories that are road maps for life. That’s what Bravo and Miller offer in Standing Up: Tales of Struggle. These are stories that will inspire and guide — and delight.
Labor educators like KC Wagner, Marilyn Schneiderman and Ruth Needleman all recommend it for union staff, members, organizers and students of labor. You can read their remarks here.
HOW YOU CAN HELP
Here are a few ways you can help make this happen.
- Buy the book for people you know who teach any course where our novel would be relevant. Let them know what these educators are saying about it.
- Feel free to connect us to a teacher you think might be interested in adding Standing Up to their curriculum. For those in labor-related courses or programs, we’ve created a Labor Discussion Guide to the book. There also a general discussion guide for those in Gender Studies or other classes.
- Buy the book for students in your life!
We’d love to add our voices to the resources that are inspiring new generations of labor activists.
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