To March for Others

To March for Others explores the reasons why black activists, who were committed to their own fight for equality during this period, crossed racial, socioeconomic, geographic, and ideological divides to align themselves with a union of predominantly Mexican American farm workers in rural California.

Lauren Araiza considers the history, ideology, and political engagement of these five civil rights organizations, representing a broad spectrum of African American activism, and compares their attitudes and approaches toward multiracial coalitions. Through their various relationships with the UFW, Araiza examines the dynamics of race, class, labor, and politics in twentieth-century freedom movements. The lessons in this eloquent and provocative study apply to a broader understanding of political and ethnic coalition building in the contemporary United States.

“A well-written, nuanced, and thought-provoking contribution. To March for Others joins a growing body of scholarship that looks at ethno-racial groups not only comparatively but relationally, and advances our understanding of the factors necessary for alliances across racial and other divides.”

To March for Others is available for purchase at University of Pennsylvania Press.

Dr. Lauren Araiza joined the faculty at Denison in the spring of 2007. She teaches survey courses in African-American history and the U.S. since 1865. She also offers seminars on the Civil Rights Movement, the intellectual history of Black Power, the American West, and comparative social movements. Her other teaching interests include labor history, comparative race and ethnicity, and oral history.