Dan Georgakas


Dan Georgakas is an American anarchist poet and historian, who specializes in oral history and the American labor movement, best known for the publication Detroit: I do mind dying: A study in urban revolution, which documents African-American radical groups in Detroit during the 1960s and 1970s.

Background

Dan Georgakas was born on January 3, 1938 to parents of Greek origin.

Career

In 1966, Georgakas and painter Ben Morea helped found the Anarchist group Up Against the Wall Motherfucker affiliated with New York City's Lower East Side.
In 1967, he signed the "Writers and Editors War Tax Protest," initiated by an editor of the New York Times Magazine. Inspired by the civil disobedience of Henry David Thoreau, the manifesto united 528 American writers and publishers who refused to pay the 10% tax for the Vietnam War.
In 1975, Georgakas co-published with Marvin Surkin Detroit: I do mind dying: a study in urban revolution. The book traces workers' struggles of the 1970s in the car factories. It highlights: conditions of line work, corruption of union apparatus, daily racism in American society.
In the late 1980s, Georgakas began co-writing the Encyclopedia of the American Left with Mari Jo Buhle and husband Paul Buhle.
Georgakas has spoken at annual seminars for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.
Georgakas has long served on the editorial board of Cineaste magazine and specializes in Latin American cinema.
Georgakas has taught at New York University, Columbia University, the University of Oklahoma, the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and Queens College.
Currently, Georgakas serves as director of the Greek American Studies Project of the Center for Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies.specializes in Latin American cinema.

Legacy

In 1967, Georgakas and Surkin helped coin the term "New Detroit."
Georgakas has left the bulk of his papers to the Walter P. Reuther Library, Archives of Labor and Urban Affairs at Wayne State University, with writings on cinema in the Tamiment Library of New York University.

Works

Written: Georgakas' written works include:
Film: Georgakas' has appeared in documentaries, including: