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Activists & People Important to Social Reform
Betty Friedan, 1921-2006: A Leader in the Modern Women's Rights Movement
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I'm Faith Lapidus. And I'm Steve Ember with PEOPLE IN AMERICA in VOA Special
English. Today we tell about Betty Friedan. She was a powerful activist for the rights of women.
Betty Friedan is often called the mother of the modern women's liberation movement. Her famous
book, "The Feminine Mystique," changed America. Some people say it changed the world. It has
been called one of the most influential nonfiction books of the twentieth century.
Friedan re-awakened the feminist movement in the United States. That movement had helped
women gain the right to vote in the nineteen twenties. Modern feminists disagree about how to
describe themselves and their movement. But activists say men and women should have equal
chances for economic, social and intellectual satisfaction in life.
Fifty years ago, life for women in the United States was very different from today. Very few
parents urged their daughters to become lawyers or doctors or professors. Female workers doing the
same jobs as men earned much less money. Women often lost their jobs when they had a
baby. There were few child care centers for working parents.
Betty Friedan once spoke to ABC television about her support for sharing responsibility for the care
of children:
"If child-rearing was considered the responsibility of women and men or women and men and
society, then we really could pull up our skirts and declare victory and move on."
Betty Friedan was born Betty Goldstein in nineteen twenty-one in Peoria, Illinois. Her immigrant
father worked as a jeweler. Her mother left her job with a local newspaper to stay home with her
family.
Betty attended Smith College in Northhampton, Massachusetts. It was one of the country's best
colleges for women. She finished her studies in psychology in nineteen forty-two.
After college she attended the University of California at Berkeley to continue her studies. But her
boyfriend at the time did not want her to get an advanced degree in psychology. He apparently felt

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threatened by her success. So Betty left California and her boyfriend. She moved to New York
City and worked as a reporter and editor for labor union newspapers.
In nineteen forty-seven, Betty Goldstein married Carl Friedan, a theater director who later became
an advertising executive. They had a child, the first of three. The Friedans were to remain married
until nineteen sixty-nine.
When Betty Friedan became pregnant for the second time, she was dismissed from her job at the
newspaper. After that she worked as an independent reporter for magazines. But her editors often
rejected her attempts to write about subjects outside the traditional interests of women.
In nineteen fifty-seven, Friedan started research that was to have far-reaching results. Her class at
Smith College was to gather for the fifteenth anniversary of their graduation. Friedan prepared an
opinion study for the women. She sent questions to the women about their lives. Most who took
part in the study did not work outside their homes.
Friedan was not completely satisfied with her life. She thought that her former college classmates
might also be dissatisfied. She was right. Friedan thought these intelligent women could give a lot
to society if they had another identity besides being homemakers.
Friedan completed more studies. She talked to other women across the country. She met with
experts about the questions and answers. She combined this research with observations and
examples from her own life. The result was her book, "The Feminine Mystique," published in
nineteen sixty-three.
The book attacked the popular idea of the time that women could only find satisfaction through
being married, having children and taking care of their home. Friedan believed that women wanted
more from life than just to please their husbands and children.
The book said women suffered from feelings of lack of worth. Friedan said this was because the
women depended on their husbands for economic, emotional and intellectual support.

"The Feminine Mystique" was a huge success. It has sold more than three million copies. It was
reprinted in a number of other languages. The book helped change the lives of women in America.
More women began working outside the home. More women also began studying traditionally male
subjects like law, medicine and engineering.
Betty Friedan expressed the dissatisfaction of some American women during the middle of the
twentieth century. But she also made many men feel threatened. Later, critics said her book only


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dealt with the problems of white, educated, wealthy, married women. It did not study the problems
of poor white women, single women or minorities.
In nineteen sixty-six, Betty Friedan helped establish NOW, the National Organization for
Women. She served as its first president. She led campaigns to end unfair treatment of women
seeking jobs.
Friedan also worked on other issues. She wanted women to have the choice to end their
pregnancies. She wanted to create child-care centers for working parents. She wanted women to
take part in social and political change. Betty Friedan once spoke about her great hopes for women
in the nineteen seventies:
"Liberating ourselves, we will then become a major political force, perhaps the biggest political
force for basic social and political change in America in the seventies."
Betty Friedan led a huge demonstration in New York City for women's rights. Demonstrations were
also held in other cities. A half-million women took part in the Women's Strike for Equality on
August twenty-sixth, nineteen seventy. The day marked the fiftieth anniversary of American
women gaining the right to vote.
A year after the march, Friedan helped establish the National Women's Political Caucus. She said
the group got started "to make policy, not coffee." She said America needed more women in public
office if women were to gain equal treatment.

Friedan wanted a national guarantee of that equal treatment. She worked tirelessly to get Congress
and the states to approve an amendment to the United States Constitution that would provide equal
rights for women.
The House of Representatives approved this Equal Rights Amendment in nineteen seventy-one. The
Senate approved it the following year. Thirty-eight of the fifty state legislatures were required to
approve the amendment. Congress set a time limit of seven years for the states to approve it. This
was extended to June thirtieth, nineteen eighty-two. However, only thirty-five states approved the
amendment by the deadline so it never went into effect.
The defeat of the E.R.A. was a sad event for Betty Friedan, NOW and other activists.
In nineteen eighty-one, Betty Friedan wrote about the condition of the women's movement. Her
book was called "The Second Stage." Friedan wrote that the time for huge demonstrations and
other such events had passed. She urged the movement to try to increase its influence on American
political life.


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Some younger members of the movement denounced her as too conservative.
As she grew older, Friedan studied conditions for older Americans. She wrote a book called "The
Fountain of Age" in nineteen ninety-three. She wrote that society often dismisses old people as no
longer important or useful. Friedan's last book was published in two thousand. She was almost
eighty years old at the time. Its title was "Life So Far."
Betty Friedan died on February fourth, two thousand six. It was her eighty-fifth birthday. Betty
Friedan once told a television reporter how she wanted to be remembered:
"She helps make it better for women to feel good about being women, and therefore she helped
make it possible for women to more freely love men."
This program was written by Jerilyn Watson. It was produced by Lawan Davis. I'm Faith Lapidus.
And I'm Steve Ember. You can download a transcript and audio of this show at

voaspecialenglish.com. Join us again next week for PEOPLE IN AMERICA in VOA Special
English.
Cesar Chavez, 1927-1993: He Organized the First Successful Farm Workers Union in America
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There is also a Listen and Read Along Flash version of this.
I'm Nicole Nichols. And I'm Steve Ember with the VOA Special English program PEOPLE IN
AMERICA.
Today we tell about one of the great labor activists, Cesar Chavez. He organized the first successful
farm workers union in American history.
Cesar Chavez was born on a small farm near Yuma, Arizona in 1927. In the late 19th century,
Cesario Chavez, Cesar's grandfather, had started the Chavez family farm after escaping slavery on a
Mexican farm. Cesar Chavez spent his earliest years on this farm. When he was ten years old,
however, the economic conditions of the Great Depression forced his parents to give up the family
farm. He then became a migrant farm worker along with the rest of his family.
The Chavez family joined thousands of other farm workers who traveled around the state of
California to harvest crops for farm owners. They traveled from place to place to harvest grapes,
lettuce, beets and many other crops. They worked very hard and received little pay. These migrant


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workers had no permanent homes. They lived in dirty, crowded camps. They had no bathrooms,
electricity or running water. Like the Chavez family, most of them came from Mexico.
Because his family traveled from place to place, Cesar Chavez attended more than thirty schools as
a child. He learned to read and write from his grandmother.
Mama Tella also taught him about the Catholic religion. Religion later became an important tool for
Mr. Chavez. He used religion to organize Mexican farm workers who were Catholic.
Cesar's mother, Juana, taught him much about the importance of leading a non-violent life. His

mother was one of the greatest influences on his use of non-violent methods to organize farm
workers. His other influences were the Indian activist Mahatma Gandhi and American civil rights
leader Martin Luther King, Junior.
Mr. Chavez said his real education began when he met the Catholic leader Father Donald
McDonnell. Cesar Chavez learned about the economics of farm workers from the priest. He also
learned about Gandhi's nonviolent political actions as well as those of other great nonviolent leaders
throughout history.
In 1948, Mr. Chavez married Helena Fabela whom he met while working in the grape fields in
central California. They settled in Sal Si Puedes. Later, while Mr. Chavez worked for little or no
money to organize farm workers, his wife harvested crops. In order to support their eight children,
she worked under the same bad conditions that Mr. Chavez was fighting against.
There were other important influences in his life. In 1952, Mr. Chavez met Fred Ross, an organizer
with a workers' rights group called the Community Service Organization. Mr. Chavez called Mr.
Ross the best organizer he ever met. Mr. Ross explained how poor people could build power. Mr.
Chavez agreed to work for the Community Service Organization.
Mr. Chavez worked for the organization for about ten years. During that time, he helped more than
500,000 Latino citizens to vote. He also gained old-age retirement money for 50,000 Mexican
immigrants. He served as the organization's national director.
However, in 1962, he left the organization. He wanted to do more to help farm workers receive
higher pay and better working conditions. He left his well paid job to start organizing farm workers
into a union.
Mr. Chavez's work affected many people. For example, the father of Mexican-American musician
Zack de la Rocha spent time working as an art director for Mr. Chavez. Much of the political music


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of de la Rocha's group, Rage Against the Machine, was about workers' rights, like this song, "Bomb

Track."
It took Mr. Chavez and Delores Huerta, another former CSO organizer, three years of hard work to
build the National Farm Workers Association. Mr. Chavez traveled from town to town to bring in
new members. He held small meetings at workers' houses to build support.The California-based
organization held its first strike in 1965.The National Farm Workers Association became nationally
known when it supported a strike against grape growers.The group joined a strike organized by
Filipino workers of the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee.
Mr. Chavez knew that those who acted non-violently against violent action would gain popular
support. Mr. Chavez asked that the strikers remain non-violent even though the farm owners and
their supporters sometimes used violence.
One month after the strike began, the group began to boycott grapes. They decided to direct their
action against one company, the Schenley Corporation.The union followed grape trucks and
demonstrated wherever the grapes were taken. Later, union members and Filipino workers began a
25 day march from Delano to Sacramento, California, to gain support for the boycott.
Schenley later signed a labor agreement with the National Farm Workers Association.It was the
first such agreement between farm workers and growers in the United States.
The union then began demonstrating against the Di Giorgio Corporation. It was one of the largest
grape growers in California. Di Giorgio held a vote and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters
was chosen to represent the farm workers. But an investigation proved that the company and the
Teamsters had cheated in the election.
Another vote was held. Cesar Chavez agreed to combine his union with another and the United
Farm Workers Organizing Committee was formed. The farm workers elected Mr. Chavez's union to
represent them.Di Giorgio soon signed a labor agreement with the union.
Mr. Chavez often went for long periods without food to protest the conditions under which the farm
workers were forced to do their jobs. Mr. Chavez went on his first hunger strike, or fast, in 1968. He
did not eat for 25 days. He was called a hero for taking this kind of personal action to support the
farm workers.
The union then took action against Giumarra Vineyards Corporation, the largest producer of table
grapes in the United States. It organized a boycott against the company's products.The boycott
extended to all California table grapes. By 1970, the company agreed to sign contracts. A number of

other growers did as well. By this time the grape strike had lasted for five years. It was the longest


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strike and boycott in United States labor history. Cesar Chavez had built a nationwide coalition of
support among unions, church groups, students, minorities and other Americans.
By 1973, the union had changed its name to the United Farm Workers of America. It called for
another national boycott against grape growers as relations again became tense. By 1975, a reported
17 million Americans were refusing to buy non-union grapes.The union's hard work helped in
getting the Agricultural Labor Relations Act passed in California, under Governor Jerry Brown. It
was the first law in the nation that protected the rights of farm workers.
By the 1980s, the UFW had helped tens of thousands of farm workers gain higher pay, medical
care, retirement benefits and better working and living conditions.But relations between workers
and growers in California worsened under a new state government. Boycotts were again organized
against the grape industry.In 1988, at the age of sixty-one, Mr. Chavez began another hunger strike.
That fast lasted for thirty-six days and almost killed him. The fast was to protest the poisoning of
grape workers and their children by the dangerous chemicals growers used to kill insects.
In 1984 Cesar Chavez made this speech, predicting the future success of his efforts for Latinos.
CESAR CHAVEZ: "Like the other immigrant groups, the day will come when we win the
economic and political rewards which are in keeping with our numbers in society. The day will
come when the politicians will do the right thing for our people out of political necessity and not out
of charity or idealism."
Cesar Chavez died in 1993 at the age of sixty-six. More than 40,000 people attended his funeral.
A year later, President Clinton awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian
honor in the United States.
The United Farm Workers Union still fights for the rights of farm workers throughout the United
States. Many schools, streets, parks, libraries and other public buildings have been named after

Cesar Chavez. The great labor leader always believed in the words "Si se puede": It can be done.
This Special English Program was written and produced by Robert Brumfield. I'm Steve Ember. nd
I'm Nicole Nichols. Join us again next week for another PEOPLE IN AMERICA program on the
Voice of America.
Frederick Douglass, 1818-1895: He Fought for Freedom and Equality for African-Americans
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I'm Shirley Griffith. And I'm Steve Ember with PEOPLE IN AMERICA in VOA Special
English. Today we tell about Frederick Douglass. He was born a slave, but later became one of
America's greatest leaders. He was an activist, a writer, a powerful speaker and an advisor to
President Abraham Lincoln.
Frederick Douglass suffered severe physical and mental abuse during his many years as a slave. He
dreamed of one day learning to read and being free. He believed knowledge would lead the way to
freedom. Douglass wrote several books about his life as a slave. In eighteen forty-five he wrote
"Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave." It became an immediate best
seller and remains popular today.
Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey was born around eighteen eighteen in Tuckahoe, Maryland,
near the Chesapeake Bay. Many slaves lived on large farms owned by white people. Each
plantation was like a small village owned by one family who lived in a large house on the property.
Frederick and his mother, Harriet Bailey, were slaves on a huge plantation owned by Colonel
Edward Lloyd. Their slave owner was a white man named Captain Aaron Anthony. Frederick knew
very little about his father, except that he was a white man. Many believed Captain Anthony was
his father.
Frederick did not know his mother well. Harriet Bailey was sent to work on another plantation
when Frederick was very young. She was able to visit him only a few times. She died when

Frederick was about seven years old.
Frederick then lived with his grandparents, Betsey and Isaac Bailey. He said that his grandparents
had a loving home and were respected by other slaves in the area. Because of this, he did not
realize at first that someone owned him and the others---that they were slaves.
It was not unusual for African-American families to be separated, often never seeing each other
again. Slaves were not treated as human beings. Slave owners bought and traded them as if they
were animals or property. Frederick had to leave his grandparents' home when he was six years
old. He later wrote about that day. He said being forced to leave was one of the most painful
experiences in his life. He said he began to understand the evil and oppressive system of slavery.
In eighteen twenty-six, Frederick was sent to work for Hugh Auld, in Baltimore, Maryland. Mr.
Auld's wife, Sophia, was very kind to Frederick. She treated him as if he were a member of her
family. Mrs. Auld soon began to teach Frederick to read. Her husband became extremely angry
and ordered her to stop immediately. Slaves were denied education. Mr. Auld said if slaves could
read they would rebel and run away.


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Sophia Auld stopped teaching Frederick to read. But he learned to read from white boys he met in
the city. The boys also told Frederick he had the right to be free.
Mr. Auld sent Frederick to work for a poor farmer, Edward Covey, who beat him often. In eighteen
thirty-six, Frederick made an attempt to escape. But he failed and was arrested. He was sent back
to the home of Hugh and Sophia Auld home in Baltimore.
He met and fell in love with a free black woman named Anna Murray. Ms. Murray had a job
cleaning other people's homes. She gave Frederick money to help him escape by getting on a train
to New York City.
"My free life began on the third of September, eighteen thirty-eight. On the morning of the fourth
of that month, I found myself in the big city of New York, a free man. For the moment the dreams

of my youth and the hopes of my manhood where completely fulfilled. The bonds that held me to
"old master" were broken. No man now had the right to call me his slave or try to control me."
When Frederick Bailey reached New York he changed his name to Frederick Douglass to hide his
identity from slave capturers. Anna Murray joined him and they were married. They settled in
New Bedford, Massachusetts and had five children.
Frederick Douglass became one of the most important leaders of the abolitionist movement to end
slavery in the United States.
In eighteen forty-one, he attended the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society meeting in Nantucket,
Massachusetts. Douglass was unexpectedly asked to give a speech to describe his experiences as a
slave. He had not prepared a speech but he spoke to the huge gathering of people anyway. Most of
the supporters were white. He spoke with great emotion in a deep and powerful voice. The crowd
praised him.
After that speech, The Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society asked Douglass to travel to cities
throughout the North. He continued to tell about his cruel and oppressive life as a slave. He told
how slave owners beat slaves everyday. How slaves were given very little food to eat. How they
worked all day in the fields during dangerously hot weather. How they slept on cold floors and had
very little clothing.
Many who heard his story challenged its truthfulness. They refused to believe that Frederick
Douglass was ever a slave. Instead, they thought he was an educated man who created the entire
story.


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In eighteen forty-four, Douglass began writing his life's story. "Narrative of the Life of Frederick
Douglass, An American Slave" was published the following year. He later published expanded
versions of his book.
Frederick Douglass wrote his first book partly to prove that he had lived through the horrible

situations he described in his speeches. He was asked to speak at the Independence Day celebration
in Rochester, New York in eighteen fifty-two. He noted the differences of how blacks and whites
considered Independence Day.
"The purpose of this celebration is the Fourth of July. It is the birthday of your National
Independence, and of your political freedom… This Fourth of July is yours, not mine. You may
celebrate. I must mourn…What, to the American slave, is your Fourth of July? I answer: a day
that reveals to him more than all other days in the year, the horrible discrimination and punishment
to which he is the everyday victim…There is not a nation on the earth guilty of practices, more
shocking and bloody, than are the people of these United States at this very hour."
In eighteen sixty-one the American Civil War began. Frederick Douglass and many others saw
slavery as the cause of the war. Douglass wanted blacks to be permitted to join the Union
Army. However, Northern whites, including President Abraham Lincoln, were against it. They
said black soldiers would harm the spirit of white soldiers. They believed black soldiers were not
intelligent.
Two years later, blacks were permitted to join the Union Army, but they were not treated as
soldiers. Although they showed bravery they were given less important jobs. Douglass met with
President Lincoln in Washington to discuss the issue. Douglass urge that black soldiers be treated
equal to white soldiers. Although President Lincoln agreed, he said there could be no immediate
change.
In eighteen sixty-five, the Civil War ended. The Union forces had defeated the South. A few
months later President Lincoln was killed. And later that year, slavery was ended.
Frederick Douglass went on to hold several positions in the government, including United States
Marshall of the District of Columbia. He never stopped his efforts to gain equality for all
people. Historians say Douglass gave two thousand speeches and wrote thousands of articles and
letters. His work as an activist also included women's rights. On February twentieth, eighteen
ninety-five, he gave a speech at the National Council of Women. Later that day, he returned to his
home in Washington and died of heart failure at the age of seventy-eight.
Frederick Douglass ended his "book My Bondage, My Freedom" with these words:

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"I shall labor in the future as I have labored in the past, to work for the honorable, social, religious,
and intellectual position of the free colored people; while Heaven lends me ability, to use my voice,
my pen or my vote to support the great and most important work of the complete and unconditional
freedom of my entire race."
This program was written and produced by Lawan Davis. The writings of Frederick Douglass were
read by Shep O'Neal. You can download this program and others from our Web site,
voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Shirley Griffith. And I'm Steve Ember. Join us again next week
for PEOPLE IN AMERICA in VOA Special English.
Jane Jacobs, 1916-2006: Her Activism Helped Shape the Look and Feel of Cities
Download MP3 (Right-click or option-click the link.)
I'm Steve Ember. And I'm Barbara Klein with PEOPLE IN AMERICA in VOA Special English.
Today we tell about Jane Jacobs. She was an activist for improving cities.
Jane Jacobs was an activist, writer, moral thinker and economist. She believed cities should be
densely populated and full of different kinds of people and activities. She believed in the value of
natural growth and big open spaces.
She opposed the kind of city planning that involves big development and urban renewal projects
that tear down old communities. She was also a critic of public planning officials who were
unwilling to compromise.
Jacobs helped lead fights to save neighborhoods and local communities within cities. She helped
stop major highways from being built, first in New York City and later in Toronto, Canada.
Developers and city planners often criticized her ideas. Yet, many urban planning experts agree that
her work helped shape modern thinking about cities.
Jane Butzner was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania, in 1916. Her father was a doctor. Her mother was
a former teacher and nurse. After graduating from high school, Jane took an unpaid position at the
Scranton Tribune newspaper. A year later she left Scranton for New York City.
During her first several years in the city she held many kinds of jobs. One job was to write about

workers in the city. She said these experiences gave her a better idea about what working in the city
was like.


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As a young woman, Jacobs had many interests, including economics, law, science and politics. Her
higher education was brief, however. She studied for just two years at Columbia University in New
York. Jacobs did not complete her college education, but she did become an excellent writer and
editor. While working as a writer for the Office of War Information she met a building designer
named Robert Jacobs.
In 1944, they married. They later had three children. Her husband's work led to her interest in the
monthly magazine, Architectural Forum. Jacobs became a top editor for the publication.
Experts have described Jacobs as a writer who wrote well, but not often. She is best known for her
book "The Death and Life of Great American Cities." The book was published in 1961. It is still
widely read today by both city planning professionals and the general public.
Experts say "The Death and Life of Great American Cities" is the most influential book written
about city planning in the twentieth century.
In the book, Jacobs criticized the urban renewal projects of the 1950s. She believed these policies
destroyed existing inner-city communities and their economies.
She also thought that modern planning policies separated communities and created unnatural city
areas. Jacobs described the nature of cities – their streets and parks, the different cultures
represented by citizens and the safety of a well-planned city. Safety was an important issue in big
cities that had high rates of crime.
Jacobs wrote that peace on the streets of cities is not kept mainly by the police even though police
are necessary. It is kept by a system of controls among the people themselves. She believed the
problem of insecurity cannot be solved by spreading people out more thinly.
Jacobs argued that a well-used city street is safer than an empty street. Safety, she argued, is

guaranteed by people who watch the streets every day because they use the streets every day.
"The Death and Life of Great American Cities" became a guide for neighborhood organizers and
the people who Jacobs called "foot people." These are citizens who perform their everyday jobs on
foot. They walk to stores and to work. They walk to eating places, theaters, parks, gardens and
sports stadiums. They are not who Jacobs called "car people" – those who drive their cars
everywhere.
Jane Jacobs also believed that buildings of different sizes, kinds and condition should exist together.
She pointed to several communities as models of excellence. These include Georgetown in


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Washington, D.C.; the North End in Boston, Massachusetts; Rittenhouse Square in Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania, and Telegraph Hill in San Francisco, California.
She also supported mixed-use buildings as a way to increase social interaction. Such buildings have
stores and offices on the ground floor. People live on the upper floors. Mixed-use buildings are a lot
more common in American cities than in the suburban areas around them.
Jane Jacobs also noted New York City's Greenwich Village as an example of an exciting city
community. This is one of the communities that was saved, in part at least, because of her writings
and activism. In 1962, Jacobs headed a committee to stop the development of a highway through
Lower Manhattan in New York City. The expressway would have cut right through Greenwich
Village and the popular SoHo area.
Influential New York City developer Robert Moses proposed the plan. But huge public protests in
1964 led the city government to reject it. Jacobs' book, "The Death and Life of Great American
Cities" helped influence public opinion against the expressway.
In 1969, Jacobs moved to the Canadian city of Toronto where she lived for the rest of her life. Part
of her reason for leaving the United States was because she opposed the United States involvement
in the war in Vietnam. At that time, she had two sons almost old enough to be called for duty.

Jacobs continued to be a community activist in Toronto.
She was involved in a campaign to stop the Spadina Expressway through Toronto. This highway
would have permitted people living in suburban areas outside Toronto to travel into and out of the
city easily.
Jacobs organized citizens against the Spadina Expressway and the politicians who supported it. One
of her most important issues was this question: "Are we building cities for people or for cars?"
Today, experts say Toronto is one of only a few major cities in North America to have successfully
kept a large number of neighborhoods in its downtown area. Many experts believe this is because of
the anti-Spadina movement led by Jane Jacobs.
Jane Jacobs spent her life studying cities. She wrote seven books on urban planning, the economy of
cities, and issues of commerce and politics. Her last book, published in 2004, was "Dark Age
Ahead." In it, Jacobs described several major values that she believed were threatened in the United
States and Canada. These included community and family, higher education, science and
technology and a government responsive to citizens' needs.


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In "Dark Age Ahead," Jacobs argued that Western society could be threatened if changes were not
made immediately. She said that people were losing important values that helped families succeed.
In "Dark Age Ahead," Jacobs also criticized how political decision-making is influenced by
economics. Governments, she said, have become more interested in wealthy interest groups than the
needs of the citizens. Jacobs also warned against a culture that prevents people from preventing the
destruction of resources upon which all citizens depend.
Jane Jacobs had her critics. Many of them argued that her ideas failed to represent the reality of
city politics, which land developers and politicians often control. Others argued that Jacobs had
little sympathy for people who want a lifestyle different from the one she proposed.
Still, many urban planning experts say her ideas shaped modern thinking about cities. She has had a

major influenced on those who design buildings and towns that aim to increase social interaction
among citizens.
Jane Jacobs died in 2006 in Toronto at the age of 89. Her family released a statement on her death.
It said: "What's important is not that she died but that she lived, and that her life's work has greatly
influenced the way we think. Please remember her by reading her books and implementing her
ideas."
This program was written by Jill Moss. It was produced by Lawan Davis. I'm Steve Ember. And I'm
Barbara Klein.
Five Labor Leaders Who Improved Conditions for American Workers
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ANNOUNCER:
Welcome to PEOPLE IN AMERICA in VOA Special English. At the beginning of the twentieth
century, American laborers often worked long hours for little pay. Many worked under extremely
dangerous conditions. About five hundred thousand workers, however, had joined groups called
labor unions, hoping to improve their situation.
Today, Rich Kleinfeldt and Sarah Long tell about five labor leaders who worked to improve
conditions for American workers.
In nineteen hundred, the largest national organization of labor unions was the American Federation
of Labor. Its head was Samuel Gompers. Gompers had moved to New York with his parents when


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he was thirteen years old. He was twenty-four when he began working for the local union of cigar
makers. He worked for the labor movement for sixty years.
Samuel Gompers had helped create the A.F.L. in the late eighteen eighties. He led the organization
for all but one year until his death in nineteen twenty-four. Gompers defined the purpose of the
labor movement in America. He also established the method used to solve labor disputes.

Gompers thought unions should work only to increase wages, improve work conditions and stop
unfair treatment of workers. He called his method pure and simple unionism.
Samuel Gompers sought immediate change for workers. He used group actions such as strikes as a
way to try to force company owners to negotiate.
Gompers was criticized for going to social events with industry leaders, and for compromising too
easily with employers. But Gompers believed such actions helped his main goal. He believed if
workers were respected, their employers would want to make working conditions better.
Under the leadership of Samuel Gompers, the labor movement won its first small gains. For
example, the federal government recognized the right of workers to organize. That happened when
union representatives were part of the National War Labor Board during World War One.
John L. Lewis expanded the American labor movement with a campaign he called organizing the
unorganized. Lewis was the head of the United Mine Workers of America. He also was the vicepresident of the A.F.L.
In nineteen thirty-five, Lewis formed the Committee for Industrial Organization within the A.F.L.
He wanted the C.I.O. to organize workers in mass production industries, such as automobile
industry. The A.F.L. mainly organized unions of workers who had the same skills. But Lewis
believed skilled and unskilled workers in the same industry should be organized into the same
union.
Congress passed the National Labor Relations Act in nineteen thirty-five. It gave workers the legal
right to join unions and to negotiate with employers. John L. Lewis thought it was the right time to
press the large industries to recognize workers' rights.
The A.F.L., however, decided not to support such action and expelled the unions that belonged to
the C.I.O. In nineteen thirty-six, the C.I.O. began operating as another national labor organization.
Lewis was its leader.


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John L. Lewis was an extremely colorful and effective speaker. He had worked as a coal miner and

could relate to the most terrible conditions workers faced. More than three million workers joined
the C.I.O. in its first year as a separate organization. For the first time, labor won many strikes and
permanent improvements in workers conditions.
For many years, presidents, members of Congress, and business leaders considered John L. Lewis
the voice of labor. And, American workers saw Lewis as their hero. By the nineteen fifties, the
labor movement an established part of American life.
Walter Reuther was the vice president of the C.I.O. under Lewis, and became its president in
nineteen fifty-two. Reuther believed unions had a social responsibility. His ideas were partly
influenced by his German father who was a socialist.
Walter Reuther was trained to make tools to cut metal. He joined the United Automobile Workers
union when it first formed in nineteen thirty-five.
Walter Reuther was president of the United Auto Workers for twenty-three years beginning in
nineteen forty-six. He shaped the U.A.W. into one of the most militant and forward-looking unions.
He held strikes to gain increased wages for workers, but, at the same time, he expected workers to
increase their rate of production. He was the first to link pay raises to productivity increases.
Reuther also was greatly concerned about civil rights and the environment.
In nineteen fifty-five, Reuther helped the A.F.L. and C.I.O. re-join as one organization.
Reuther's ideas were recognized worldwide. But they also brought him enemies. He survived three
murder attempts. He said: "You have to make up your mind whether you are willing to accept
things as they are or whether you are willing to try to change them."
A. Philip Randolph is known for combining the labor and civil rights movements. Randolph became
involved with unions in nineteen-twenty-five. A group of black workers on passenger trains asked
him to organize a union, the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters.
Randolph was not a laborer. He was the college educated son of a minister. He published a socialist
magazine in New York City. He was known as a fighter for black rights. Randolph strongly
believed that economic conditions affected rights and power for African Americans.
For twelve years, Randolph fought the Pullman Company that employed the passenger train
workers. In nineteen thirty-five, Pullman finally agreed to negotiate with the Brotherhood of
Sleeping Car Porters. Two years later, the porters' union signed the first labor agreement between a
company and a black union.

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A. Philip Randolph led the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters for forty-three years. In nineteen
fifty-seven he became vice president of the A.F.L.-C.I.O.
Randolph used large group protests to change work conditions. He planned marches on the capital
in Washington to protest the unequal treatment of black workers by the government.
In nineteen sixty-three, Randolph planned the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. At this
huge peaceful gathering, civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Junior made his famous "I have a
dream" speech. Within a year the civil rights amendment passed guaranteeing equal rights for
blacks and other minorities.
Cesar Chavez created the first farmers union in nineteen sixty-two. That union later became the
United Farm Workers of America.
Farm workers had been considered too difficult to organize. They worked during growing seasons.
Many farm workers did not speak English or were in the country illegally. Farm workers earned
only a few dollars each hour. They often lived in mud shelters and had no waste removal systems.
Many farm workers were children.
Cesar Chavez went to school for only eight years. But he read a lot. He was greatly influenced by
the ideas of famous supporters of non-violence such as Indian leader Mahatma Gandhi. Chavez led
his workers on marches for better pay and conditions. Workers walked hundreds of miles carrying
cloth banners with the Spanish words "Viva la Causa" -- long live our cause.
Cesar Chavez created a new strike method called a boycott. People refused to buy products of a
company accused of treating farm workers badly. Chavez also publicized the dangers of some farm
chemicals. Cesar Chavez improved the conditions of farm workers by making their mistreatment a
national issue.
Union membership has dropped sharply since its highpoint in the nineteen forties. Yet conditions
for American workers continue to improve as employers realize that treating their workers well is

good for business. The efforts of leaders of the American labor movement during the past one
hundred years continue to improve the lives of millions of workers.
This Special English program was written by Linda Burchill and produced by Paul Thompson. The
announcers were Rich Kleinfeldt and Sarah Long. I'm Faith Lapidus. Join us again next week for
another PEOPLE IN AMERICA program in VOA Special English.
Margaret Sanger, 1883-1966: She Led the Fight for Birth Control for Women


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I'm Shirley Griffith. And I'm Sarah Long with the VOA Special English Program,PEOPLE IN
AMERICA. Today, we tell about one of the leaders of the birth control movement, Margaret
Sanger.
Many women today have the freedom to decide when they will have children, if they want
them. Until about fifty years ago, women spent most of their adult lives having children, year after
year. This changed because of efforts by activists like Margaret Sanger. She believed that a safe
and sure method of preventing pregnancy was a necessary condition for women's freedom. She also
believed birth control was necessary for human progress.
Margaret Sanger was considered a rebel in the early nineteen hundreds.
The woman who changed other women's lives was born in eighteen eighty-three in the eastern state
of New York. Her parents were Michael and Anne Higgins.
Margaret wrote several books about her life. She wrote that her father taught her to question
everything. She said he taught her to be an independent thinker.
Margaret said that watching her mother suffer from having too many children made her feel
strongly about birth control. Her mother died at forty-eight years of age after eighteen
pregnancies. She was always tired and sick. Margaret had to care for her mother and her ten
surviving brothers and sisters. This experience led her to become a nurse.

Margaret Higgins worked in the poor areas of New York City. Most people there had recently
arrived in the United States from Europe. Margaret saw the suffering of hundreds of women who
tried to end their pregnancies in illegal and harmful ways. She realized that this was not just a
health problem. These women suffered because of their low position in society.
Margaret saw that not having control over one's body led to problems that were passed on from
mother to daughter and through the family for years. She said she became tired of cures that did not
solve the real problem. Instead, she wanted to change the whole life of a mother.
In nineteen-oh-two, Margaret married William Sanger. They had three children. Margaret
compared her own middle-class life to that of the poor people she worked among. This increased
her desire to deal with economic and social issues. At this time, Margaret Sanger became involved
in the liberal political culture of an area of New York City known as Greenwich Village. Sanger


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became a labor union organizer. She learned methods of protest and propaganda, which she used in
her birth control activism.
Sanger traveled to Paris, France, in nineteen thirteen, to research European methods of birth
control. She also met with members of Socialist political groups who influenced her birth control
policies. She returned to the United States prepared to change women's lives.
At first, Margaret Sanger sought the support of leaders of the women's movement, members of the
Socialist party, and the medical profession. But she wrote that they told her to wait until women
were permitted to vote. She decided to continue working alone.
One of Margaret Sanger's first important political acts was to publish a monthly newspaper called
The Woman Rebel. She designed it. She wrote for it. And she paid for it. The newspaper called
for women to reject the traditional woman's position. The first copy was published in March,
nineteen fourteen. The Woman Rebel was an angry paper that discussed disputed and sometimes
illegal subjects. These included labor problems, marriage, the sex business, and revolution.

Sanger had an immediate goal. She wanted to change laws that prevented birth control education
and sending birth control devices through the mail.
The Woman Rebel became well known in New York and elsewhere. Laws at that time banned the
mailing of materials considered morally bad. This included any form of birth control
information. The law was known as the Comstock Act. Officials ordered Sanger to stop sending
out her newspaper.
Sanger instead wrote another birth control document called Family Limitation. The document
included detailed descriptions of birth control methods. In August, nineteen fourteen, Margaret
Sanger was charged with violating the Comstock Act.
Margaret faced a prison sentence of as many as forty-five years if found guilty. She fled to Europe
to escape the trial. She asked friends to release thousands of copies of Family Limitation. The
document quickly spread among women across the United States. It started a public debate about
birth control. The charges against Sanger also increased public interest in her and in women's
issues.
Once again, Margaret Sanger used her time in Europe to research birth control methods. After
about a year, she decided to return to the United States to face trial. She wanted to use the trial to
speak out about the need for reproductive freedom for women.


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While Sanger was preparing for her trial, her five-year-old daughter, Peggy, died of
pneumonia. The death made Sanger feel very weak and guilty. However, the death greatly
increased public support for Sanger and the issue of birth control. The many reports in the media
caused the United States government to dismiss charges against her.
Margaret Sanger continued to oppose the Comstock Act by opening the first birth control center in
the United States. It opened in Brownsville, New York in nineteen sixteen. Sanger's sister, Ethel
Byrne, and a language expert helped her. One hundred women came to the birth control center on

the first day. After about a week, police arrested the three women, but later released them. Sanger
immediately re-opened the health center, and was arrested again. The women were tried the next
year. Sanger was sentenced to thirty days in jail.
With some support from women's groups, Sanger started a new magazine, the Birth Control
Review. In nineteen twenty-one, she organized the first American birth control conference. The
conference led to the creation of the American Birth Control League. It was established to provide
education, legal reform and research for better birth control. The group opened a birth control
center in the United States in nineteen twenty-three. Many centers that opened later across the
country copied this one.
Sanger was president of the American Birth Control League until nineteen twenty-eight. In the
nineteen thirties she helped win a judicial decision that permitted American doctors to give out
information about birth control.
Historians say Margaret Sanger changed her methods of political action during and after the
nineteen twenties. She stopped using direct opposition and illegal acts. She even sought support
from her former opponents.
Later, Sanger joined supporters of eugenics. This is the study of human improvement by genetic
control. Extremists among that group believe that disabled, weak or "undesirable" human beings
should not be born. Historians say Sanger supported eugenicists only as a way to gain her birth
control goals. She later said she was wrong in supporting eugenics. But she still is criticized for
these statements.
Even though Margaret Sanger changed her methods, she continued her efforts for birth control. In
nineteen forty-two, she helped form the Planned Parenthood Federation of America. It became a
major national health organization after World War Two.


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Margaret Sanger moved into areas of international activism. Her efforts led to the creation of the

International Planned Parenthood Federation. It was formed in nineteen fifty-two after an
international conference in Bombay, India. Sanger was one of its first presidents.
The organization was aimed at increasing the acceptance of family planning around the
world. Almost every country in the world is now a member of the international group.
Margaret Sanger lived to see the end of the Comstock Act and the invention of birth control
medicine. She died in nineteen sixty-six in Tucson, Arizona. She was an important part of what
has been called one of the most life-changing political movements of the Twentieth Century.
This Special English program was written by Doreen Baingana and produced by Caty Weaver. I'm
Shirley Griffith. And I'm Sarah Long. Join us again next week for another PEOPLE IN
AMERICA program on the Voice of America.
Martin Luther King, Jr., 1929-1968: He Used Non-Violence and Civil Disobedience to Gain Equal
Rights for Black Americans
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PEOPLE IN AMERICA - a program in Special English on the Voice of America.
Today, Warren Scheer and Shep O'Neal begin the story of civil rights leader Martin Luther King,
Junior.
It all started on a bus. A black woman was returning home from work after a long hard day. She sat
near the front of the bus because she was tired and her legs hurt. But the bus belonged to the city of
Montgomery in the southern state of Alabama. And the year was nineteen fifty-five.
In those days, black people could sit only in the back of the bus. So the driver ordered the woman to
give up her seat. But the woman refused, and she was arrested.
Incidents like this had happened before. But no one had ever spoken out against such treatment of
blacks. This time, however, a young black preacher organized a protest. He called on all black
citizens to stop riding the buses in Montgomery until the laws were changed. The name of the

young preacher was Martin Luther King. He led the protest movement to end injustice in the
Montgomery city bus system. The protest became known as the Montgomery bus boycott. The
protest marked the beginning of the civil rights movement in the United States.
This is the story of Martin Luther King, and his part in the early days of the civil rights movement.
Martin Luther King was born in Atlanta, Georgia, in nineteen twenty-nine. He was born into a
religious family.
Martin's father was a preacher at a Baptist church. And his mother came from a family with strong
ties to the Baptist religion.
In nineteen twenty-nine, Atlanta was one of the wealthiest cities in the southern part of the United
States. Many black families came to the city in search of a better life. There was less racial tension
between blacks and whites in Atlanta than in other southern cities. But Atlanta still had laws
designed to keep black people separate from whites.
The laws of racial separation existed all over the southern part of the United States. They forced
blacks to attend separate schools and live in separate areas of a city. Blacks did not have the same
rights as white people, and were often poorer and less educated.
Martin Luther King did not know about racial separation when he was young. But as he grew older,
he soon saw that blacks were not treated equally.


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One day Martin and his father went out to buy shoes. They entered a shoe store owned by a white
businessman.
The businessman sold shoes to all people. But he had a rule that blacks could not buy shoes in the
front part of the store. He ordered Martin's father to obey the rule. Martin never forgot his father's
angry answer:
"If you do not sell shoes to black people at the front of the store, you will not sell shoes to us at all.
"

Such incidents, however, were rare during Martin's early life. Instead, he led the life of a normal
boy. Martin liked to learn, and he passed through school very quickly. He was only fifteen when he
was ready to enter the university. The university, called Morehouse College, was in Atlanta.
Morehouse College was one of the few universities in the South where black students could study.
It was at the university that Martin decided to become a preacher. At the same time, he also
discovered he had a gift for public speaking.
He soon was able to test his gifts. One Sunday, Martin's father asked him to preach at his church.
When Martin arrived, the church members were surprised to see such a young man getting ready to
speak to them. But they were more surprised to find themselves deeply moved by the words of
young Martin Luther King.
A church member once described him: "The boy seemed much older than his years. He understood
life and its problems."
Martin seemed wise to others because of his studies at the university. He carefully read the works of
Mahatma Gandhi, the Indian leader and thinker. Martin also studied the books of the American
philosopher, Henry David Thoreau. Both men wrote about ways to fight injustice. Gandhi had led
his people to freedom by peacefully refusing to obey unjust laws. He taught his followers never to
use violence. Thoreau also urged people to disobey laws that were not just, and to be willing to go
to prison for their beliefs.
As he studied, Martin thought he had found the answer for his people. The ideas of Gandhi and
Thoreau -- non-violence and civil disobedience -- could be used together to win equal rights for
black Americans. Martin knew, then, that his decision to become a preacher was right. He believed
that as a preacher he could spread the ideas of Gandhi and Thoreau. Years later he said:
"My university studies gave me the basic truths I now believe. I discovered the idea of humanity's
oneness and the dignity and value of all human character. "


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Martin continued his studies in religion for almost ten years. When he was twenty-two, he moved
north to study in Boston.
It was in Boston that Martin met Coretta Scott, the woman who later became his wife.
Martin always had been very popular with the girls in his hometown. His brother once said that
Martin "never had one girlfriend for more than a year".
But Martin felt Coretta Scott was different. The first time he saw her Martin said: "You have
everything I have ever wanted in a wife. "
Coretta was surprised at his words. But she felt that Martin was serious and honest. A short time
later, they were married. Martin soon finished his studies in Boston, and received a doctorate degree
in religion. The young preacher then was offered a job at a church in Montgomery, Alabama.
Martin Luther King and his wife were happy in Montgomery. Their first child was born. Martin's
work at the church was going well. He became involved in a number of activities to help the poor.
And the members of his church spoke highly of their new preacher. Coretta remembered their life
as simple and without worries.
Then, a black woman, Rosa Parks, was arrested for sitting in the white part of a Montgomery city
bus. And Martin Luther King organized a protest against the Montgomery bus system.
Martin believed it was very important for the bus boycott to succeed -- more important even than
his own life. But he worried about his ability to lead such an important campaign. He was only
twenty-six years old. He prayed to God for help and believed that God answered his prayers.
Martin knew that his actions and his speeches would be important for the civil rights movement.
But he was faced with a serious problem. He asked: "How can I make my people militant enough to
win our goals, while keeping peace within the movement. "
The answer came to him from the teachings of Gandhi and Thoreau. In his first speech as a leader,
Martin said:
"We must seek to show we are right through peaceful, not violent means. Love must be the ideal
guiding our actions. If we protest bravely, and yet with pride and Christian love, then future
historians will say:
"There lived a great people, a black people, who gave new hope to civilization. "

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With these words, a new movement was born. It was non-violent and peaceful. But victory was far
from sure, and many difficult days of struggle lay ahead.
You have been listening to the VOA Special English program, PEOPLE IN AMERICA. Your
narrators were Warren Scheer and Shep O'Neal. Our program was written by William Rodgers.
Listen again next week at this time, when we will complete the story of civil rights leader Martin
Luther King, Junior.
Martin Luther King, Jr., 1929-1968: The Civil Rights Leader Organized the March on Washington,
DC in 1963
Download MP3 (Right-click or option-click the link.)
PEOPLE IN AMERICA, a program in Special English on the Voice of America.
Today, Shep O'Neal and Warren Scheer finish the story of civil right's leader Martin Luther King,
Junior.
Martin Luther King was born in Atlanta, Georgia, in nineteen twenty-nine. He began his university
studies when he was fifteen years old, and received a doctorate degree in religion. He became a
preacher at a church in Montgomery, Alabama.
In nineteen fifty-five, a black woman in Montgomery was arrested for sitting in the white part of a
city bus. Doctor King became the leader of a protest against the city bus system. It was the first
time that black southerners had united against the laws of racial separation.
At first, the white citizens of Montgomery did not believe that the protest would work. They
thought most blacks would be afraid to fight against racial separation. But the buses remained
empty.
Some whites used tricks to try to end the protest.
They spread false stories about Martin Luther King and other protest leaders. One story accused
Martin of stealing money from the civil rights movement. Another story charged that protest leaders
rode in cars while other protesters had to walk. But the tricks did not work, and the protest
continued.

Doctor King's wife Coretta described how she and her husband felt during the protest. She said:
"We never knew what was going to happen next. We felt like actors in a play whose ending we did
not know.