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JAMES GREEN Obituary
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Memories and Condolences
for JAMES GREEN
Topper Sherwood
June 21, 2023
Yesterday, I cited Dr. Green's unparalleled (in my mind) coverage of the role of Black workers in the early US labor movement. We all owe him a lot.
Michael Honey
June 19, 2023
I was emptying my office at University of Washington Tacoma as I retire, and I found various books and letters and articles by Jim. It made me remember a great historian and my pleasure that I called him a colleague and comrade. Here's to you, Jim.
Michael Honeey
June 19, 2022
I am in Boston at the Radcliff Institute and I have been thinking about Jim most of the time. I have rarely been to Boston, and I would so love to see him here. Saludos, Jim
The City of Somerville's Alderman Matt McLaughlin presented Jim with a special commendation at his retirement party in September 2015
Rand Wilson
October 27, 2016
The City of Somerville presented Jim Green a special commendation at his retirement party in September 2015.
Rand Wilson
October 27, 2016
Jim Green had a powerful impact on my life. His book, Grassroots Socialism about radical movements of farmers and workers in Oklahoma and Texas inspired me to believe in the possibility of crafting a uniquely American socialism. A belief that the Bernie Sanders campaign helped
Living in the Boston metropolitan area filled with academics, Jim stood out as one of the few professors who fused teaching and activism so that whether in the classroom or at a union meeting he offer a welcome and insightful perspective.
In the early 1980s Jim regularly attended meetings of the Labor Support Project that brought together rank-and-file members, union leaders and community supporters for strike support and solidarity. His long view of the labor movement helped inspire us to continue our efforts in the face of ridiculous charges of being communist agitators and "duel unionists" from many union officials at the time.
When the Labor Support Project eventually morphed into Jobs with Justice, Jim continued his strong support of this movement to bring community, religious and labor allies together in a coalition to defend and advance worker rights.
As a Somerville resident, I saw firsthand how Jim actively supported our Welcome Project, a community-based organization for newly arriving immigrants, many of whom were fleeing discrimination and harassment where they came from only to face it again in our community.
Finally, Jim historical work on the Blair Mountain uprising inspired the Red Bandanna Brigade, a yearly contingent of labor activists and supporters who (since 2008) march in the annual Honk! festival parade. Like the West Virginia miners celebrated in Jim's book, The Devil Is Here in These Hills, we wear red bandannas to signify our militant support for the labor movement.
As an academic, Jim took risks to keep his work rooted not just in labor history, but very much in the present labor movement. Union members and labor activists everywhere are indebted to his work.
Jim Green marching in the Honk! Festival's Red Bandanna Brigade
Rand Wilson
October 27, 2016
Jim Green at the Honk! Festival briefing the Red Bandanna Brigade about the Blair Mountain uprising
Rand Wilson
October 27, 2016
Pierre Lundy
August 3, 2016
Mr. Green may you rest in peace!
Michael Honey
July 12, 2016
Jim Green was President of the Labor and Working-Class History Association and did a huge amount to add labor to public history. One example was restoring a monument to the martyrs who died during the Ludlow, Colorado, coal strike in 1913, shot down by the hired hands of John D. Rockefeller. Another, the Haymarket Martrys of 1886. Another, the cause of the miners who fought for human rights at the end of WW I. He took hidden histories and put them back in plain sight, where they belonged.
Mike Matejka
July 1, 2016
I took Labor History with Jim at the University of Mass Union Labor Administration masters' degree program. We both hit it off and enjoyed each other's company. I met with him in Chicago while he was working on the Haymarket book and we brought him as a guest speaker for our Illinois Labor History Society. He was always warm, thoughtful and just a pleasure to be with. He touched many lives and I felt honored to call him a friend.
Mike Swickey
June 30, 2016
The passing of Jim Green is a great loss to many. I speak for those who miss him from his years of dedication to labor history and his excellent books on the subject, as well as his activism for organized labor and economic justice.
I've known Jim since writing him years ago after reading his book back in 1979 on the Socialist movement in the Southwest. His response was one of appreciation for the note, as well a humble response that begged further commutnication in shared interests. I treasure all of that.
His Introduction to the early eighties reprint of "If You Don't Weaken: The Autobiography of Oscar Ameringer" is a classic in and of itself.
A huge loss for so many.
To the family - all my condolences and peace to all of you.
- Mike Swickey
Oklahoma City
Allyson Every
June 28, 2016
Sending the Labor Guild's heartfelt sympathies to all of Dr. Jim Green's family and loved ones,and to all his countless friends, colleagues and students.
The Labor Guild was blessed to be part of his circle. We are so grateful for all the marvelous labor history terms he taught at our school -- and all the Guild students he taught, counseled and inspired.
We admire Jim's great scholarship; his excellent work with UMass/Boston and his legacy developing its great Labor Resources Ctr. And his stellar work with the Harvard Trade Union Program. Above all, Jim was a gallant and terrific guy. You are missed, my dear!
--The Labor Guild
Susan Frey
June 28, 2016
Dear Beth, I send my sincere condolences to you on the death of your brother. I look forward to seeing you again at the Bee Hive table. Fondly, Susan Frey
Topper Sherwood
June 28, 2016
My condolences to his family. I was just getting to know him, having done some work in the same field. His book, "The Devil is Here in These Hills," is such a great, much-needed work. I wish I could have known him better....
Catherine
June 28, 2016
Very sad to hear this. My deepest condolences to his family. Jim was a fantastic professor and mentor. I owe a great deal to him.
June 28, 2016
Our much loved friend Jim was a true long distance runner, in labor and on the left. HIs career as a worker educator and labor historian should be a model for anyone up and coming in either field.
JIm helped revitalize the Massachusetts labor movement by encouraging rank-and-file union members to develop their own leadership capacities, by going back to school, and becoming more active in their unions.
When Jim first launched such efforts, not everyone thought this was such a great idea. Some Boston-area union officials and their labor education allies regarded his program as a political threat-and, indeed, it was.
HIs many former students and even more far-flung readers mourn his death because he contributed so much to our collective understanding of worker struggles, past and present. With Jim, education was not divorced from action!
We need more like him...
Many condolences from Jim's Bay Area
friends and fans,
Steve Early
Richmond, CA
Andres Torres
June 27, 2016
Jim, We will miss your humanity and your passion for uncovering Labor's true history in America. I thank you for facilitating my entry into the UMB & CPCS wonderful family back in the 1990's. I thank you for your mentorship and support throughout my years in Massachusetts. We lost you much too early. Carmen Vivian and I will miss our reunions with you and Janet in Mystic. We'll always remember you.
Andy Torres
June 27, 2016
Jim was a dedicated, talented, and principled historian with a deep commitment to the dignity of workers and their struggles for justice and equity. His most recent book (which I am so pleased to have with his autograph and personal note) on the West Virginia mine wars will stand as a lasting legacy to him and to his work. The film documentary is another tribute to his creative and impactful scholarship.
Jim never lost sight of his obligations to speak out on local labor issues and when he did people listened.
I will miss his voice and miss him as a friend.
My sincere condolences to his family.
Tom Kochan
Dave Robbins
June 27, 2016
Dear Family and Friends of Jim Green,
My sincere sympathy to you all on Jim's passing. I've not seen Jim in many years. But in the late 70's early 80's he was among our group of Sunday morning pickup softball games in Trump Field in Somerville, that included Jim O'Brien, Bob White, Dennis Michaud, Nancy Lorenz and others. What a great contribution Jim has given to the people, with his decades of educating us all on the history of working class struggle, his activism, his comradship.
Thank you Jim for the life,
Dave Robbins
Teamster
Dale Melcher
June 26, 2016
Jim profoundly shaped my understanding of labor history. He was a wonderful colleague and a lovely man. My condolences to his family.
James Jennings
June 26, 2016
Jim was a paragon for showing that humanity/love, and struggles for the expansion of democracy and social justice, absolutely has no conflict with research and teaching. In this way, he will remain a role model for me, us, and many more who will learn about his humanity and work. Am honored and reflective that his life touched mine over the years.
James Jennings
Leo Riibuffo
June 26, 2016
One of my favorite fellow graduate many years ago. Generous and wise. A scholar who taught me much both via conversation and print.
Dan Currie
June 26, 2016
Jim Green was not one of my professors in the College of Public & Community Service at UMass-Boston, but I was aware that he was treasured wth love and respect by everyone he touched at CPCS. My sincere condolences to his family, friends, colleagues and students. The good news is he lives in you.
June 26, 2016
Jim- you were creative and courageous till the end. I will really miss your vital presence in labor history-- a rock of certainty for more than 40 years-- Nancy Cott
June 26, 2016
RIP James, it was an honor to know you and take your class at Harvard " 95 ". Journey well. Condolences to the family. - Paul DiPietro Iron Workers Local 7
Linda Gordon
June 26, 2016
Jim Green was Allen's and my good friend since the early 1970s when we all worked on the magazine "Radical America." We were kindred spirits both as historians and radicals. The two of us lived through hard times and good times as colleagues at Univ. of Mass. Boston. We were close through an early tragedy, the birth of his severely handicapped daughter Amanda, and we were humbled by his devoted care for her. That spirit of caring for others characterized his whole life. Never focused only on his own career, he was always reaching out to be of help to those working for social justice and worked particularly to bring historical work to activists and activism to historians. Most recently Jim and I discussed doing a joint book on social-movement leadership. He died much much too young, because he had so much more to give. But his many writings are alive and will continue to live.
Linda Gordon
Reebee Garofalo
June 26, 2016
RIP Jim. It was a joy and a privilege to know you and work along side you for the last four decades. And celebrating our birthdays together was always a rare treat. We will always have the rich legacy you left behind, but we will miss you deeply. You left us way too soon.
George Abbott White
June 26, 2016
Caring was the essence of Jim's whole response to life. He cared for his family, in particular and so obviously for his son Nick and his daughter Amanda. He cared for his students, whether through the labor studies program and outreach beyond the University walls, or in formal courses at the University of Massachusetts Boston.
Jim cared for his colleagues, wherever he was and wherever they were. His caring for them did not end when he moved or they moved. Jim was, like his great mentor Vann Woodward, a careful, thorough, serious and committed scholar,. He cared to find ways to make what he had learned available to as many as possible as clearly as possible.
He cared for those who wrote and for what he wrote. He worked in so many different areas aside from articles and books, film being one of the most important because it could bring important understandings to so many.
What was really almost heroic for someone so modest and self-effacing, was the way in which Jim's caring, in very small as well as large ways, reaching out, listening, enthusiastically encouraging others, actually seemed to increase almost in proportion to the weakness brought on dsily by his terrible illness over a nearly 2 year period. Jim is already greatly missed.
Larry Powell
June 26, 2016
What a terrible loss--for his family, for his friends, for the scholarly community, for the labor movement. He touched so many people, covered so much territory, made so many contributions in print and politics, it's impossible to take his measure. I've known him since graduate school, count him as a treasured friend. It's hard to imagine him gone. Profound condolences to his family.
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