As of September 9th, the Institute for Common Power will no longer exist. I am writing, first and foremost, to thank you for nearly five years of support. The Institute for Common Power (ICP) started as an idea not long ago and we transformed that idea into incredible, life-changing programs that we know are working to better the world. The closing of ICP is not a sad moment. Instead, it represents the beginning of something that promises to alter the lives of an untold number of people.

Earlier this summer, I was presented with an opportunity by an organization to create my own nonprofit organization that will focus primarily on forging pathways for success and opportunities for the people of Selma, Alabama, while continuing to support educators and promote history education. I accepted the offer and created the Institute for History and Equity (IHE). To further render this offer something tantamount to a dream, I am able to have my incredible team at ICP join me on this new journey. I have had the honor of traveling to Selma since 2017. Now, I have the honor of focusing our work on Selma with the incredible professionals who comprised what I have always called the “Dream Team” of ICP. Therefore, Dr. Devon Geary, Victoria Elias, Izu Sampson, and I will be starting IHE on September 10. (Jordyn Schulte was also essential in building ICP. She is now pursuing a Physicians Assistance degree at the University of Arizona.) Our new roles are as follows:

Dr. Terry Anne Scott, CEO and Executive Director

Dr. Devon Geary, Director of Education and Community Outreach

Victoria Elias, Director of Housing and Energy Affordability

Izu Sampson, Operations Manager

Additionally, the four Institute Educator Ambassadors known as our Educators for Democracy team—Carmen Cruz, Luke Michener, Kimeu Boynton, and Kandace Logan (Ivory Kennedy is a former member of this outstanding group)—who work with us at ICP to create programming, such as the Banned Book Club, will now be working with us at IHE.

I will include more information in future newsletters about the work we will be doing. Our new website will be up next week. You can find us at www.historyandequity.org.

We will also continue to work with Common Power (CoPo) on various projects. For instance, we will collaborate on Truth and Purpose Learning Tours, with some learning tours offered through CoPo and some offered through IHE. Similarly, both organizations will offer public lectures

.

Please know that our work with educators will continue. One of our greatest accomplishments at ICP has been our ability to bring now more than 400 K-12 educators into the work of truth-telling, community uplift, and voter advocacy. Collectively, they have taught nearly a quarter million children across the continent. We gave each one of these educators a scholarship to join us on the ICP Truth and Purpose Educator Learning Tour to Georgia and Alabama. They then became Institute Educator Ambassadors and had access to grants, ICP symposiums, free history courses and lectures, and so much more. Additionally, they have the ability to knock on doors with CoPo with all of their travel expenses covered by the organization. Once they knock on doors, they become what we call Common Power Frontline Educators. This will not change. They will still be Institute Educator Ambassadors, but with IHE. They will have access to grants, free history courses and lectures, and more through IHE. They will also be able to knock on doors with CoPo and have their travel expenses covered by CoPo. In short, Institute Educator Ambassadors will be part of IHE and Frontline Educators will be part of CoPo.

____________________________________________________________________________

THE INSTITUTE FOR

HISTORY & EQUITY

Leveraging History to build power; confront structural inequality; and equip communities, organizations, and educators to shape an equitable future

Our Mission

The Institute for History & Equity is a non-profit organization that identifies, creates, and implements innovative, locally based projects and programming designed to dismantle obstacles to advancement while we empower communities, organizations, and educators to generate lasting change. We are committed to restructuring housing, resource accessibility, education, energy efficiency, job opportunities, and more in Selma, Alabama through community-led initiatives, systems building, educator training, and public awareness. Selma is an underserved city that has given much to the advancement of the nation, yet faces astute infrastructure and fiscal challenges. We understand that to assist in transforming communities and provide avenues for success, we must educate the public about the historical processes that have created systems of inequity. Thus, we are dedicated to illuminating undervalued, underappreciated, and pivotal aspects of our collective history as we use lessons from the past to chart a path forward. Educating the public and educators about the history of rural and urban development, as well as community building, agency, and empowerment, is instrumental to ensuring that people have a clear understanding of the inception and perniciousness of systemic inequality while inspiring people to provide opportunities for change. We believe that History functions as both prologue and primer; it serves as our guide as we work to catalyze people to action that is transformational, sustainable, and equitable.

What We Do

We expand opportunity and enhance systems in Selma, Alabama that advance prosperity and community well-being.

We research, identify, and implement educational initiatives to provide resources and produce better opportunities and outcomes for local students.

We identify and implement affordable housing options.

We partner with local and national entities to enhance and fortify infrastructure designed to create and sustain business opportunities and long-term growth.

We research and implement programming designed to promote energy affordability, equitable infrastructure, and the role of energy policy in expanding economic mobility.

We partner with local and national organizations to develop and offer employment training opportunities.

We work to help people connect present structural issues in underserved communities to their historical antecedents.

We are dedicated to offering courses, lectures, and learning tours for the general public and educators so people are equipped with the knowledge and perseverance necessary to use history as a vehicle to provide awareness and inspiration.

We work to cultivate intentional spaces for people to come together in community to pursue a common cause for community advancement.

This is a quick view into the work we will be doing. Please follow us on social media @historyandequity to stay informed about our work and future offerings.

We will see you soon!

Purchase here: Order Book

Reclaiming Democracy: A History of Voter History of Voter Disenfranchisement and the Future of Voter Empowerment focuses on the strategic measures that African Americans, and others, have undertaken to create a just and inclusive democracy in which voting should be a central and unencumbered hallmark of freedom and citizenship. Their struggles laid a foundation to protect the voting rights of many groups. Voting remains a continuously contested right today, and African Americans are often disproportionately impacted by voter restriction measures. This volume is designed to serve as a teaching tool about history, as well as a handbook for the creation of voting justice. History serves as both primer and prologue for organizations and individuals interested in ensuring that voting remains an accessible attribute of democracy. History reveals the struggles and triumphs of the past as it demonstrates how societies can work to achieve equity and secure a just and inclusive democracy.

Editors: Terry Anne Scott, Victoria Elias, Devon Geary

Contributors: Terry Anne Scott, Victoria Elias, Jordyn Schulte, Devon Geary, Emilie Amt, Keisha Blain, Asha Douglas, Charles Douglas, Celestria Hill, Hasan Kwame Jefferies, Edith Lee-Payne, Ezri Scott, Oni Scott, Yohuru Williams, and Bob Zellner.

Purchase here: Order Book

Our anthology, Reclaiming Democracy:  A History of Voter Suppression and the Future of Voter Empowerment!  We want you to know that two-thirds (nearly $50) of every book sold goes DIRECTLY to our work with educators. This is a way for you to support our work and own an incredible and beautiful volume that moves us through education and action.

Purchase here: https://institute-for-common-power.myshopify.com/products/reclaiming-democracy-a-history-of-voter-disenfranchisement-and-the-future-of-voter-empowerment?variant=46541591314631

Reclaiming Democracy: A History of Voter Disenfranchisement and the Future of Voter Empowerment explores the precariousness of voting rights for Black people in America, the group that has historically faced the most discernible and pernicious obstacles to voting in the country. Through essays, primary sources, literature, photography, and more, this work tells the story of how and why African Americans were disenfranchised. It focuses on the strategic measures that they, and others, have undertaken to create a just and inclusive democracy in which voting should be a central and unencumbered hallmark of freedom and citizenship. Their struggles laid a foundation to protect the voting rights of many groups. Voting remains a continuously contested right today, and African Americans are often disproportionately impacted by voter restriction measures. This volume is designed to serve as a teaching tool about history, as well as a handbook for the creation of voting justice. History serves as both primer and prologue for organizations and individuals interested in ensuring that voting becomes an accessible attribute of democracy.

---------------------------------------------------

• 170 Pages: Featuring a blend of essays and photography

• Hardcover: Premium, durable binding

• Overall Dimensions: 12”w x 9.5”h

• Versatile: Makes a great gift or a robust classroom learning tool

• Display: Perfectly suited as a sophisticated coffee table centerpiece

Editors: 

Terry Anne Scott

Victoria Elias

Devon Geary

Featured Contributors: 

KEISHA N. BLAIN is Professor of Africana Studies and History at Brown University and an award-winning historian of twentieth-century United States history. She is the author and editor of eight books, including Without Fear: Black Women and the Making of Human Rights (W.W. Norton, 2025), a New York Times bestseller.

HASAN KWAME JEFFRIES is a historian and public intellectual whose work explores the African American freedom movement and the enduring struggle for democracy in the United States. He is the College of Arts and Sciences Alumni Associate Professor of History at The Ohio State University and the author of Bloody Lowndes: Civil Rights and Black Power in Alabama’s Black Belt.

YOHURU WILLIAMS is Distinguished University Chair, Professor of History, and Founding Director of the Racial Justice Initiative at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota.

BOB ZELLNER has been an organizer in the Civil Rights Movement from the 1960s to today. A participant in the Freedom Rides of 1961 and the first white Southerner to serve as a field secretary for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), he worked alongside Martin Luther King Jr., John Lewis, Rosa Parks, and many other civil rights leaders.

Purchase here: https://institute-for-common-power.myshopify.com/products/reclaiming-democracy-a-history-of-voter-disenfranchisement-and-the-future-of-voter-empowerment?variant=46541591314631

Purchase here: PRESALE: Reclaiming Democracy: A History of Voter Disenfranchisement a – Institute for Common Power

Reclaiming Democracy: A History of Voter Disenfranchisement and the Future of Voter Empowerment explores the precariousness of voting rights for Black people in America, the group that has historically faced the most discernible and pernicious obstacles to voting in the country. Through essays, primary sources, literature, photography, and more, this work tells the story of how and why African Americans were disenfranchised. It focuses on the strategic measures that they, and others, have undertaken to create a just and inclusive democracy in which voting should be a central and unencumbered hallmark of freedom and citizenship. Their struggles laid a foundation to protect the voting rights of many groups. Voting remains a continuously contested right today, and African Americans are often disproportionately impacted by voter restriction measures. This volume is designed to serve as a teaching tool about history, as well as a handbook for the creation of voting justice. History serves as both primer and prologue for organizations and individuals interested in ensuring that voting becomes an accessible attribute of democracy.

---------------------------------------------------

• 170 Pages: Featuring a blend of essays and photography

• Hardcover: Premium, durable binding

• Overall Dimensions: 12”w x 9.5”h

• Versatile: Makes a great gift or a robust classroom learning tool

• Display: Perfectly suited as a sophisticated coffee table centerpiece

Editors: 

Terry Anne Scott

Victoria Elias

Devon Geary

Featured Contributors: 

KEISHA N. BLAIN is Professor of Africana Studies and History at Brown University and an award-winning historian of twentieth-century United States history. She is the author and editor of eight books, including Without Fear: Black Women and the Making of Human Rights (W.W. Norton, 2025), a New York Times bestseller.

HASAN KWAME JEFFRIES is a historian and public intellectual whose work explores the African American freedom movement and the enduring struggle for democracy in the United States. He is the College of Arts and Sciences Alumni Associate Professor of History at The Ohio State University and the author of Bloody Lowndes: Civil Rights and Black Power in Alabama’s Black Belt.

YOHURU WILLIAMS is Distinguished University Chair, Professor of History, and Founding Director of the Racial Justice Initiative at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota.

BOB ZELLNER has been an organizer in the Civil Rights Movement from the 1960s to today. A participant in the Freedom Rides of 1961 and the first white Southerner to serve as a field secretary for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), he worked alongside Martin Luther King Jr., John Lewis, Rosa Parks, and many other civil rights leaders.

Purchase here: PRESALE: Reclaiming Democracy: A History of Voter Disenfranchisement a – Institute for Common Power

There exists an enduring assumption that the Emancipation Proclamation ushered in the end of slavery by 1863, which is a falsity that seeks to revise truth as it denies the fortitude necessary to make freedom a reality. The Emancipation Proclamation only freed enslaved people in Confederate-occupied territories during the Civil War, which rendered the pathway to freedom nearly impossible and potentially lethal. Thus, freedom did not come in a singular moment with the swift penning of a well-intentioned dictate. Freedom, instead, was a process—one fueled initially by self-emancipatory efforts. Of the nearly four million African Americans enslaved by the eve of the Civil War in 1861, more than 500,000 would risk their lives and abscond from their places of enslavement to find freedom elsewhere—from the treacherous marshlands of the Mississippi Delta to the bustling urban centers of Canadian territories, or the subjective security of Union strongholds.

They left on their own volition and altered the very aim of the federal government, an aim that shifted from one defined by the preservation of the union to one that privileged freedom over slavery. In April 1865, the surrender of Confederate commander Robert E. Lee and his army at Virginia’s Appomattox Courthouse, together with the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment by the United States Senate, ushered in the official end of slavery—for most. Enslaved African Americans in Texas would find a more challenging path to freedom, one that would lead to the creation of a widely celebrated and frequently misunderstood holiday—Juneteenth.

During the winter of 1860, Texas delegates to the state convention approved an ordinance of secession by a vote of 166 to 8. By the end of March 1861, Texas had joined the Confederacy. Over the next several years, planters from surrounding southern states moved their slaves to Texas in an effort to keep them away from Union troops who could help to secure their freedom. As a result, the state’s enslaved population reached nearly one quarter of a million by the war’s end in 1865. Buffered from the geo-politics that typically kept enslaved people informed about regional and national developments, African Americans in Texas remained largely unaware that freedom had arrived.

When General Gordon Granger, accompanied by approximately 2,000 Union troops, arrived in Galveston, Texas on June 18, 1865, he was conceivably weary. The war had drawn on for four years and Texas remained unoccupied by Union forces, until Granger’s arrival. The day after he landed at the littoral city, in a tale some argue is given more to legend than reality (some say he actually stayed perched on his horse), Granger stood on the balcony of the Ashton Villa, a Victorian style home used as the local Confederate headquarters, and read the words that would level the racial hierarchy in the state of Texas. Despite his actual location, what remains undisputed are the words he read from General Order No. 3:

The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and hired help.

The federal decree presented by Granger demolished the world that white Texans had created. “An absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property,” as noted in Granger’s order, between white and black people seemed inconceivable to those invested in the value of their whiteness, a value inextricably tied to the debased status of African Americans. Shortly thereafter, the Texas Almanac printed a column on the state’s cotton crop that lamented the loss of a free labor force and revealed the racist sentiments that would challenge black freedom efforts. African Americans, the columnist insisted, should be “indebted” to slavery for their “advancement, originally, from a state of humanity the lowest and most degraded known to mankind, to one comparatively civilized.”

Juneteenth Celebration in Austin, Texas, on June 19, 1900

In the now pending absence of a stark divide between White and Black, and the dismantling of a labor system that firmly subjugated blackness, efforts to restrict Black freedom and halt Black progress would increase exponentially for decades. Such efforts, however, would not prevent African Americans in Texas from establishing a life in freedom. Black sovereignty in varied forms—including migration out of Texas, as well as the establishment of businesses, schools, institutions of worship, and political power—would be the hallmarks of Reconstruction in Texas and the South at-large, a Black hegemony that would endure despite mounting efforts to dismantle it.

In the midst of rapid changes immediately following the war, Juneteenth became a resounding and lasting symbol of Black autonomy, resistance, and remembrance. While word of General Order No. 3 took several months to spread through the state and reach those who remained in bondage, June 19 (Juneteenth) remained the consensus date for celebration. For African Americans in Texas, June 19 marked, with unmistakable resolve, the beginning of a new life, one absent of a master slave dyad and instead fueled by an unshakable desire to create a world that bore all of the symbols of freedom. By 1866, celebrations across the state to commemorate that splendid day when freedom arrived included picnics, parades, and oratory. Over the next several decades, the merriments encompassed rodeos, fishing, baseball games, fairs, and other celebratory activities. By 1900, Juneteenth was informally known as Texas Emancipation Day and was widely considered the most celebrated holiday among African Americans across the state.

Juneteenth remained an unofficial festivity, however, until 1980 when Al Edwards, an African American state legislator, encouraged the passage of a bill he drafted that rendered Juneteenth an official state holiday. By that time, Black Texans who migrated to the North, Southwest and west coast had carried their culture, including the significance and celebration of Juneteenth, to the burgeoning Black communities of cities such as Los Angeles, Phoenix, and Seattle.

In the midst of events that occurred in 2020, including the police murders of several Black people and a pandemic that revealed clear structural racism, people’s awareness of Juneteenth spread. The importance of the holiday increasingly held sway over those interested in somehow mitigating the disastrous treatment of African Americans while recognizing our collective history. Juneteenth rose in importance and visibility. In June 2021, President Joe Biden signed a bill that recognized Juneteenth as the 12th federal holiday.

We spent time learning about the recent United States Supreme Court rulings that have gutted the Voting Rights Act. We also learned about the history of race and voter disenfranchisement, as well as what we can do today to secure voting rights.

Register for our next event, Juneteenth and America at 250, Here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/juneteenth-and-america-at-250-the-history-and-why-it-matters-today-tickets-1990803432658?aff=oddtdtcreator

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Thursday, June 11 at 5 pm PST

Register here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/juneteenth-and-america-at-250-the-history-and-why-it-matters-today-tickets-1990803432658?aff=oddtdtcreator

The Lynching of Henry Smith

When Henry Smith disembarked the train at Paris, Texas on February 1, 1893, the sea of heads visible from the depot’s platform revealed the fate that awaited him. Captured in Arkansas on February 1, Smith was transported to the Texas town to be tortured and burned to death by a mob numbering near 15,000 (Osofsky, 181-184). Smith’s cruel, slow death—the strange mix of pageantry and exhibitionist violence—foregrounds burning by mob as a performative, recreational, despotic, and racialized scheme that discloses much about the correlation between the ritualization of death by burning and alleged transgressions against white women and girls. Race stood as central to this algorithm for dominion. While white people were often harassed, threatened, or even hanged by mobs, for those accused of crimes—even crimes against white women and girls—burning was never a feasible option in the state of Texas (Scott 2022, Appendix). To be sure, several years before Smith’s burning, a white man in Paris, Texas named J. E. Robinson was accused of attempting to rape a white, eight-year-old girl. A mob forced him to the banks of the nearby Red River and instructed him not to return to the area. The man left, alive. Smith, by stark contrast, would not be allotted such a fate.

…

When the train carrying Smith enroute to Paris pulled into the station at Texarkana, five thousand people awaited his arrival. The prior year, a Texarkana crowd numbering close to 15,000 burned Edward Coy, a Black man accused of assaulting a white woman, on the Arkansas side of the border. Concerned that Texarkana residents would detain Smith, lynch him, and subsequently dispossess Paris residents of their ability to exact a perverse form of justice, a delegation of Paris’s “prominent” citizens, the district attorney among them, gave speeches at the depot and “asked that…the guard be allowed to deliver [Smith] up to the outraged and indignant citizens of Paris,” one observer noted (Wells 1894, 32). It seems the people of Texarkana obliged. The train continued, with Smith aboard, to the station at Paris where, it appeared, the actions of Texarkana residents would nevertheless influence the murderous affairs of their neighbors ninety miles to the east as the deaths of Coy and Smith would parallel one another in both pageantry and scope.

An eyewitness account offers a glimpse into Smith’s disposition along the way: “The Negro, for a long time after starting on the journey to Paris, did not realize his plight…When he was told that he must die by slow torture he begged for protection. His agony was awful. He pleaded and writhed in bodily and mental pain” (Wells 1894, 33). Once Smith arrived in Paris around noon that Wednesday in February, he was anxious, even sullen—a state that was likely intensified when he saw a massive crowd gathered near the platform awaiting his appearance. Residents from around the state requested that the railroad companies run “special trains to bring people here to see the un-paralleled punishment of a fiend for an unparalleled crime” (Ownby 1893, 41). The companies obliged as the town was filled with visitors who wished to partake in the day’s events: “They came from Dallas, Fort Worth, Sherman, Denison, Bonham, Texarkana, Fort Smith, Ark., and a party of fifteen from Hempstead County, Arkansas, where he was captured. Every train that came in was loaded to its utmost capacity,” noted the eyewitness. A relative of Myrtle Vance later stated, “every train that arrived from any direction was crowded to suffocation by the aroused people of neighboring towns at even considerable distances from us.” “The sidewalks, windows, awnings—in short, every available inch of space,” he continued, “from which a view of the street could be had, was filled by a human being….” Thousands of people, Paris residents and others who poured into the city from across the state, chose to situate themselves in the midst of the occasion absent from work or other formal constraints—free to participate in the events as they unfolded, free to direct the expenditures of their own time.

To read more from this entry and others, purchase Lynching in America: An Encyclopedia here.

Images from Library of Congress.

The right to vote has forever been a struggle in America. Everyday Americans have always been the foot soldiers. Now it’s our time.

LIVE ON THE GROUND IN SELMA + MONTGOMERY, AL

Sunday, June 7, 2026

JOING US ON ZOOM! 9 am PST / 12 pm EST

The Institute for Common Power

We have entered waters that are horribly familiar in the United States. The assault on the voting rights of African Americans and other People of Color never stops. From Jefferson Davis and the Confederacy to racial segregation and terror lynching to George Wallace and Massive Resistance against civil rights to Donald Trump and MAGA, it’s all part of the same through line. The Supreme Court’s recent Callais decision gutting the Voting Rights Act is horrible. But in knowing our history, and with resolve and strategy today, we march forward.

Photographer Matt Herron.

Register here:

https://fighttovoteteachin.eventbrite.com

As democracy foot soldiers have done forever, we are not going to let anyone turn us around in our fight for what should be the most Common Power for All Citizens in American Democracy: The Right to Vote.

Join us for four hours of learning, inspiration, and determination with heroes past, present, and forward, live from sacred sites that drove us to the most important small-d democratic piece of legislation in American history: the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Now we march.

Teach-In Leaders:

Dr. Terry Anne Scott

Director, The Institute for Common Power

Dr. Terry Anne Scott is an award-winning historian, author, and speaker. She is the Director of the Institute for Common Power, an educational 501(c)3 branch of Common Power that catalyzes people to action through experiential learning opportunities such as workshops, lectures, courses, learning tours, national educational events. Dr. Scott is a former Professor of African American History and Chair of the Department of History at Hood College. She has also taught at the University of Washington and the University of Maryland. Dr. Scott is an Associate Editor for the Journal of Sports History and a member of the Editorial Staff for the Journal of American History. She is the author of several books, including Lynching and Leisure: Race and the Transformation of Mob Violence in Texas (winner of the 2022 Ottis Lock Endowment Best Book Award) and the forthcoming From Bed-Stuy to the Hall of Fame: The Unexpected Life of Lenny Wilkens. She is also the editor of Seattle Sports: Play, Identity, and Pursuit in the Emerald City. Dr. Scott appears in several critically-acclaimed documentaries, including “Lynching Postcards: Token of a Great Day,” which won a 2022 NAACP Image Award and was short-listed for an Academy Award. She is also featured in the Emmy-nominated documentary “Sound of the Police.”

-------------------------------------------------------------

Mr. Charles Mauldin

Mr. Mauldin was 6th in line on Bloody Sunday on the Edmund Pettus Bridge, March 7 1967, in his leadership role as Head of the Dallas County Youth League. The five men in front of him have passed away. Mr. Mauldin is an American hero, and he speaks with groups all over the world about the Voting Rights Campaign in Selma. He is a Champion of Common Power, the nation’s premier Organizing Force for recruiting, educating, and mobilizing next-generation leaders and everyday volunteers to fight for the right to vote and to win elections.

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Dr. Yohuru Williams

Dr. Yohuru Williams is Distinguished University Chair and Professor of History and founding director of the Racial Justice Initiative at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota. Dr. Williams received his Ph.D. from Howard University in 1998.

Dr. Williams is the author of Black Politics/White Power: Civil Rights Black Power and Black Panthers in New Haven (Blackwell, 2006), Rethinking the Black Freedom Movement (Routledge, 2015), and Teaching beyond the Textbook: Six Investigative Strategies (Corwin Press, 2008) and the editor of A Constant Struggle: African American History from 1865 to the Present Documents and Essays (Kendall Hunt, 2002). He is the co-editor of The Black Panthers: Portraits of an Unfinished Revolution (Nation Books, 2016), In Search of the Black Panther Party, New Perspectives on a Revolutionary Movement (Duke, 2006), and Liberated Territory: Toward a Local History of the Black Panther Party (Duke, 2008). He also served as general editor for the Association for the Study of African American Life and History’s 2002 and 2003 Black History Month publications, The Color Line Revisited (Tapestry Press, 2002) and The Souls of Black Folks: Centennial Reflections (Africa World Press, 2003). Dr. Williams served as an advisor on the popular civil rights reader Putting the Movement Back into Civil Rights Teaching.

Dr. Williams has appeared on a variety of local and national radio and television programs most notably ABC, CNN, MSNBC, Aljazeera America, BET, CSPAN, Fox Business News, Huff Post Live, and NPR and was featured in the Ken Burns PBS Documentary Jackie Robinson (2016), the Stanley Nelson PBS Documentary, The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution (2015), and the Judd Ehrlich film The Price of Freedom (2021). He was also one of the hosts of the History Channel’s Web Series, Sound Smart and was a featured commentator on History’s popular series, “The Titans that Built America” (2021) and “The Food That Built America” (2019).

-------------------------------------------------------------

Dr. Hasan Kwame Jeffries

Professor, The Ohio State University

Dr. Hasan Kwame Jeffries teaches, researches, and writes about the African American experience from a historical perspective.

He has chronicled the civil rights movement in the ten-episode Audible Originals series “Great Figures of the Civil Rights Movement,” and has told the remarkable story of the original Black Panther Party in Bloody Lowndes: Civil Rights and Black Power in Alabama’s Black Belt, which has been praised as “the book historians of the black freedom movement have been waiting for.”

Dr. Jeffries has collaborated on several public history projects, including serving as the lead scholar and primary scriptwriter for the $27 million renovation and redesign of the National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Hotel in Memphis, Tennessee, the site of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Dr. Jeffries regularly shares his expertise on African American history and contemporary Black politics through public lectures, op-eds, and interviews with print, radio, and television news outlets, including the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, NPR, CNN, and MSNBC.

Dr. Jeffries graduated from Morehouse College in 1994 with a BA in history, and earned his PhD in American history with a specialization in African American history from Duke University in 2002.

-------------------------------------------------------------

Dr. David Domke

David Domke worked as a journalist for several newspapers in the 1980s and early 1990s before earning a PhD in 1996. He served as a Professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Washington until retirement in 2021. His research focused on communication, politics, and public opinion in the United States. In 2002 he received the University of Washington’s Distinguished Teaching Award. In 2006, he was named the Washington state Professor of the Year by the Council for Advancement and Support of Education and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. He is a co-author of The God Strategy: How Religion Became A Political Weapon in America, and he teaches on voting rights in America to groups across the nation.

LIVE ON THE GROUND IN SELMA + MONTGOMERY, AL

Sunday, June 7, 2026

Join us on Zoom!

The Institute for Common Power

We have entered waters that are horribly familiar in the United States. The assault on the voting rights of African Americans and other People of Color never stops. From Jefferson Davis and the Confederacy to racial segregation and terror lynching to George Wallace and Massive Resistance against civil rights to Donald Trump and MAGA, it’s all part of the same through line. The Supreme Court’s recent Callais decision gutting the Voting Rights Act is horrible. But in knowing our history, and with resolve and strategy today, we march forward.

Register here: https://fighttovoteteachin.eventbrite.com

As democracy foot soldiers have done forever, we are not going to let anyone turn us around in our fight for what should be the most Common Power for All Citizens in American Democracy: The Right to Vote.

Join us for four hours of learning, inspiration, and determination with heroes past, present, and forward, live from sacred sites that drove us to the most important small-d democratic piece of legislation in American history: the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Now we march.

Teach-In Leaders:

Dr. Terry Anne Scott

Director, The Institute for Common Power

Dr. Terry Anne Scott is an award-winning historian, author, and speaker. She is the Director of the Institute for Common Power, an educational 501(c)3 branch of Common Power that catalyzes people to action through experiential learning opportunities such as workshops, lectures, courses, learning tours, national educational events. Dr. Scott is a former Professor of African American History and Chair of the Department of History at Hood College. She has also taught at the University of Washington and the University of Maryland. Dr. Scott is an Associate Editor for the Journal of Sports History and a member of the Editorial Staff for the Journal of American History. She is the author of several books, including Lynching and Leisure: Race and the Transformation of Mob Violence in Texas (winner of the 2022 Ottis Lock Endowment Best Book Award) and the forthcoming From Bed-Stuy to the Hall of Fame: The Unexpected Life of Lenny Wilkens. She is also the editor of Seattle Sports: Play, Identity, and Pursuit in the Emerald City. Dr. Scott appears in several critically-acclaimed documentaries, including “Lynching Postcards: Token of a Great Day,” which won a 2022 NAACP Image Award and was short-listed for an Academy Award. She is also featured in the Emmy-nominated documentary “Sound of the Police.”

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Mr. Charles Mauldin

Mr. Mauldin was 6th in line on Bloody Sunday on the Edmund Pettus Bridge, March 7 1967, in his leadership role as Head of the Dallas County Youth League. The five men in front of him have passed away. Mr. Mauldin is an American hero, and he speaks with groups all over the world about the Voting Rights Campaign in Selma. He is a Champion of Common Power, the nation’s premier Organizing Force for recruiting, educating, and mobilizing next-generation leaders and everyday volunteers to fight for the right to vote and to win elections.

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Dr. Yohuru Williams

Dr. Yohuru Williams is Distinguished University Chair and Professor of History and founding director of the Racial Justice Initiative at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota. Dr. Williams received his Ph.D. from Howard University in 1998.

Dr. Williams is the author of Black Politics/White Power: Civil Rights Black Power and Black Panthers in New Haven (Blackwell, 2006), Rethinking the Black Freedom Movement (Routledge, 2015), and Teaching beyond the Textbook: Six Investigative Strategies (Corwin Press, 2008) and the editor of A Constant Struggle: African American History from 1865 to the Present Documents and Essays (Kendall Hunt, 2002). He is the co-editor of The Black Panthers: Portraits of an Unfinished Revolution (Nation Books, 2016), In Search of the Black Panther Party, New Perspectives on a Revolutionary Movement (Duke, 2006), and Liberated Territory: Toward a Local History of the Black Panther Party (Duke, 2008). He also served as general editor for the Association for the Study of African American Life and History’s 2002 and 2003 Black History Month publications, The Color Line Revisited (Tapestry Press, 2002) and The Souls of Black Folks: Centennial Reflections (Africa World Press, 2003). Dr. Williams served as an advisor on the popular civil rights reader Putting the Movement Back into Civil Rights Teaching.

Dr. Williams has appeared on a variety of local and national radio and television programs most notably ABC, CNN, MSNBC, Aljazeera America, BET, CSPAN, Fox Business News, Huff Post Live, and NPR and was featured in the Ken Burns PBS Documentary Jackie Robinson (2016), the Stanley Nelson PBS Documentary, The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution (2015), and the Judd Ehrlich film The Price of Freedom (2021). He was also one of the hosts of the History Channel’s Web Series, Sound Smart and was a featured commentator on History’s popular series, “The Titans that Built America” (2021) and “The Food That Built America” (2019).

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Dr. Hasan Kwame Jeffries

Professor, The Ohio State University

Dr. Hasan Kwame Jeffries teaches, researches, and writes about the African American experience from a historical perspective.

He has chronicled the civil rights movement in the ten-episode Audible Originals series “Great Figures of the Civil Rights Movement,” and has told the remarkable story of the original Black Panther Party in Bloody Lowndes: Civil Rights and Black Power in Alabama’s Black Belt, which has been praised as “the book historians of the black freedom movement have been waiting for.”

Dr. Jeffries has collaborated on several public history projects, including serving as the lead scholar and primary scriptwriter for the $27 million renovation and redesign of the National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Hotel in Memphis, Tennessee, the site of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Dr. Jeffries regularly shares his expertise on African American history and contemporary Black politics through public lectures, op-eds, and interviews with print, radio, and television news outlets, including the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, NPR, CNN, and MSNBC.

Dr. Jeffries graduated from Morehouse College in 1994 with a BA in history, and earned his PhD in American history with a specialization in African American history from Duke University in 2002.

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Dr. David Domke

David Domke worked as a journalist for several newspapers in the 1980s and early 1990s before earning a PhD in 1996. He served as a Professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Washington until retirement in 2021. His research focused on communication, politics, and public opinion in the United States. In 2002 he received the University of Washington’s Distinguished Teaching Award. In 2006, he was named the Washington state Professor of the Year by the Council for Advancement and Support of Education and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. He is a co-author of The God Strategy: How Religion Became A Political Weapon in America, and he teaches on voting rights in America to groups across the nation.

Register here: https://fighttovoteteachin.eventbrite.com

We have entered waters that are horribly familiar in the United States. The assault on the voting rights of African Americans and other People of Color never stops. From Jefferson Davis and the Confederacy to racial segregation and terror lynching to George Wallace and Massive Resistance against civil rights to Donald Trump and MAGA, it’s all part of the same through line. The Supreme Court’s recent Callais decision gutting the Voting Rights Act is horrible. But in knowing our history, and with resolve and strategy today, we march forward.

As democracy footsoldiers have done forever, we are not going to let anyone turn us around in our fight for what should be the most Common Power for All Citizens in American Democracy: The Right to Vote.

Join us for four hours of learning, inspiration, and determination with heroes past, present, and forward, live from sacred sites that drove us to the most important small-d democratic piece of legislation in American history: the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Now we march.

Leaders and speakers: Dr. Terry Anne Scott, Dr. David Domke, Mr. Charles Maulding, Dr. Yohuru Williams, Dr. Hasan Jeffries

Register here: https://fighttovoteteachin.eventbrite.com

Applications are due on June 1. Please share this with people in the field of education.

Apply here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSchLjwxjwV8BlN_Xw6jJl-sDF065CE3Uhwz2iCvbDv-fvBD5g/viewform

The volume is edited by Dr. Terry Anne Scott, Victoria Elias, Jordyn Schulte, and Dr. Devon Geary. It includes contributions by Dr. Hasan Kwame Jeffries, Dr. Keisha Blain, Dr. Yohuru Williams, Bob Zellner, and more.

Add your name to the list for purchase here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdIZfa9vfcbQ9bGv67AGtbg3C5q-ZYXFY5ErsToDsX370PZ7Q/viewform?usp=header

This volume could not come at a better time. Last month, the United States Supreme Court (USSC) voted 6-3 in Louisiana v. Callais to further gut the Voting Rights Act. The decision held that race cannot be considered in the drawing of political districts. The six USSC justices misappropriated a “colorblind” argument to cement the denial of continued racial discrimination in the drawing of political maps. In her dissent, Justice Elena Kagan characterized the ruling as the “latest chapter in the majority’s now-completed demolition of the Voting Rights Act.” “The majority claims only to be ‘updat[ing]’ our Section 2 law, as though through a few technical tweaks,” she continued, “But in fact, those ‘updates’ eviscerate the law.”

This recent asphyxiating tide of voter suppression laws and USSC rulings—the scripted replaying of denying the ballot to select groups for the purpose of unmitigated political control—demonstrates a longstanding belief held by too many in this country about the devalued nature of some groups’ rights and humanity. It is a belief that has historically found repeated legal standing in countless court cases. Indeed, the actions of those who seek to limit the vote sit squarely on a historical continuum of the racist ideology that undergirded the creation and implementation of literacy tests, poll taxes, grandfather clauses, and outright violence used to stop people, mostly Black people, from voting. Such ideologies, validated historically through the directives of law, continue to empower some to so firmly believe that the place of Black people is on the lowest rungs of a racial and political hierarchy that they will quell, once again primarily through facially neutral voting laws, any suggestion echoed by marginalized groups that they are citizens with inalienable rights equal to all others.

Despite the ongoing actions of those committed to injustice, we know that these antiquated ideas and discriminatory voting laws shall be defeated by righteousness and all who value truth over lies, justice over fear. Hate will falter before the strength of virtue and decency. History tells us that change has occurred through the persistence of those who work for voting justice—those who have chosen to stand together with so many others in the long movement for progress, for equity. We must now work to safeguard the monumental changes they determinedly secured as we continue to create a world of parity, a world where we honor difference and reject injustice–a world of possibility. We must hearken the veracity of the words spoken by the late John Lewis: “When you see something that is not right, not fair, not just, you have a moral obligation to continue to speak up, to speak out.”

Add your name to the list for purchase here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdIZfa9vfcbQ9bGv67AGtbg3C5q-ZYXFY5ErsToDsX370PZ7Q/viewform?usp=header

Throughout this series, you’ve heard directly from our Institute Educator Ambassadors; stories of transformation on learning tours and the actions that followed. From the classroom to the field, these educators have shown us what it means to move from reflection to action. And we are committed to continuing to make both possible.

We close this campaign with a reflection from an educator who has participated in multiple fieldwork trips. In her own words, what began as skepticism became a deeper understanding of community, belonging, and the role educators can play beyond the classroom. Her story reminds us that the work of teaching and the work of democracy are not separate, they are deeply connected.

Here’s todays Dispatch:

“When I first learned that Common Power provided educators with opportunities to participate in canvassing fieldwork, I was honestly skeptical. Not because I didn’t believe in the values of the organization, but because I doubted my own impact talking to strangers about politics.

But as an educator, one of the habits of mind I try to pass on to my students is having a growth mindset and being open to new possibilities, ideas, and situations. So, I found myself in Las Vegas, with a group of people that I had mostly never met before, going door-to-door, advocating for candidates I knew very little about in the June desert heat. It sounds uncomfortable, but I found myself embracing the discomfort and learning new things about myself. I found that I really do love community, collaboration, and challenging myself to take action in new ways. Talking with voters about issues they care about is really no different than what we do as educators in the classroom every day. We talk to students about the things they care about, and we relate with them and help them relate to the content and skills we teach.

Common Power has figured some things out that we all can learn from in how show up as our civic selves. They understand the value in bringing people together from different situations, places, and stations in life where everyone has a role and voice, working for a common cause. In our profession as educators, we talk a lot about creating a sense of “belonging” in our school communities, and it really is harder to do than it seems. Until we learn to practice democracy ourselves in active ways beyond educating and voting, true belonging and inclusion remain a dream. Common Power has found a formula for belonging that works in the field and motivates volunteers to want to keep coming back for the Beloved Community of dreams.”

- Kendra Egly, Washington State Educator

This story is part of our Frontline Educators Campaign, a two-month fundraising effort running through the end of March.

You can support our educators in two ways:

1. Sponsor an Educator for the Institute for Common Power’s Truth and Purpose Learning Tour (c3, tax-deductible) here.

2. Sponsor an Educator to knock on doors and mobilize voters (c4, non–tax-deductible) here.

As an educator, I recognize the critical role of organizing and voter outreach because I see how policies directly impact my students, their families, and the resources available to our schools. My responsibilities extend beyond the classroom; supporting civic engagement is an extension of teaching. It’s about fostering informed, active communities where my students can thrive. Empowered families create stronger support systems for children by advocating for themselves and voting.

Door-to-door outreach also resonates with my core educational values: listening. Just as I listen to my students to understand their needs, engaging with community members allows me to hear their concerns and connect them with opportunities to make their voices heard. This reminds me that change isn’t abstract—it’s personal.

Ultimately, I participate because I believe in the power of people. I want my students to grow up in communities where their voices are valued, and I believe that doing this work now helps make that future possible. Common Power is a gift to our country, and of course I want and need to help! For my students and their future, I know this effort cannot stop here. Each door, each conversation, reinforces my belief in this mission—and reminds me that there is still so much more work to do.

- Jaimee N. Jones, Illinois Educator

This story is part of our Frontline Educators Campaign, a two-month fundraising effort running through the end of March.

You can support our educators in two ways:

1. Sponsor an Educator for the Institute for Common Power’s Truth and Purpose Learning Tour (c3, tax-deductible) here.

2. Sponsor an Educator to knock on doors and mobilize voters (c4, non–tax-deductible) here.

Interested in supporting this work or have more questions? Reach out to us at Institute@commonpower.org

Here’s today’s dispatch:

I absolutely plan to participate in door-knocking with Common Power because it feels like the clearest learning-to-action step I can take. The Truth and Purpose Learning Tour deepened my understanding , door-knocking allows me to live it.

For me, organizing and voter outreach are extensions of my role as an educator. Teaching is not confined to four classroom walls. It is about engaging people in dialogue, meeting them where they are, and offering information in a way that invites reflection and growth. Door-knocking is one of the most concrete ways to do that.

We are living in a time where many people are sitting with the repercussions of the 2024 election. There is confusion, frustration, fear, and, for some, regret. I believe this is a moment where people may be open to reconsidering, but the approach matters. It cannot be rooted in shame or guilt. Calling people out rarely moves them forward. Calling people in; with love, with curiosity, with respect does.

As an educator, I know that transformation happens when people feel seen and heard. The way out of hate is not more hate , it is love paired with truth. That is why Common Power’s approach resonates so deeply with me. There is strategy, there is structure, and there is heart. It is not reactive; it is intentional.

Personally, door-knocking also allows me to channel the rage and sadness that can surface from watching the news into purposeful action. It transforms overwhelm into movement. It gives me a way to contribute rather than just consume.

And perhaps most importantly, it allows me to build community while doing it. I want to invite friends and family to join , to turn organizing into shared action. Let’s learn together. Let’s engage together. Let’s be part of something that moves us toward a more just future.

For me, participating in Common Power’s work is not optional. It is aligned with my purpose. And when purpose meets action, change becomes possible.

Looking forward to take learning to action steps with Common Power!

-Elizabeth Uraga, New York City Educator

Institute Educator Ambassador Alysia has a tradition in her classroom: whenever she travels, she brings along Goofy. When she returns, Goofy helps her show students where she’s been and what she’s experienced; a simple way of meeting students where they are and bringing the world into the classroom.

This time, Goofy came along for something a little different. Instead of a sightseeing trip, he joined Alysia on her first door-knocking trip with Common Power in Illinois. Now Goofy gets to return to the classroom with stories not just about travel, but about democratic action and what it looks like to step outside the classroom.

Here’s today’s Dispatch:

Goofy sporting Institute gear while out in Illinois!

My Georgia and Alabama Learning Tour was in September 2024, two months before the election of 2024. Political signs, ads, and commercials from both parties bombarded TV, radio, podcast and streaming airwaves. It was a tense time in the United States of America. The day the learning tour started was also the day Hurricane Helene hit Georgia and other Eastern Coast States. Our entire day was planned outside and we continued through even though we were out in the rain the entire day. Sadly, many of the places we were going to visit had closed due to the hurricane, but we stood outside the buildings and heard about the historical events as we walked down Dexter Avenue

A week before the start of the Tennessee and Mississippi Learning Tour, Renee Good was murdered and the horrors of ICE in Minneapolis were in full effect. On the final day of our learning tour, 5 year old Liam Conejo Ramos, was used as bait to lure adults out of his house. Then Liam and his father were sent to a detention center in Texas even though they have an active asylum case.

As a multilingual teacher, I work with students whose families have moved to the United States of America for many reasons. All are looking for a better life and for their children to be educated and safe in school. Last spring, I started handing out “Red Cards: Know Your Rights” to all of my students and their families. I didn’t like the way the government was targeting immigrants and wanted to share resources and information with my multilingual families.

After returning from my Tennessee and Mississippi learning tour, I felt very inspired and motivated to follow in the footsteps of the courageous people we had learned about. Six Educator Ambassadors from Minnesota were on the learning tour and they kept us aware of what was happening in their schools and community during the trip. I was upset with what was happening in Minneapolis and how students were being targeted in their schools.

An email from Common Power told us about upcoming doorknocking trips and to let them know if we would be interested in joining a team. I responded back that I would like to join Team Illinois and go door knocking for Kat Abughazaleh. This would allow me to actively help to put someone in Congress who wants to fight back and hold ICE agents accountable for their actions. This would be my first door knocking and I was nervous about going to a state I don’t reside in and asking people to vote for a candidate I didn’t know that much about. I joined the team late, but found a recording of the Kickoff meeting and watched it. This let me get to know the team leads and volunteers that would be on my trip. I was happy to see many faces I recognized from Institute Courses, Educator Convenings and Common Power Monthly Meetings. When we had our Orientation Meeting it was nice to get to interact through Zoom with fellow team members. The team leads did an amazing job letting us know about the candidate and how things would work once we were in Illinois.

Finally, travel day arrived! I was excited to head to Illinois to get to meet my team and hit the ground to knock on doors. I attended the voluntary tech meeting in the hotel lobby and this gave me more confidence to use the MiniVAN app and my first face to face interaction with fellow team members. The experienced volunteers shared their tips and tricks with door knocking and the app freely. I went to dinner with a few other volunteers and we had a great time getting to know each other while enjoying a yummy meal.

Saturday morning came and I was nervous and excited to get started door knocking. As I was getting breakfast, I noticed that many television screens were reporting that the United States had attacked Iran. I was shocked and saddened by this news but decided to focus on

what I had come to Illinois to do. We had a meeting with our entire team and it was surreal to see people I had been attending Zoom meetings with for years in person. We greeted each other with hugs and felt at ease with each other. We learned about the areas we were about to canvas and got our car assignments for the day. I was happy to be in a car with a Zoom friend and two experienced door knockers. Once we picked up our candidates literature, stickers, water bottles and hand warmers we excitedly headed to our vehicle.

As we drove to our turf, one of the team leads (who was in my car), had us set up a group chat so we could easily message each other. She also asked what things we were comfortable with and what we wanted to learn. This was a great way to see how we were feeling and let us learn a new skill so we could be comfortable and confident as we worked our way through our turf. Once we got to our turf we broke into teams of two and broke the turf in half. We approached our first door and I was nervous but my partner did most of the talking so I could see how she interacted with people. This continued for a few doors and she gradually checked to see how I was feeling and gave me the opportunity to talk to people as well. She kept me on “message” and helped me give voters the top points of our candidate. I had a few difficulties with the candidates last name and as we walked to new houses she helped me break up the name to be able to say it correctly. She guided me all morning long and checked in to see how I was feeling and doing. It made me feel very comfortable and safe being able to watch her first, working together at one door and then working by myself eventually.

We met up with the rest of our team after we finished our turf and went to lunch. This was a great bonding experience as we talked about how our morning had been and things that went well and not so well. It was nice to do this with a community that you know has your back for everything. After lunch, we switched partners and I was partnered up with another veteran volunteer. It was nice seeing another person’s approach to door knocking. Even though we were doing the same thing, they had their unique way of canvassing. Both ways gave me more tools to feel more comfortable approaching doors myself. With both partners, I learned about the person, what brought them to Common Power and personal tidbits about their lives.

All cars met back at the hotel and we had a de-brief. We shared how our day went and stories about the voters we met. It was pleasing to hear that most voters were thankful that we had come to their houses and let them know about the candidate, that widespread voting was beginning and when election day was.

As a hispanic female, I felt that I needed to do more to help change the shape of our country. Everyday there is a new attack on voting, women’s, immigrant or healthcare rights. I don’t want anyone or myself to lose any more rights, so I need to do what I can to fight for everyone’s rights. I enjoyed this first time door knocking experience with a caring community that supported me and guided me the entire time. I was nervous at first, as it is with anything new you try. I always feel safe with the Common Power community and will gladly go on other door knocking trips.

-Alysia Trujillo, Colorado Educator

Dr. Bernard Lafayette was an award-winning educator, writer, ordained minister, and iconic civil rights activist who worked closely with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Rep. John Lewis, Diane Nash, Rev. C. T. Vivian, Rev. James Lawson, and countless others.

Born in Tampa, FL in 1940, Dr. Lafayette attended American Baptist College in Nashville where he and Lewis were roommates. He became a central figure in the city’s student movement and helped desegregate the city before becoming a Freedom Rider. Dr. Lafayette was instrumental in bringing Selma, AL and voting rights into a national lens when, in 1963, as a member of SNCC, he insisted on going to Selma despite others saying that change could not be created there. Lafayette helped launch the Selma campaigns that led to the 1965 Voting Rights Act.

“America is not what it can be. It’s a great nation, but we can be greater now…That’s our challenge for the future.” Dr. Bernard Lafayette

Trained by Dr. King, Rev. Lawson, and others in non-violence, Dr. Lafayette spent decades internationalizing nonviolence training through centers, workshops, and interventions in civil conflicts. He successfully arbitrated conflicts in Wounded Knee, SD; South Africa; and Columbia. Lafayette earned an MEd (1972) and a doctorate (1974) from Harvard University. He was Chairman of the Board for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.

Dr. Lafayette will be missed, but never ever forgotten.

In late Sept. 2024 I found myself at the crest of the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, AL. The multiracial, multigenerational group of teachers I was with crossed the bridge led by Mr. Charles Mauldin. When I looked down the approach to the bridge, I was hit with what happened 59 years before and the courage it took for the marchers on Bloody Sunday to continue walking into the lines of troopers waiting for them. It was at that point that I knew I did not do enough; I did not put myself in uncomfortable situations to help others. Those souls that marched across that bridge did, and I needed to do more.

On the flight home, I contacted my superintendent to both set up a booth at the remaining football games to register voters and to mobilize our community to pass a school bond for our aging infrastructure. It was a start but was not nearly enough. Knowing that my congressional district in CA was safe, I reached out to Common Power for ideas on where I could go to be of help before the Nov. 2024 election. I went to Phoenix the weekend before the election to live the unofficial creed of Common Power: If not me, who? If not now, when?

While knocking doors in a suburban neighborhood, something that still sticks with me happened: a woman with a Harris sign in her yard told me how good it was that people were present in her cul-de-sac if only to give hope to the people who were afraid to voice the same opinion she proudly displayed. It brought the past 5 weeks into perspective; that showing up and doing all you can do, whether it works or not, gives hope to others. That is what Mr. Mauldin did in 1965, and in 2024, and what I am trying to do and model to my students. We are all able to influence others through our words and actions, teachers maybe moreso. If I do nothing else in my words and actions than show my students to stand up for what they believe most important, they will become more powerful changemakers than I ever will. The Institute for Common Power begins by providing the journey, it is the duty of those that travel on that journey to continue the work necessary to create a government truly of, by, and for all people.

- Jeff Michael, California Educator

As we close out February and reflect on the stories we’ve heard so far in this campaign, we are reminded of the resilience of our educators and the weight they are carrying. And while the month ends, our Frontline Educators Campaign continues through the end of March.

Here’s today’s Dispatch: