PRESS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                       CONTACT INFORMATION:                                          March 15, 2018, Detroit, MI.                                   Email: joanncastle@againstthetidebooks.com                                                                                           Website: http://www.againstthetidebooks.com                                                                                         Phone: US: 313-701-8872                                                                                                                               Sell date: 5-15-18; Price: $22.00

LESSONS LEARNED CREATE A BRIDGE BETWEEN TWO GENERATIONS OF ACTIVISTS

  “A searing, unflinching account of black and white political activism in the ‘60s and 70s.”                                –Herb Boyd, author of Black Detroit: A People’s History of Self-Determination.

In her new book, What My Left Hand Was Doing: Lessons from a Grassroots Activist, author, Joann Castle offers pivotal lessons learned from her experience in the civil rights, radical Catholic and black self-determination movements. According to Castle, “Lessons from our past remain pertinent to young people who are on the cutting edge of a new movement for change.”

A priceless activist history lesson, What My Left Hand Was Doing chronicles the more common, less discussed reality of the day-to-day efforts, interactions, triumphs, and failures that reflect every movement. Castle explores a wide range of experiences, including the inevitable push-forward and push-back ignited by the civil rights and black power crusades, the challenging dynamics of white privilege, and why genuine political coalitions between blacks and whites have often been stalled by whites’ unwillingness to become allies and defenders of non-whites’ push for self-determination.

The book’s exclusive “Activist’s Survival Guide” offers a relevant, critical bridge between generations of world changers fighting for a better tomorrow.

“Shares the courageous choices…and the political challenges these choices created.”                                      –Rich Feldman, James and Grace Lee Boggs Center

“This is a story about America, slated to become a classic of American Literature.”                                           –Michael Goldfield, author of The Color of Politics: Race and the Mainsprings of American Politics.

Book Genre: Political Activism, Social Justice Movements, Race Relations, Women’s Studies

About the Author:   Lifelong Detroit activist, Joann Castle, is a civil rights veteran, anthropologist and working mother who served for twenty-seven years as a community health professional. After witnessing the 1967 Detroit Rebellion, Joann became an advocate for black self-determination and challenging white privilege. Castle married Michael Hamlin in 1975, at the height of his work in the black power movement. Castle’s writing is drawn from her recollections of her personal experiences and corroborated by materials that she and Hamlin donated to the Walter P. Reuther Library Archives of   Labor and Urban Affairs, on the campus of Wayne State University.

Available for review by contacting the author: joanncastle@againstthetidebooks.com.

” I HOPE YOU ARE WITH ME, VIOLA”  Photo by John Causland, Women’s March in Ann Arbor, MI 1-21-17