Achieving Social Change

Huge numbers of people in developing countries and up to one quarter of populations in developed countries live below the poverty line. Poverty is linked to migration, warfare, low-skilled work, and women's and children's rights. This book looks at some of the key anti-poverty campaigns and activists, from Josephine Butler to campaigners today tackling period poverty and setting up microbanks. Links to further information help readers find out more about current campaigns and become activists themselves.

This book focuses on the slave trade that took more than 12 million captured Africans to the Americas to be owned and worked in cruel and inhuman conditions. Stories of resistance and rebellion by enslaved peoples include the Haitian rebellion and the Amistad Revolt. Key activists featured include Cyrille Bissette and Sojourner Truth. The forms of slavery that exist today are examined along with the campaigns and activists protesting them. Links to further information help readers find out more about current campaigns and become activists themselves.

This book looks at the impact of environmental activists, from John Muir to Rachel Carson, and the events that had wide-ranging impact, such as the Santa Barbara oil spill, the Standing Rock Sioux protest, and the campaigns by Indigenous communities around the world. Today, Earth activism is widespread and powerful, and often led by young voices, such as Swedish school student Greta Thunberg and new groups such as Extinction Rebellion. Links to further information help readers find out more about current campaigns and become activists themselves.

The right to be paid for work, to have time off, and to work in a safe environment might seem to us as guaranteed, but throughout history people worldwide have had to campaign and fight for these rights. This book looks at actions such as the matchgirls' strike in 1888 and the campaigns for an end to child labor and for equal pay for women. The struggle by activists continues today with workers being affected by an increasingly global economy, climate change, and changing working patterns. Links to further information help readers find out more about current campaigns and become activists themselves.

Women make up about half the world's population, but women worldwide have had to fight for equal rights - to be able to vote, do the same jobs as men for the same rate of pay, own property, and have the same opportunities in education. This book looks at the campaigns fought throughout history, including suffrage movements around the world, strikes for equal pay, and International Women's Day. The struggle by activists continues today to end child marriage and safeguard women in the military. Links to further information help readers find out more about current campaigns and become activists themselves.

People often associate civil rights with the campaign in the late 1950s and 1960s to achieve social and political equality and freedom for black Americans in the United States. Civil rights campaigners have also fought to gain rights for Chicanos and Indigenous peoples. Worldwide, the struggle for civil rights has included Catholics in Northern Ireland, Aboriginal peoples in Australia, and black South Africans. Describing reform movements in history, this book also brings campaigns for civil rights up to date with rights for women, LGBTQ+ people, and people with disabilities. Links to further information help readers find out more about current campaigns and become activists themselves.