Staughton Lynd
Encyclopedia
Staughton Craig Lynd is an American conscientious objector
, Quaker
, peace activist and civil rights activist, tax resister, historian, professor, author and lawyer. His involvement in social justice
causes has brought him into contact with some of the nation's most influential activists, including Howard Zinn
, Tom Hayden
and Daniel Berrigan
. Lynd's contribution to the cause of social justice and the peace movement is chronicled in Carl Mirra's biography, The Admirable Radical: Staughton Lynd and Cold War Dissent, 1945-1970, published in 2010 by Kent State University Press.
and Helen Lynd
, who authored the groundbreaking "Middletown
" studies of Muncie, Indiana
, in the late 1920s and '30s. Staughton Lynd inherited not only his parents' gifts as scholars, but also their strong socialist
beliefs. Although Lynd never embraced undemocratic forms of socialism, his ideological outlook led to his expulsion from a non-combatant position in the U.S. military during the McCarthy Era.
He went on to earn a doctorate in history at Columbia University
and accepted a teaching position at Spelman College
, in Georgia
, where he became acquainted with historian and civil rights activist Howard Zinn. During the summer of 1964, Lynd served as director of the SNCC
-organized Freedom Schools
of Mississippi. After accepting a position at Yale University
, Lynd relocated to New England
, along with his wife, Alice, and their three children.
. His protest activities included speaking engagements, protest marches, and a controversial visit to Hanoi
along with Herbert Aptheker and Tom Hayden on a fact-finding trip at the height of the war, which cost him his teaching position at Yale. As the protest movement became increasingly violent, Lynd began to have doubts about the values and practices of the New Left
. As a self-described "social democratic
pacifist
", he became more interested in the possibilities of local organizing.
. There, he struggled to make a living from community organizing. Meanwhile, he and his wife, Alice, embarked upon an oral history
project dealing with the working class
. The conclusions of this work, titled Rank and File, inspired Lynd to study law in order to assist workers victimized by companies and left unprotected by declining labor unions. In 1973, he enrolled at the University of Chicago
law school, where he earned a degree in 1976.
, in the heart of the Rust Belt
. He proved to be a vital participant in the late 1970s struggle to keep the Youngstown steel mill
s open. Despite the ultimate failure of those efforts, the Lynds have continued organizing in the Youngstown-Warren area. Staughton Lynd has remained extremely active as an attorney, taking on a broad range of cases, including those concerning disabled and retired workers.
Lynd's book, Lucasville, is an investigation into the events surrounding the 1993 prison uprising
at Southern Ohio Correctional Facility
, and voices serious concern over the integrity of legal proceedings subsequent to the event. His newest book, a memoir of his and Alice's life, Stepping Stones: Memoir of a Life Together was released in January 2009.
Lynd still maintains an active Ohio law license.
Conscientious objector
A conscientious objector is an "individual who has claimed the right to refuse to perform military service" on the grounds of freedom of thought, conscience, and/or religion....
, Quaker
Religious Society of Friends
The Religious Society of Friends, or Friends Church, is a Christian movement which stresses the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers. Members are known as Friends, or popularly as Quakers. It is made of independent organisations, which have split from one another due to doctrinal differences...
, peace activist and civil rights activist, tax resister, historian, professor, author and lawyer. His involvement in social justice
Social justice
Social justice generally refers to the idea of creating a society or institution that is based on the principles of equality and solidarity, that understands and values human rights, and that recognizes the dignity of every human being. The term and modern concept of "social justice" was coined by...
causes has brought him into contact with some of the nation's most influential activists, including Howard Zinn
Howard Zinn
Howard Zinn was an American historian, academic, author, playwright, and social activist. Before and during his tenure as a political science professor at Boston University from 1964-88 he wrote more than 20 books, which included his best-selling and influential A People's History of the United...
, Tom Hayden
Tom Hayden
Thomas Emmet "Tom" Hayden is an American social and political activist and politician, known for his involvement in the animal rights, and the anti-war and civil rights movements of the 1960s. He is the former husband of actress Jane Fonda and the father of actor Troy Garity.-Life and...
and Daniel Berrigan
Daniel Berrigan
Daniel Berrigan, SJ is an American Catholic priest, peace activist, and poet. Daniel and his brother Philip were for a time on the FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list for their involvement in antiwar protests during the Vietnam war....
. Lynd's contribution to the cause of social justice and the peace movement is chronicled in Carl Mirra's biography, The Admirable Radical: Staughton Lynd and Cold War Dissent, 1945-1970, published in 2010 by Kent State University Press.
Early life
Lynd was one of two children born to the renowned sociologists Robert Staughton LyndRobert Staughton Lynd
Robert Staughton Lynd was an American sociologist born in New Albany, Indiana...
and Helen Lynd
Helen Lynd
Helen Merrell Lynd was an American sociologist and social philosopher, and was the author of Shame and the Search for Identity and co-author of Middletown: A Study in Contemporary American Culture with husband Robert Staughton Lynd.The model of shame that Lynd advocated in the book is loosely...
, who authored the groundbreaking "Middletown
Middletown studies
The Middletown studies were sociological case studies of the City of Muncie in Indiana conducted by Robert Staughton Lynd and Helen Merrell Lynd, husband-and-wife sociologists. The Lynds' findings were detailed in Middletown: A Study in Modern American Culture, published in 1929, and Middletown in...
" studies of Muncie, Indiana
Muncie, Indiana
Muncie is a city in Center Township, Delaware County in east central Indiana, best known as the home of Ball State University and the birthplace of the Ball Corporation. It is the principal city of the Muncie, Indiana, Metropolitan Statistical Area, which has a population of 118,769...
, in the late 1920s and '30s. Staughton Lynd inherited not only his parents' gifts as scholars, but also their strong socialist
Socialism
Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...
beliefs. Although Lynd never embraced undemocratic forms of socialism, his ideological outlook led to his expulsion from a non-combatant position in the U.S. military during the McCarthy Era.
He went on to earn a doctorate in history at Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
and accepted a teaching position at Spelman College
Spelman College
Spelman College is a four-year liberal arts women's college located in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. The college is part of the Atlanta University Center academic consortium in Atlanta. Founded in 1881 as the Atlanta Baptist Female Seminary, Spelman was the first historically black female...
, in Georgia
Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...
, where he became acquainted with historian and civil rights activist Howard Zinn. During the summer of 1964, Lynd served as director of the SNCC
Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee
The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee ' was one of the principal organizations of the American Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s. It emerged from a series of student meetings led by Ella Baker held at Shaw University in Raleigh, North Carolina in April 1960...
-organized Freedom Schools
Freedom Schools
Freedom Schools were temporary, alternative free schools for African Americans mostly in the South. They were originally part of a nationwide effort during the Civil Rights Movement to organize African Americans to achieve social, political and economic equality in the United States...
of Mississippi. After accepting a position at Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
, Lynd relocated to New England
New England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
, along with his wife, Alice, and their three children.
Vietnam-era activism
It was during his tenure at Yale that Lynd became an outspoken opponent of the Vietnam WarVietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
. His protest activities included speaking engagements, protest marches, and a controversial visit to Hanoi
Hanoi
Hanoi , is the capital of Vietnam and the country's second largest city. Its population in 2009 was estimated at 2.6 million for urban districts, 6.5 million for the metropolitan jurisdiction. From 1010 until 1802, it was the most important political centre of Vietnam...
along with Herbert Aptheker and Tom Hayden on a fact-finding trip at the height of the war, which cost him his teaching position at Yale. As the protest movement became increasingly violent, Lynd began to have doubts about the values and practices of the New Left
New Left
The New Left was a term used mainly in the United Kingdom and United States in reference to activists, educators, agitators and others in the 1960s and 1970s who sought to implement a broad range of reforms, in contrast to earlier leftist or Marxist movements that had taken a more vanguardist...
. As a self-described "social democratic
Social democracy
Social democracy is a political ideology of the center-left on the political spectrum. Social democracy is officially a form of evolutionary reformist socialism. It supports class collaboration as the course to achieve socialism...
pacifist
Pacifism
Pacifism is the opposition to war and violence. The term "pacifism" was coined by the French peace campaignerÉmile Arnaud and adopted by other peace activists at the tenth Universal Peace Congress inGlasgow in 1901.- Definition :...
", he became more interested in the possibilities of local organizing.
Labor activism
In the late 1960s, Lynd relocated his family to ChicagoChicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
. There, he struggled to make a living from community organizing. Meanwhile, he and his wife, Alice, embarked upon an oral history
Oral history
Oral history is the collection and study of historical information about individuals, families, important events, or everyday life using audiotapes, videotapes, or transcriptions of planned interviews...
project dealing with the working class
Working class
Working class is a term used in the social sciences and in ordinary conversation to describe those employed in lower tier jobs , often extending to those in unemployment or otherwise possessing below-average incomes...
. The conclusions of this work, titled Rank and File, inspired Lynd to study law in order to assist workers victimized by companies and left unprotected by declining labor unions. In 1973, he enrolled at the University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
law school, where he earned a degree in 1976.
Rust Belt activism
From there, the Lynds relocated to Youngstown, OhioYoungstown, Ohio
Youngstown is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Mahoning County; it also extends into Trumbull County. The municipality is situated on the Mahoning River, approximately southeast of Cleveland and northwest of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania...
, in the heart of the Rust Belt
Rust Belt
The Rust Belt is a term that gained currency in the 1980s as the informal description of an area straddling the Midwestern and Northeastern United States, in which local economies traditionally garnered an increased manufacturing sector to add jobs and corporate profits...
. He proved to be a vital participant in the late 1970s struggle to keep the Youngstown steel mill
Steel mill
A steel mill or steelworks is an industrial plant for the manufacture of steel.Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon. It is produced in a two-stage process. First, iron ore is reduced or smelted with coke and limestone in a blast furnace, producing molten iron which is either cast into pig iron or...
s open. Despite the ultimate failure of those efforts, the Lynds have continued organizing in the Youngstown-Warren area. Staughton Lynd has remained extremely active as an attorney, taking on a broad range of cases, including those concerning disabled and retired workers.
Lynd's book, Lucasville, is an investigation into the events surrounding the 1993 prison uprising
Prison riot
A prison riot is an act of concerted defiance or disorder by a group of prisoners against the prison administrators, prison officers, or other groups of prisoners in attempt to force change or express a grievance....
at Southern Ohio Correctional Facility
Southern Ohio Correctional Facility
The Southern Ohio Correctional Facility is a maximum security prison in Lucasville, Ohio, United States. The prison was constructed in 1972 and currently contains the death house for Ohio where death row inmates are executed...
, and voices serious concern over the integrity of legal proceedings subsequent to the event. His newest book, a memoir of his and Alice's life, Stepping Stones: Memoir of a Life Together was released in January 2009.
Lynd still maintains an active Ohio law license.
Works by Lynd
- Anti-Federalism in Dutchess County, New York: A Study of Democracy and Class Conflict in the Revolutionary Era (1962)
- Ed. Nonviolence in America: A Documentary History (1966)
- Ed. Reconstruction (1967)
- With Tom HaydenTom HaydenThomas Emmet "Tom" Hayden is an American social and political activist and politician, known for his involvement in the animal rights, and the anti-war and civil rights movements of the 1960s. He is the former husband of actress Jane Fonda and the father of actor Troy Garity.-Life and...
, The Other Side (1967) - Intellectual origins of American Radicalism (1968)
- Class Conflict, Slavery, and the United States Constitution: Ten Essays (1968)
- With Michael Ferber, The Resistance (1971)
- Ed. Personal Histories of the Early C.I.O. (1971)
- Strategy and Program: Two Essays Toward a New American Socialism (1973)
- Ed. American Labor Radicalism: Testimonies and Interpretations (1973)
- Ed. With Alice Lynd, Rank and File: Personal Histories by Working-Class Organizers (1973)
- Ed. Punching Out: & Other Writings (1973)
- With Helen Merrell Lynd, Possibilities (1977)
- The Fight Against Shutdowns: Youngstown's Steel Mill Closings (1982)
- With Mike KonopackiMike KonopackiMike Konopacki is an American political cartoonist from Wisconsin, specializing in labor issues.- Background and early career :A 1974 graduate of the University of Wisconsin–Madison Mike Konopacki (1951? - ) is an American political cartoonist from Wisconsin, specializing in labor issues.-...
, Solidarity Unionism: Rebuilding the Labor Movement from Below (1992) - Ed. With Alice Lynd, Homeland: Oral Histories of Palestine and Palestinians (1993)
- Ed. With Alice Lynd, Nonviolence in America: A Documentary History 2nd Ed. (1995)
- With Alice Lynd, Liberation Theology for Quakers (1996)
- Ed. “We Are All Leaders”: The Alternative Unionism of the Early 1930s (1996)
- Living Inside Our Hope: A Steadfast Radical's Thoughts on Rebuilding the Movement (1997)
- With Alice Lynd, The New Rank and File (2000)
- Lucasville: The Untold Story of a Prison Uprising (2004)
- With Daniel GrossDaniel GrossDaniel Gross is an American journalist and author, a former Senior Editor at Newsweek, and since September 2010 employed at Yahoo! Finance. A native of East Lansing, Michigan, Gross graduated from East Lansing High School and Cornell University , and holds an A.M...
, Labor Law for the Rank & Filer: Building Solidarity While Staying Clear of the Law (2008) - With Andrej GrubačićAndrej GrubacicAndrej Grubačić is a US-based anarchist theorist, sociologist, activist and lecturer with a Yugoslavian background who has written on anarchism and the history of the Balkans...
, Wobblies & Zapatistas: Conversations on Anarchism, Marxism and Radical History (2008) - Class Conflict, Slavery, and the United States Constitution: Ten Essays 2nd Ed. (2009)
- With Alice Lynd, Stepping Stones: Memoir of a Life Together (2009)
- From Here to There: The Staughton Lynd Reader (2010)
- With Daniel Gross, Solidarity Unionism at Starbucks (2011)
Further reading
- Brown, David S. "Suddenly Staughton," Reviews in American History Volume 39, Number 2, June 2011 pp 354-359 http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/reviews_in_american_history/v039/39.2.brown.htmlonline at Project MUSEProject MUSEProject MUSE is an online database of current and back issues of peer-reviewed humanities and social sciences journals. It was founded in 1993 by Todd Kelley and Susan Lewis and is a project of the Johns Hopkins University Press and the Milton S. Eisenhower Library. It had support from the Mellon...
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