Ernest Thompson dedicated his life to organizing the powerless. This lively, illustrated personal narrative of his work shows the great contribution that people’s coalitions can make to the struggle for equality and freedom. Thompson cut his teeth organizing one of the great industrial unions, the United Electrical Radio and Machine Workers of America, and brought his organizing skills and commitment to coalition building to Orange, New Jersey. He built a strong organization and skillfully led fights for school desegregation, black political representation, and strong government in a city he initially thought of as a “dirty Jim Crow town going nowhere.” Thompson came to love the City of Orange and its caring citizens, seeing in its struggles a microcosm of America. This story of people’s power is meant for all who struggle for human rights, economic opportunity, decent housing, effective education, and a chance for children to have a better life.
Mindy Thompson Fullilove, MD, grew up in Orange, NJ in an activist family. Her father was a prominent civil rights activist and her mother was committed to anti-racism in all aspects of her life and work. Her training in psychiatry and family therapy gave her tools to make sense of the painful experiences of life, a sound understanding of social systems and a deep interest in interventions at levels of scale that could help many people. Her studies of urban epidemics -- what she called the “mad plagues of the 90s” -- led her to social psychiatry, the study of the ways in which social systems influence people’s mental health.