Homeboy Came to Orange launches in Orange
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Mindy Thompson Fullilove
. Photo: Aubrey Murdock
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Josh Thompson & The Homeboys band.
Photo: Aubrey Murdock
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The people's University of Orange celebrated the new edition of
Homeboy Came to Orange
at their
Placemaking 10 launch event (see recap videos!)
that featured talks from urban activists and a dance performance choreographed by Artist/Urbanist in Residence, Havanna Fisher.
And what a wow launch it was! Standing room only. Fabulous jazz quartet with Mindy's brother Josh, Havanna's dancers in gossamer and cotton performing their original
Birth of a Workforce
, rapper Ray Sykes, and heartfelt stories and commentary from people in the Orange community whose parents had worked with Ernie Thompson, or who knew The People's struggle in some intimate way. Most moving was Mindy herself, last of the presenters, telling us, with pauses to regain her voice, what it had been like as a spoiled (her word) 19-year-old in 1971 helping her father put his experiences as a community activist into words. A six-month ordeal. She didn't then understand her dad's work or the importance of coalition building. His health was on the verge of collapse, and, in fact, he died the day after the manuscript was completed. It was five years before Mindy and her mother Maggie Thompson could bring themselves to publish the original edition.
Now, explained Mindy, her father's message is needed more than ever to help people find their own power. She is grateful to be holding this new edition, not only personally, but for everyone organizing for freedom and equality.
Cake was cut, but this was not just a book party, this was real community building.
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Havanna Fisher Performers in "Birth of a Workforce"
Photo: Aubrey Murdock.
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Rebecca Doggett.
Photo: Aubrey Murdock.
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Orange Councilwoman Donna K. Williams
. Photo: Aubrey Murdock.
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Dominic Moulden of DC One
. Photo: Aubrey Murdock.
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Personal narrative of a union organizer who helped a Jim Crow city become a more equitable place.
This lively, illustrated memoir of Ernest "Home" Thompson (1906-1971) shows the great contribution that people’s coalitions can make to building equality and freedom. Thompson's attention to ending racial gerrymandering that segregated schools in Orange, New Jersey, also helped shape a more vibrant and accepting community and contributed to the civil rights movement nationwide.
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Only the people can be entrusted with their own future.
~ Ernie Thompson, 1971
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A Stirring Story of Building Grassroots Power
Randy Shaw, editor in chief of
Beyond Chron: The Voice of the R
est
,
praises
Homeboy Came to Orange
and Ernest Thompson's work as a social justice organizer. Shaw notes the necessity of books that emphasize the importance of African Americans overcoming urban racism in the current political climate:
“At a time where cynicism about government prevails, the tale of
Homeboy
will leave you even more inspired to work for social change.”
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Mindy Fullilove Across America
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A
Leader for Better Health
Mindy Thompson Fullilove, MD, was recently featured in the
"Meet the Leaders for Better Health"
of the 2018 Annual Message by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. One of the foundation's guiding principles is speaking out to guide change. Mindy was selected for her commitment to lead the change she hopes to see in the world.
By realizing our interconnectedness we can really create a nation of healthy people.
~Mindy Thompson Fullilove
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Rx for Healthy Communities
Mindy Fullilove delivered a lecture at the University of Missouri, K
ansas City on April 19 which honored the late Father Norman F. Rotert. She discussed community themes from her previous two books,
Urban Alchemy
and
Root Shock
, and noted that, in order for cities to thrive, they must first stop "compulsive self mutilation."
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Word Up Book Talk
On April 21, Mindy visited the
Word Up Community Bookshop
in New York to discuss the effects of displacement in communities. As explained with examples from several cities in her books, the disruption of black communities ruins economic health and strips away displaced residents' sense of place.
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#StandAgainstRacism
At a
YWCA event
in New Britain, Connecticut, on April 26, to discuss issues and barriers important to communities of color, Dr. Mindy Fullilove challenged her millennial audience to provide their perspective on the intersection of
health disparities and urban development.
Her talk inspired attendees to think about healing "
the trauma of urban renewal
."
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Carl Anthony and Paloma Pavel
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Debra Friedman Memorial Lecture
Carl Anthony, author of
The Earth, the City, and the Hidden Narrative of Race
presented the 2018 Debra Friedman Memorial Lecture
at the University of Washington, Tacoma, on April 26.
Here is a video of the program!
The day following his talk, he visited Professor Fern Tiger's classroom and captivated students with discussions about the early days of the Black Panthers and the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee.
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Random Kindness Community Resilience Project
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A year of weekly interviews, 1949–1950
by Alfredo Cardona Peña
For the first time, this extraordinary and rare exchange has been translated into English. These weekly intimate dialogues with what is surely the most influential Mexican artist of the twentieth century depict the free-flowing mind of a man who was a legend in his own time. In his San Angelín studio, Diego Rivera discloses his feelings about the elitist aspect of paintings in museums, his motivations to create public art for the people, and his memorable, unedited expositions on the art, culture, and politics of Mexico.
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Darkness and lightning bolts inhabited [Rivera's] soul, larger than life passions, thick as jungle vines, tenderness, unconformities and revelations.
~
Alfredo Cardona Peña, 1949
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New Village Press Book Tables
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Left Forum
June 1–3: New Village Press will share a book table at the
Left Forum
in New York City with
Urban Research Books
, founded by Michael Sorkin. The Left Forum "challenges society to build a process for collaborative and emancipatory leadership." This year's conference aims to develop a winning strategy for the left by building a unified force.
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Association for Community Design
June 8–9: New Village looks forward to the Association for Community Design Conference in Baltimore,
Reverberations
, which aims to examine "the roots and relevance of community design" as well as ways to break down the structures that facilitate inequality.
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June 9: Along w
ith colleagues Molly
Rose Kaufman
and Aubrey Murdock, Mindy Fullilove will be examining the urban divides at Yale University Art Gallery. The discussion will present new ways to restore the urban ecosystem.
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International Big History Association
July 26–29: New Village Press authors Carl Anthony and Paloma Pavel will present at the
2018 IBHA conference
in Villanova, PA
. The International Big History Association strives to understand the interconnectedness of humanity and the earth. This fourth biennial conference will present on the theme: "Big History, Big Future: A Cosmic Perspective."
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Photograph: Kathy Tran
Conversations with Diego Rivera book launch in Dallas
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Teach Art for Social Change
Mat Schwarzman, coauthor of
Beginner’s Guide to Community-Based Arts
has designed an
online program for middle and high school teachers on how to implement art in the classroom to use as a force for social change. Hosted by Xavier University.
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More New Village Press books are now available in eBook format!
The following titles are newly available in digital ebook format.
- Acting Together: Performance and the Creative Transformation of Conflict, Volumes I and II
- American Tensions: Literature of Identity and the Search for Social Justice
- Art and Upheaval: Artists on the World's Frontlines
- Beginner's Guide to Community-Based Arts, 2nd Edition
- Random Kindness and Senseless Acts of Beauty
- Undoing the Silence
- What We See
A huge thank you to NYU Press for helping us add new formats of our books
and for distributing and marketing all!
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