A deep dive on the finances of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in 1963, and what activists can do today to manage fundraising and accounting data.
volunteer management, civil rights style
A peak at several ways of organizing real data about volunteers in Mississippi during the Civil Rights Movement and how to embrace a civil-rights-movement-informed data culture in your work today!
We should thank our front line data entry staff. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. did!
Who enters data? To what extent does their opinion matter? How often do we thank them? I look into these questions, and more, in this post about Dr. King's secretaries.
what about the master’s tools?
What role should technologists play in social movements? Let's check in with some movement all stars. Spoiler alert - it depends!
to bob moses, rest in power
Did you know that one of the Civil Rights Movement's most dynamic leaders was a mathematician? Read more in this post dedicated to Bob Moses z"l.
did ella baker have a rolodex?
Ella Baker, brilliant organizer and relationship builder, must have kept a list of names and addresses - but exactly where and how are still a mystery. Musings on this and much more about Ella Baker's legacy (including some primary source documents!).
clipboard + megaphone: a new perspective on dr. king’s legacy
5 lessons from Dr. King and his entourage on movement building through problem solving and behind-the-scenes system crafting.
behind the seen
This catapulted Mrs. Dungee beyond simple accounting and into visionary/badass/changemaker territory. And of course - underscores lessons that I'm learning more and more every day - there is no such thing as "back office" in social movement organizations. All of our grievances - and all of our work - are connected.
unsung heroes of a singing movement
In the latest installment of civil writes, mailing lists! solidarity! Angela Davis! and a special appearance by Francois Clemmons!
from bus boycott to badass bureaucracy
The Montgomery Boycott lasted 382 days - and throughout that time, staff and volunteer leaders coordinated intricate carpools with 32 different stops, shepherding 40,000 people to their destinations. I want to learn the story of how they orchestrated such a sophisticated system, so I'm following a breadcrumb trail, and I'm going to share some of that story with you here.