Progressive L.A. Conference
Progressive L.A. Conference , was convened Saturday, October 3rd, 1998 Keck Theater, Occidental College.
- Progressive LA! A Conference on Social Movements in Los Angeles: Uncovering our History and Envisioning our Future
- This conference commemorates the 75th anniversary of Upton Sinclair's arrest at Liberty Hill in San Pedro, which also led to the founding of the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California. This event serves as a celebration of the efforts by Upton Sinclair and other progressives to bridge movements and serve as a catalyst for new activities.
- The goals of the conference are to illustrate the role of progressives and progressive social movements in Los Angeles from the 1920s to the present and how these movements provide an alternative view of what Los Angeles has been and what it can become. Movements to be explored in terms of their contribution to this vision include the labor movement · civil rights and civil liberties movements · environmental movement · urban movements (housing, land use, transportation, etc.) · women's and gay/lesbian movements.
- Through this exploration, the conference will discuss the conflicts and opportunities for linking movements in order to identify lessons from the past for the future of progressive politics in Los Angeles.[1]
Sponsors
- American Civil Liberties Union
- LA County Federation of Labor
- LA Weekly
- Liberty Hill Foundation
- The Nation Institute
- Occidental College
- Southern California Library for Social Studies and Research
This project is made possible in art by a grant from the California Council for the Humanities, a state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Schedule
9:15-9:30 Hon. Augustus Hawkins, Former Member of Congress, EPIC Candidate 1934
9:30-9:45 MUSIC FOR CHANGE, Ross Altman, Folk Singer
9:45-10:10 UPTON SINCLAIR AND PROGRESSIVE LA, Greg Mitchell, Author of Campaign Of The Century
10:40-12:15pm WITNESSES TELL THEIR STORIES, Moderator: Warren Olney, Radio Host "Which Way, LA?" on KCRW Bert Corona, Founder of Hermandad Mexicana, Alice McGrath, Sleepy Lagoon Defense Committee (Zoot Suit), Paul Schrade, Former Regional Director United Auto Workers, Maury Weiner, Former Advisor to Mayor Tom Bradley, Frank Wilkinson, Civil Liberties and Public Housing Activist
12:15-1:30 LUNCH/PRESENTATIONS Moderator: Sue Horton, Editor LA Weekly, Miguel Contreras, LA County Federation of Labor, Norman Cohen, Professor Emeritus of History, Occidental College, Ramona Ripston, Executive Director, ACLU- SC
1:30-3:10 GRASSROOTS LA Torie Osborn, Executive Director, Liberty Hill Foundation, Karen Bass, Executive Director, Community Coalition for Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment, Jan Breidenbach, Executive Director, Southern California Association of Non-Profit Housing, Roy Hong, Executive Director, Korean Immigrant Workers' Advocates, Carlos Porras, So. California Director, Communities For A Better Environment, Frankie Quintero, Co-Director Radio Sin Fronteras Anthony Thigpenn, Executive Director, Metropolitan Alliance and Chair, AGENDA
3:10-3:30 Break
3:30-5:00 BUILDING OUR COMMON FUTURE Moderator: Harold Meyerson, Executive Editor LA Weekly, Jackie Goldberg, Los Angeles City Councilmember, Tom Hayden, California State Senator, Madeline Janis-Aparicio, Executive Director, Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy, Connie Rice, Former Western Regional Director of NAACP Legal Defense Fund, Mark Ridley-Thomas, Los Angeles City Councilmember, Antonio Villaraigosa, Speaker of the California Assembly[2]