George Lakey facts for kids

George Russell Lakey was born on November 2, 1937. He is a well-known activist, a sociologist (someone who studies how people live in groups), and a writer. He helped develop the idea of a nonviolent revolution, which means making big changes in society without using violence.

George Lakey also created a special way of teaching activists called "Direct Education." This method helps people learn by doing. As a Quaker, he has started and led many groups and projects that work for fairness and peace.

Early Life and Education

Growing Up in Pennsylvania

George Lakey was born in Bangor, Pennsylvania. His parents were Dora M. and Russell George Lakey. His father worked as a miner in the slate industry.

When George was 12, he gave a sermon (a speech in church) about how everyone should be treated equally, no matter their race. He believed this was God's will.

College and Studies Abroad

He went to Cheyney University in Cheyney, Pennsylvania. He also studied at the University of Oslo in Norway. While in Norway, he married Berit Mathiesen in 1960 and taught at a high school in Oslo. Later, he continued his studies in sociology at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.

Working for Change: Activism

Early Activism and Civil Rights

In the late 1950s, George Lakey was involved in the movement to stop nuclear bombs. He then joined the civil rights movement, which worked for equal rights for all people. In 1963, he was arrested during a sit-in protest.

The next year, he helped train people for the Mississippi Freedom Summer project. He also co-wrote his first book, A Manual for Direct Action. This book was very helpful for the civil rights movement in the Southern United States.

Peace Work and New Movements

In 1966, he helped start A Quaker Action Group (AQAG). Through this group, he traveled to Vietnam in 1967. He took part in a protest where a ship called the Phoenix tried to deliver medical supplies to a Buddhist anti-war group.

In 1970, Lakey and AQAG helped the people of Puerto Rico stop the U.S. Navy from using the island of Culebra for target practice. In 1971, he helped create the Movement for a New Society (MNS). This was a group of smaller, independent groups working for a nonviolent revolution.

The MNS network used shared living spaces and co-ops. They were also active in many national movements during the 1970s and 1980s. Their training program in Philadelphia taught important methods like Popular education, which helps people learn by participating.

Stopping the B-1 Bomber

During the 1970s, George Lakey also led a campaign to stop the B-1 Bomber program. This campaign aimed to convince the government to use money for peaceful projects instead of weapons. They succeeded in getting Congress and President Carter to stop funding the program.

In 1976, he helped start Men Against Patriarchy. This was a new movement for men who wanted to challenge unfair power structures. In 1982, he organized the Pennsylvania part of a group called "Jobs with Peace." He led this effort for seven years.

Training for Change

In 1991, George Lakey co-founded Training for Change (TfC) with activist Barbara Smith. This organization built on earlier training methods from the Martin Luther King Jr. School for Social Change. Training for Change developed a new way of teaching called "Direct Education."

Training for Change provided workshops and advice to activists and non-government organizations in 20 countries.

Environmental Activism

In 2009, Lakey co-founded the Earth Quaker Action Team (EQAT). This group works to create a fair and sustainable economy using nonviolent direct action. EQAT won its first campaign, which made PNC Bank stop funding mountaintop removal coal mining in Appalachia.

During this campaign, even in his seventies, George Lakey was arrested. He also led a 200-mile march to raise awareness.

Teaching and Academia

Early Teaching Roles

George Lakey's first teaching job in higher education was at the Martin Luther King Jr. School of Social Change. He helped design the courses and taught there from 1965 to 1969. During this time, he organized the field of "Experiential Nonviolence Training." Students learned by connecting their training with real-life direct actions.

He later joined the Peace Studies program at the University of Pennsylvania. He helped expand the courses for undergraduate students and increased the number of minority students participating. He also taught peace studies at Haverford College.

Later Professorships

He taught at Temple University and later became the Eugene M. Lang Visiting Professor in Issues of Social Change at Swarthmore College. He continued at Swarthmore College as a professor and then as a research professor until he retired.

In 2010, the National Peace and Justice Studies Association named George Lakey "Peace Educator of the Year." This award recognized his important contributions to peace education.

Works and Publications

George Lakey has written many books and articles about nonviolence, social change, and economics. Here are some of his notable works:

• A Manual for Direct Action: Strategy and Tactics for Civil Rights and All Other Nonviolent Protest Movements (1965) – co-authored with Martin Oppenheimer.
• In Place of War: Moving toward a New Society (1967) – co-authored with the American Friends Service Committee.
• A Manifesto for Nonviolent Revolution: Toward a Just World Order, Vol. 1 (1982) – originally published in 1972.
• Strategy for a Living Revolution: a World Order Book (1973) – later revised and published as Powerful Peacemaking (1987) and Toward a Living Revolution (2013, 2016).
• Moving toward a New Society (1975) – co-author.
• No Turning Back: Lesbian and Gay Liberation in the ‘80s (1983) – co-authored with Erika Thorne.
• Grassroots and Nonprofit Leadership: A Guide for Organizations in Changing Times (1995) – co-authored with Berit Lakey, Rod Napier, and Janice Robinson.
• Opening Space for Democracy: Curriculum and Manual for Training for Third Party Nonviolent Intervention (2004) – co-authored with Daniel Hunter.
• Facilitating Group Learning: Strategies for Success with Diverse Adult Learners (2010).
• Viking Economics: How the Scandinavians got it right and how we can, too (2016).
• How We Win: A Guide to Nonviolent Direct Action Campaigning (2018).
• Dancing with History: A Life for Peace and Justice (2022).

Online Contributions

George Lakey has also contributed to online resources:

• Global Nonviolent Action Database: This online database has over 1,000 researched cases of nonviolent direct action from nearly 200 countries. It includes stories of campaigns dating back to ancient Egypt. George Lakey developed this database with students from Swarthmore College and other universities.
• Living Revolution column: He writes a regular column for the WagingNonviolence.org website.
• Waging Nonviolence Blog: He has been a featured columnist for this online blog since 2010.

See also

• List of peace activists