Day 45 - Grace Lee Boggs, Civil Rights Activist, Detroit, Michigan
📌APIA Every Day (45) - Grace Lee Boggs, a multifaceted figure recognized for her impactful contributions to Asian American, Black Power, and Civil Rights movements, was born in 1915 to Chinese immigrants in Providence, Rhode Island. After earning her Ph.D., she relocated to the Midwest, where she worked at the University of Chicago's philosophy library, establishing connections with groups protesting poor living conditions and gaining insights into the Black community. During the 1940s, Boggs played a pivotal role in editing the radical Johnsonite publication Correspondence, translating Karl Marx's letters, and championing the concept of workers' self-activity.
In 1953, Boggs moved to Detroit, a focal point for Johnsonite organizing, and married James Boggs, a Chrysler auto worker and African-American activist. The couple became influential figures, addressing a spectrum of issues, including labor, civil rights, feminism, Black Power, Asian Americans, and environmental concerns. Their association with insurgent groups, notably the Revolutionary Action Movement, drew the attention of the FBI. Throughout the ensuing decades, Grace Lee Boggs not only viewed urban crimes as a by-product of advanced capitalism but also as a moral crisis, actively engaging in various initiatives to address societal issues.
Grace Lee Boggs remained active well into her later years, participating in meetings of Black women organizing against violence in the 1990s and launching Detroit Summer, a program involving youth in community gardens and school projects. Her enduring commitment is reflected in her lectures, a newspaper column she wrote until the age of 98, the publication of her autobiography, and her co-authorship of a book on sustainable activism in the 21st century. Additionally, her legacy persists through her involvement in establishing the James and Grace Lee Boggs School in 2013, integrating Detroit's issues into its curriculum, and her co-founding of the National Organization for an American Revolution (NOAR) alongside James Boggs. How can Grace Lee Boggs’ contributions to the Black Power, Asian American, and Civil Rights Movements be recognized through historic preservation?
LEARN MORE:
The New Yorker: Postscript: Grace Lee Boggs
NPR: Grace Lee Boggs, Activist and American Revolutionary, Turns 100
James and Grace Lee Boggs School: Detroit Summer
LISC: Grace Lee Boggs: An Ally in the Vanguard of Racial Justice
American Revolutionary: The Evolution of Grace Lee Boggs Documentary
Story Corps: The Unedited StoryCorps Interview: Grace Lee Boggs, 1915-2015
State of Opportunity: Making an Education Vision Real in Detroit
WETA: American Revolutionary: Meet Grace Lee Boggs Video
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