Alinsky, << uh LIHN skee, >> Saul David (1909-1972), won fame for his efforts to help poor people help themselves. A professional organizer, he helped the poor in more than 40 U.S. communities to form groups to gain a voice in local affairs and improve their economic and social positions. These groups used various methods of social protest, including boycotts, picketing, rent strikes, and sit-down strikes.
Alinsky’s first community action project was the “Back-of-the-Yards” program in the stockyards area of Chicago in 1939. In 1940, several wealthy Chicagoans gave him money to establish the Industrial Areas Foundation. Alinsky continued his work through this organization. One of his best-known achievements was the creation in 1960 of The Woodlawn Organization (TWO) in a predominantly black neighborhood in Chicago. In 1969, Alinsky founded a school in Chicago to train organizers for work in poor and middle-class neighborhoods.
Alinsky was born in Chicago on Jan. 30, 1909. He graduated from the University of Chicago in 1930. He died on June 12, 1972.
