The BlogPBSCivil RightsActivism

To The End, 'American Revolutionary' Grace Lee Boggs Never Gave Up on Detroit

The daughter of Chinese immigrants, Boggs was a seminal figure in the Black Power movement and -- along with her husband, James Boggs -- spent decades tirelessly advocating for fundamental changes in American policy on civil rights, labor relations, feminism, the environment and just about anything else that would shake up the status quo.
Tavis Smiley
By 

PBS talk show host, PRI radio host, NYT bestselling author

PBS talk show host, PRI radio host, NYT bestselling author
This post was published on the now-closed HuffPost Contributor platform. Contributors control their own work and posted freely to our site. If you need to flag this entry as abusive, send us an email.

Grace Lee Boggs, the "American Revolutionary" who died earlier this month at age 100, will be memorialized in her beloved Detroit this weekend (for details, go to www.pbs.org/tavis). The daughter of Chinese immigrants, Boggs was a seminal figure in the Black Power movement and -- along with her husband, James Boggs -- spent decades tirelessly advocating for fundamental changes in American policy on civil rights, labor relations, feminism, the environment and just about anything else that would shake up the status quo.

She was also one of the most outspoken boosters of Detroit, where she lived for more than 60 years. In this clip from 2013, shortly before her 98th birthday, she discussed why she remained optimistic about the future of the Motor City.

For more of our conversation, be sure to tune in to Tavis Smiley on PBS. Check our website for your local TV listings: www.pbs.org/tavis.

Related

PBSCivil RightsActivismDetroitEnvironment
|
Submit a tip

Popular in the Community

Close

What's Hot