Mary Frances Berry’s Strategy Handbook for Political Change

Training overview

People who want to engage effectively in political and social change should make sure they understand the history of their issues. Failure to evaluate the past can lead to preventable missteps that might be preventable, and even set the movement back. Though we might now focus on President Trump or President Biden, they are certainly not the only presidents to oppose progressive issues and policies. In fact, Presidents Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Lyndon Baines Johnson, and Bill Clinton opposed policies ranging from desegregation of the military to ending the Vietnam War to marriage equality. A willingness to listen to all points of view and acknowledging differences is essential to resolving issues of political and social policy.

Drawing from her latest book, History Teaches Us to Resist: How Progressive Movements Have Succeeded in Challenging Times, Mary Frances Berry shares the winning tactics of successful movements that ended the Vietnam War, jumpstarted the government’s response to the AIDS epidemic, championed the Americans with Disabilities Act and advanced civil, women’s and LGBTQ rights all of which she participated in. Speaking as both a renowned historian and courageous activist who has locked arms at sit-ins and served time in jail, Dr. Berry chronicles more than 50 years of progressive victories, the winning tactics behind them, and analyzes why some movements failed. Believing that “people shouldn’t think that they can’t succeed now,” or that success is automatic, she reveals what works, what doesn’t and what we all must do to achieve change in our communities, country, and world. Each generation must make its own dent in the wall of injustice.