Tom Hayden: Looking Back and Forward

Tom Hayden will be speaking at Occidental College this Thursday on the topic, “From the 1960s to Barack Obama: What Now?” The talk starts 7 p.m. in Weingart Hall, Room 117, on the Oxy campus. (Directions to Oxy and a campus map are linked here).

Hayden is one of the most important public figures and influential organizers in American history. A founder of Students for a Democratic Society and author of its seminal manifesto  “The Port Huron Statement,” he has also been a Freedom Rider in the civil rights movement, a community organizer in Newark, the founder of California’s Campaign for Economic Democracy, an elected member of the California legislature for 18 years, and a leader of the movements opposing wars in Vietnam, Central America, Iraq and Afghanistan, and the author of 20 books. Here is Hayden’s website and complete bio: tomhayden.com

Tom is an inspiring speaker and prolific writer. Here’s a newspaper article, “Student Activism Still Relevant 50 Years Later,” about Tom’s recent talk at the University of Michigan. Here are two provocative articles by Tom, “Saving Obama, Saving Ourselves,”  and “Obama’s Legacy is Our Leverage,”about what activists should be doing in the wake of Obama’s victory.