Gabfest Reads | The Radical Fund That Rewired American Progress

October 18, 2025·31 min·2 clips

James Weldon Johnson and Philip Randolph merged civil rights with class-based organizing through the fund.

Emily Bazelon interviews John Witt about his book on the Garland Fund, a philanthropic effort in the 1920s-30s that supported civil rights and labor organizing. They discuss how the fund incubated progressive ideas, connected race and class struggles, and influenced movements like Brown v. Board. The conversation draws parallels to modern challenges in activism and misinformation.

As heard by us

A thoughtful Gabfest Reads conversation on the inheritance, organizing, and reform ideas behind The Radical Fund.

Political Gabfest's Gabfest Reads uses John Witt's The Radical Fund to revisit an earlier chapter of American progressivism, when Charles Garland's unwanted inheritance helped sustain reformers during the lean politics of the 1920s.

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