SOCIAL MOVEMENT HISTORY STUDY GROUP
HOW TO FIGHT AUTHORITARIANISM
Overview
Forged through struggle and proven in victory, history holds the strategies we need to confront authoritarianism today — and win.
The Social Movement History Study Group series invites organizers to learn from two movements that challenged deeply entrenched systems of oppression: the Mississippi Freedom Movement and South Africa’s Anti-Apartheid struggle. Through guided discussions of I’ve Got the Light of Freedom and Winnie and Nelson, we’ll examine how movement leaders organized under violent repression, built enduring power, debated strategy, and advanced struggles for justice under extraordinarily difficult conditions. Together, we'll study these histories not as distant victories, but as living sources of strategy, courage, and hope for those working to build the movements our moment demands.
How It Works
Online & free to attend
Two study group options, each focused on a different book
Join one group, or both
Meet once a week for six weeks (90 minutes each)
Engage in reading, discussion, and collective learning
Choose Your Group
Each group centers on a different book, offering a unique lens on the opportunities, tensions, and choices that shape movements for social transformation.
Group One
I’ve Got the Light of Freedom: The Organizing Tradition and the Mississippi Freedom Struggle by Charles Payne
In this classic text, sociologist Charles Payne tells the story of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee’s organizing work in Mississippi in the early 1960s, based in part on oral histories with movement participants. Payne focuses on the community organizing tradition developed by local people and civil rights workers – such as Ella Baker, Bob Moses, Amzie Moore, and Fannie Lou Hamer – providing a model for movement-based community organizing in the context of violent repression.
This group meets Fridays, 1:00pm - 2:30pm ET on Zoom on the following dates:
Sept. 11, Sept. 18, Sept. 25, Oct. 2, Oct. 9, Oct. 16
Group Two
Winnie and Nelson: Portrait of a Marriage by Jonny Steinberg
This book tells the story of the long struggle against apartheid through an intimate history of Winnie and Nelson Mandela. Relying on thousands of recently uncovered documents, Steinberg details the severe repression that both Mandelas endured, including Nelson’s 27-year imprisonment and Winnie’s 400 days in solitary confinement. The pair represent two different strategic positions, as Nelson pursued negotiation and accommodation while Winnie tried to spark a violent rebellion. The book raises urgent questions about the strategies necessary for achieving justice – then and today.
This group meets Fridays, 1:00pm - 2:30pm ET on Zoom on the following dates:
Oct. 30, Nov. 6, Nov. 13, Nov. 20, Dec. 4, Dec. 11
Meet the Instructor
Lindsay Zafir
Lindsay Zafir is a Distinguished Lecturer in Anthropology and Interdisciplinary Programs at the Colin Powell School at CCNY and the Academic Director of Leadership for Democracy and Social Justice at CUNY. She holds a PhD in History from Yale University, where she studied the history of sexuality, science, and social movements. Her current book project, State of Denial, examines the rise of HIV/AIDS denialism in the United States and its relationship to AIDS treatment activism. Lindsay is the co-editor of Power Lines: Building a Labor-Climate Justice Movement, co-founder and co-director of the ACORN Oral History Project, and former editor of The Forge: Organizing Strategy and Practice. While completing her PhD, she also organized with UNITE HERE Local 33, the union of researchers and teachers at Yale.
Eligibility
Must be able to attend and complete the readings for selected session(s)
Ideally, connected to a power-building organization as an employee, member leader, or volunteer
Committed to learning from and with other members of the study group
Time Commitment
Participants should expect to spend 90 minutes each week in the study group and additional time outside of the group to read about 60 pages each week.
Priority Application Deadline:
July 7, 2026
Final Application Deadline:
August 10, 2026
