Category: History

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Debs in Our Voices Recording Now Available

One June 20th, 2020, the Debs Foundation and Museum hosted our third annual (and first virtual) Debs Day. Twenty-seven readers, from Los Angeles to New York, Atlanta to Chicago, and back to Terre Haute, brought Debs’ words to life with a virtual reading of his prison writings, Walls and Bars. Other relevant texts were included, such as Debs’ 1918 Statement to the Court, as well as testimonials by Hellen Keller, Ralph Chaplin, and James Whitcomb Riley.

A captioned recording of the event is now available.

About Walls and Bars

Exactly 100 years ago, Eugene V. Debs was serving a ten-year prison sentence in the Atlanta Federal Penitentiary. His crime? Speaking out against the First World War in his famous Canton Speech of 1918. Undeterred, Debs led his fifth and final presidential campaign from his prison cell, earning nearly a million votes for the Socialist ticket in November of 1920.

Prison life profoundly affected Debs. As he experienced inhumane prison conditions, Debs also witnessed the common humanity of his fellow prisoners. He described these experiences in a series of articles and essays. In 1927, his brother Theodore published these writings in the volume Walls and Bars shortly after Eugene Debs’ death. Beyond simply describing prison life and conditions, Debs created a blueprint for solving the problems of incarceration by addressing what he saw as the root of crime: unmet social and economic needs. Walls and Bars connects crime and prisons to the economic conditions created by capitalism, forging a path to abolishing prisons as we know them by transforming our economic system.

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Debs in Our Voices: Walls & Bars

Join us!

On June 20th, the Debs Foundation will recognize Debs Day and present Debs in Our Voices: Walls & Bars. This event will take place from 12-2 pm EDT via Facebook Live on our page, facebook.com/EugeneVDebsFoundation.

Together, we will read selections from Walls & Bars and reflect on how Debs’ words speak to us today.

About Walls & Bars

Exactly 100 years ago, Eugene V. Debs was serving a ten-year prison sentence in the Atlanta Federal Penitentiary. His crime? Speaking out against the First World War in his famous Canton Speech of 1918. Undeterred, Debs led his fifth and final presidential campaign from his prison cell, earning nearly a million votes for the Socialist ticket in November of 1920.

Prison life profoundly affected Debs. As he experienced inhumane prison conditions, Debs also witnessed the common humanity of his fellow prisoners. He described these experiences in a series of articles and essays. In 1927, his brother Theodore published these writings in the volume Walls & Bars shortly after Eugene Debs’ death. Beyond simply describing prison life and conditions, Debs created a blueprint for solving the problems of incarceration by addressing what he saw as the root of crime: unmet social and economic needs. Walls & Bars connects crime and prisons to the economic conditions created by capitalism, forging a path to abolishing prisons as we know them by transforming our economic system.

How can I get involved?

We need readers to bring Debs’ words to life! If you’re interested in participating in Debs in Our Voices as a live reader, please complete this form.

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Watch The Revolutionist with Senator Bernie Sanders

Update 6/22/2020: The screening has been rescheduled for TONIGHT, June 22nd at 7:30 pm Eastern. Tune in with us at live.berniesanders.com!

Update 6/5/2020: This event has been postponed indefinitely; watch this page and the official Facebook event page for further announcements.

Update 5/29/2020: Senator Sanders’ team has rescheduled this livestream event to Friday, June 5th at 8 pm in order to keep the attention on the killing of George Floyd and the need for this country to end police violence. We wholeheartedly support this decision and look forward to the event next week.

Tune in! Senator Sanders will highlight his political inspiration by a hosting watch party for WFYI’s 2019 documentary The Revolutionist: Eugene V. Debs. A panel discussion will follow featuring Senator Sanders, actor and Revolutionist narrator Danny Glover, journalist John Nichols, and more! The film starts at 8 pm EDT at this link.

Alternately loved and reviled, Eugene Victor Debs was a passionate labor leader, a progressive political figure, and a formidable speaker in a time of great change in the United States. WFYI’s new documentary, The Revolutionist: Eugene V. Debs, tells the story of this Hoosier’s life. Born in Terre Haute in 1855, Eugene Debs emerged as a divisive figure when he led the nationwide Pullman Strike in 1894. Seeking an alternative way for workers to gain power, he helped establish the Socialist Party in the United States and ran as its candidate for president five times. His campaign across the country drew massive crowds, and his oratory tested the limits of the First Amendment. When he spoke out against America’s involvement in World War I, the Supreme Court upheld a guilty verdict that sentenced him to ten years in prison for violating the Espionage Act. From his cell, he ran for president for the final time, garnering nearly a million votes…and sparking a national conversation about the right to free speech.

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NPR Podcast Highlights Debs

Click here to listen or find Throughline‘s episode “American Socialist” on your preferred podcast app.

NPR’s history podcast Throughline peers into the past to better understand the present. Released in March, this episode delves into the life of Eugene V. Debs and the trajectory of socialism in the early twentieth century, illustrating how this history shapes the present day. Co-hosts Ramtin Arablouei and Rund Abdelfatah interview Nick Salvatore, author of Eugene V. Debs: Citizen and Socialist; Ernest Freeberg, author of Democracy’s Prisoner: Eugene V. Debs, the Great War, and the Right to Dissent; and Allison Duerk, director of the Debs Museum.

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Debs Documentary Now Streaming

Click here to watch The Revolutionist: Eugene V. Debs from WFYI Indianapolis

Alternately loved and reviled, Eugene Victor Debs was a passionate labor leader, a progressive political figure, and a formidable speaker in a time of great change in the United States. WFYI’s new documentary, The Revolutionist: Eugene V. Debs, tells the story of this Hoosier’s life. Born in Terre Haute in 1855, Eugene Debs emerged as a divisive figure when he led the nationwide Pullman Strike in 1894. Seeking an alternative way for workers to gain power, he helped establish the Socialist Party in the United States and ran as its candidate for president five times. His campaign across the country drew massive crowds, and his oratory tested the limits of the First Amendment. When he spoke out against America’s involvement in World War I, the Supreme Court upheld a guilty verdict that sentenced him to ten years in prison for violating the Espionage Act. From his cell, he ran for president for the final time, garnering nearly a million votes…and sparking a national conversation about the right to free speech.

The Revolutionist: Eugene V. Debs is narrated by actor Danny Glover.

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Call for Conference Papers

UPDATE: Due to the ongoing issues of the COVID19 pandemic the organizers have decided to reschedule this conference from its original November 2020 date to April 9-10, 2021.

“While There Is A Soul In Prison, I Am Not Free”

The History of Solidarity in Social and Economic Justice

Sponsored by the Eugene V. Debs Foundation, the Cunningham Memorial Library, and the Department of History at Indiana State University
Keynote Address: Peter Cole, PhD., Professor of History at Western Illinois University
Date: November 13-14, 2020
Place: Cunningham Memorial Library, Indiana State University, Terre Haute, Indiana

In 1918, the American labor organizer and socialist leader Eugene Victor Debs was sentenced to ten years in prison for his anti-war activities opposing America’s involvement in World War One. In his closing defense, Debs said, “Your honor… I said then, and I say now, that while there is a lower class, I am in it, and while there is a criminal element I am of it, and while there is a soul in prison, I am not free.” After being remanded to prison, Debs then went on to run in the 1920 presidential campaign, garnering nearly a million votes.

To honor the hundredth anniversary of the court decision, the 1920 election, and Debs’ commitment to economic and social justice, the Eugene V. Debs Foundation, the Cunningham Memorial Library, and the Department of History at Indiana State University are calling for papers as part of a daylong conference in Terre Haute, Indiana on November 14, 2020.

The conference’s theme is broadly the history of “solidarity in social and economic justice,” and the organizers are specifically interested in the fields of labor and social movement history. However, to give specific focus to prison abolitionism and mass incarceration, special attention will be given to scholars and activists working in the prison abolitionist movement. Themes in terms of geographic location and time are being left purposefully open to encourage a wide range of topics in world history throughout the long struggle of working class social movements.

Contact Info: 

To submit a paper or panel proposal, email a 200-300 word abstract with a CV by May 15, 2020 to all of the organizers at—

Wesley Bishop, wbishop@marian.edu

Nancy Gabin, ngabin@purdue.edu

Micki Morahn, michelle.morahn@debsfoundation.org  

Lisa Phillips, lisa.phillips@indstate.edu

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Collective Lives/Collective Struggles: The Charter Members of the Debs Foundation

Thanks to many hours of research by Board member Tim Kelley, we now have a history of the founding members of the Eugene V. Debs Foundation, entitled “Collective Lives/Collective Struggles”. This labor of love chronicles not only the beginnings of the Foundation but details about the lives of its charter members.

Many thanks to Tim Kelley and all those who supported his research. Without this effort, much of this information would be lost in the sands of time.

The entire history is available as PDF document for download! Please share and enjoy!

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Borders and Immigrants Tour

Saturday, December 22nd at 12:00 pm

“Borders and Immigrants” is the first of a series of themed tours of the Eugene V. Debs Museum.

This tour explores how immigration shaped Debs’ life and work, from his French immigrant parents, to his dynamic stances on immigration policy, to immigrants’ myriad contributions to the labor movement and the Socialist Party. Tour participants will also grapple with the complicated role of national borders in Debs’ era and today.

If you’ve already toured the Debs Museum, this is an opportunity to revisit the home and collection from a new perspective. First-time visitors will also find a valuable introduction to Debs through the lenses of immigration.

All are welcome. Please direct any questions to Allison Duerk by calling (812) 232-2163.

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Article on Morahns’ Debs Research by Tribune Star’s Mark Bennett

Our own Micki and John Morahn’s Debs research was covered in a recent issue of the Terre Haute Tribune Star:

“Morahn retold that story and others last month, building a case for a more realistic picture of Kate, wife of the Terre Haute-born activist whose exploits earned him a spot on Life Magazine’s list of the 20th Century’s Most Influential Americans nearly 75 years after his death. Morahn saw the lack of an in-depth study of Mrs. Debs as a void in the otherwise voluminous history of Mr. Debs. So, four years ago, Morahn and her husband, John, began compiling biographical information about Kate.”

Read more on the Tribune-Star Website