Nonviolence

Information & Educational Resources

Prof. Michael Honey

Welcome to the online repository for information and educational resources on nonviolence. This material was collected by The World House Project in conjunction with the seminar on Nonviolence Organizing in Theory and Practice: Building the Beloved Community and Effective Social Justice Movements , presented by the Harvard Radcliffe Institute.

On March 24 and 25  2022, Prof. Michael Honey brought together over twenty scholars, educators, and activists involved with educating and organizing for social and economic justice for all.  The starting point for the discussions was James Lawson’s recently published book, Revolutionary Nonviolence, Organizing for Freedom. The participants drew on the models of social change and theories and practices of nonviolence from Gandhi to Martin Luther King, Jr., James Lawson, and others.  They discussed how to expand networks of educators and activists to help create a roadmap at this critical juncture, especially for young social movement activists, many of whom may not know of the tactics and strategies of nonviolent direct action and the larger philosophy that in the past produced many movement victories. The material collected for and presented at the seminar is now available on this webpage.

“I left India more convinced than ever before that nonviolent resistance
was the most potent weapon available to oppressed people
in their struggle for freedom.”

Martin Luther King, Jr., 1959

Teaching Resources

Liberation Curriculum

Document-based Lesson Plans, resources, and historical materials

Ubuntu Curriculum

Ubuntu curriculum: a nonviolence framework for K-8 education

Documentary

Trailer

Watch: Michael Honey – Love & Solidarity
Password: M1c43AL

“Love and Solidarity: James Lawson and Nonviolence in the Search for Workers Rights”

Directed by Michael Honey, Love & Solidarity is an exploration of nonviolence and organizing through the life and teachings of Rev. James Lawson. Lawson provided crucial strategic guidance while working with Martin Luther King, Jr., in southern freedom struggles and the Memphis sanitation strike of 1968. Moving to Los Angeles in 1974, Lawson continued his nonviolence organizing in multi-racial community and worker coalitions that have helped to remake the LA labor movement.

Documentary Series

A Force More Powerful is a documentary series on one of the 20th century’s most important and least-known stories: how nonviolent power overcame oppression and authoritarian rule. It includes six cases of movements, and each case is approximately 30 minutes long.

A Force More Powerful

India — begins at 02:15
In India in the 1930s, after Gandhi had returned from South Africa, he and his followers adopted a strategy of refusing to cooperate with British rule. Through civil disobedience and boycotts, they successfully loosened their oppressors’ grip on power and set India on the path to freedom.

USA — begins at 26:17
In the 1960s, Gandhi’s nonviolent weapons were taken up by black college students in Nashville, Tennessee. Disciplined and strictly nonviolent, they successfully desegregated Nashville’s downtown lunch counters in five months, becoming a model for the entire civil rights movement.

South Africa — begins at 51:14
In 1985, a young South African named Mkhuseli Jack led a movement against the legalized discrimination known as apartheid. Their campaign of nonviolent mass action, and a powerful consumer boycott in the Eastern Cape province, awakened whites to black grievances and fatally weakened business support for apartheid.

A Force More Powerful

Denmark — begins at 02:12
In April, 1940, German Deutsch military forces invaded Denmark. Danish leaders adopted a strategy of “resistance disguised as collaboration”—undermining German Deutsch objectives by negotiating, delaying, and obstructing Nazi demands. Underground resistance organized sabotage and strikes, and rescued all but a handful of Denmark’s seven thousand Jews.

Poland — begins at 26:55
In 1980, striking workers in Poland demanded independent unions. Using their leverage to negotiate unprecedented rights in a system where there was no power separate from the Communist Party, they created a union called “Solidarity”. Driven underground by a government crackdown in 1981, Solidarity re-emerged in 1989 as Poland’s governing political party.

Chile — begins at 51:52
In 1983, Chilean workers initiated a wave of nonviolent protests against the military dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet. Severe repression failed to stop the protests, and violent opposition failed to dislodge the dictatorship—until the democratic opposition organized to defeat Pinochet in a 1988 referendum.

Reading Resources

Nonviolent Social Movements

The American Historian – Article by Michael K. Honey, Maria Quintana, and Mira Foster

Reading List K-5

Find here an annotated book list with publications for K-5 students

Social Justice Books

Multicultural and social justice books for children, young adults, and educators

Other Teaching Resources

Immigration Syllabus

Topics, readings, and multimedia, providing historical context to current debates over immigration reform, integration, and citizenship

UC Davis Immigration Project

Home to teacher-tested lessons, strategies, and primary source sets, including digitized resources.

Facing History & Ourselves

Eyes on The Price: A lessons series examining the strategy of nonviolence in response to injustice

Learning For Justice

Learning For Justice. Committing to Nonviolence: A Lesson from Viva La Causa

Zinn Education Project

The Zinn Education Project promotes and supports the teaching of people’s history in classrooms across the country

Stanford History Education Group

The Reading Like a Historian curriculum engages students in historical inquiry

Social Justice Standards

Social Justice Standards offers a Framework for Anti-bias Education

UCLA Teacher Education Program

Elementary Teaching: videos demonstrating social justice practices

Seminar

“Nonviolence Organizing in Theory and Practice:
Building the Beloved Community and Effective Social Justice Movements.”

Exploratory Seminar.
Harvard Radcliffe Institute, March 24-25, 2022

Day 1: Main Ideas

Day 1: Zoom Recording

Day 1: Zoom Transcript

Day 1: Main Ideas

Day 1: Zoom Recording

Day 1: Zoom Transcript

Online Seminar

Nonviolence Organizing in Theory and Practice: Building the Beloved Community and Effective Social Justice Movements

Explore the companion website for the March 24-25, 2022 Seminar at the Harvard Radcliffe Institute